Bottlenose

Eastern Bottlenose ( Mormyrus longirostris)

The Eastern Bottlenose is aptly named because of its elongated snout. It has a tiny mouth, so needs to be caught on small hooks with worms as bait. This species is active mainly at night, and is often caught in the early evening, in fairly deep pools where there is little or no current. 

Apart from the Electric Catfish, this is the only species in Zambezi waters that is capable of giving, under certain conditions, a mild electric shock. The electrical field created around the fish is probably a means of electro-orientation useful to a species which likes deep, often turbid water. 

Bottlenose breed during the rainy season, moving upstream in rivers after flood spates have receded. The migrations appear to occur at irregular intervals as this fish is not a powerful swimmer and would not be able to cope with very high water current.

Despite its rather unattractive appearance, the Eastern Bottlenose is a popular eating fish in Central Africa. It is best split ventrically in half and low smoked over a fire.

The Bottlenose will give you an electric shock if you hold both ends of the fish without drying it first