There are several small, freshwater hatchetfish native to South Ammerica. The hatchet shape with oversized keel has powerful chest muscles which allow the fish to leap well out of the water and glide a few metres to escape predators. The Spotted Hatchetfish, also called Spotted Silver Hatchetfish, is native to waterways on the Pacific sides of Panama and Colombia (and maybe Ecuador).

A shoaling fish, it grows to some 9cm long (larger than the "Giant" Hatchetfish). Head on, it is very narrow. It feeds mainly on small insects that fall to the water surface.

The Silver Hatchetfish, also called the Common Hatchetfish, has similar habits to the Spotted above but doesn't have the spots on its flank; instead it has a plain silver flank with a black lateral line bordered in yellow (both often indistinct) and a light brown, narrow topside. It is native to drainage systems of most of the major river basins of northwestern South America including the Amazon, Orinoco, Guiana Shield and south to Paraguay.