Alestidae

Neumann, Dirk, Obermaier, Henriette & Moritz, Timo, 2016, Annotated checklist for fishes of the Main Nile Basin in the Sudan and Egypt based on recent specimen records (2006 - 2015), Cybium 40 (4), pp. 287-317 : 296

Alestidae

Earlier publications recognised three species of Hydrocynus for the Nile Basin: H. brevis (Günther, 1864) , H. forskahlii (Cuvier, 1819) and H. vittatus Castelnau, 1861 (Ann. 3). However, Goodier et al. (2011) suggest that H. vittatus sensu lato seems to be restricted to the Congo and Zambezi basins, an assumption we tend to follow here in regarding that this species likely does not occur in the Main Nile. Hydrocynus vittatus specimens have not been recorded recently, but historic records should be investigated to confirm presence or absence of this species from the Nile Basin. Numerous earlier publications accounted Micralestes acutidens (Peters, 1852) for the Nile Basin. However, teeth characteristics of our specimens correspond to M. elongatus Daget, 1957 and not to M. acutidents ( Paugy, 1990; Stiassny and Mamonekene, 2007); M. acutidens as originally described from the Zambezi seems to be limited to Central and South Africa.