Ichthyologists from Colombia and Los Angeles have described a new species of electric fish from the Rio Magdalena basin in Colombia, South America.
Javier Maldonado-Ocampo of Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Boyaca, Colombia, and James Albert of the Department of Biology at the University of Louisiana, described the new gymnotid fish as Gymnotus ardilai in the latest issue of the systematics journal Zootaxa.
The new fish was found in the Rio de Oro near Bucaramanga in the Rio Magdalena basin, Colombia, at a height of around 800 metres above sea level.
Maldonado-Ocampo and Albert say that the new fish is not only the first member of the Gymnotiformes to be recorded from the Rio Magdalena basin, but also the only species so far known to exist at such a great elevation.
For more details on how to identify the new species see the paper: Maldonado-Ocampo, JA and JS Albert (2004) - Gymnotus ardilai: a new species of Neotropical electric fish (Ostariophysi: Gymnotidae) from the Rio Magdalena basin of Colombia. Zootaxa: 759: 1-10.