Ichthyoelephas is a small genus of large-bodied characiforms in the Prochilodontidae, the streaked-prochilodus family, restricted in the atlas to Colombia and Ecuador. The genus's common name, "elephant fish," refers to its distinctive head: a long, tubular, highly protrusible mouth that the fish extends downward like a trunk to scrape algae, detritus, and organic film off submerged rocks and sediment. At 15.5–31.5 in, Ichthyoelephas species are substantial river fish, with the deep, compressed body typical of prochilodontids, found in the Pacific-slope and Magdalena river systems of northwestern South America.
Ichthyoelephas humeralis (bocachico) and I. longirostris (freshwater dolphin fish) function primarily as food fish rather than aquarium subjects - their size alone puts them outside typical home-aquarium keeping, and detailed care information is essentially absent from the hobby literature. Both carry elevated IUCN status, Near Threatened and Vulnerable, a pattern common among large migratory Neotropical river fish that concentrate at predictable spawning grounds and support intensive artisanal and commercial fisheries across their range.