Sternarchella, the bulldog knifefishes, is a genus of ghost knifefishes found at depths of in the main channel of large rivers in South America. Most are from the Amazon basin, but S. orthos is found both in the Amazon and Orinoco, S. orinoco is restricted to the Orinoco and S. curvioperculata restricted to the upper Paraná basin (however, the last species likely belongs in another genus, possibly Apteronotus). They are often common in their habitat.
They have a blunt or pointed snout (none have the greatly elongated snout found in some other knifefish), reduced pigmentation and reach up to in total length depending on the species. They feed on invertebrates and small fish.
Species The following species are currently placed in this genus. Two species that formerly comprised their own genus Magosternarchus were recently included in Sternarchella
Sternarchella calhamazon Lundberg, Cox Fernandes, Campos-da-Paz & Sullivan, 2013 Sternarchella duccis Lundberg, Cox Fernandes & Albert, 1996 Sternarchella orinoco Mago-Leccia, 1994 Sternarchella orthos Mago-Leccia, 1994 Sternarchella patriciae K. M. Evans, Crampton & Albert, 2017 Sternarchella raptor Lundberg, Cox Fernandes & Albert, 1996 Sternarchella rex Evans, Crampton & Albert, 2017 Sternarchella schotti (Steindachner, 1868) Sternarchella sima Starks, 1913
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