Climbing catfish
Climbing catfish | ||||||||||||
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Astroblepus sabalo |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
Astroblepidae | ||||||||||||
Bleeker , 1862 | ||||||||||||
Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
Astroblepus | ||||||||||||
Humboldt , 1805 |
The climbing catfish ( Astroblepidae) are a fish family with only one genus ( Astroblepus ) from the order of the catfish-like (Siluriformes). They occur in South America from Panama to Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador and Peru in fast-flowing waters of the highlands up to about 4000 meters above sea level and in Lake Titicaca . The German name indicates the animals' remarkable climbing ability.
features
Climbing catfish are similar to the armor catfish (Loricariidae), but are almost or completely without scales and have no shell. They reach total lengths of up to about 30 centimeters. The head and body are flattened, the lower mouth is designed as a suction disc. There are two pairs of barbels on the upper jaw and near the nostrils. The dorsal fin has a strong hard ray and six or seven soft rays. An adipose fin can be present and can then be formed low and elongated with a hard jet. The anal fin has four to six soft rays. The intestine is relatively short and the swim bladder is reduced. There are 34 ribs . The urogenital papillae of the males serve as mating organs.
Climbing catfish are able to climb steep rock faces at waterfalls with the help of their mouth , which serves as a suction cup, and their ventral fins , which have wide, flattened fin rays with a rough underside. To do this, they alternately attach themselves to the ground with their mouth and pelvic fins and push the other half of the body forward along the flat stomach. Since the gills have openings for the inflow and outflow of water, the mouth does not have to be opened in between to breathe.
Systematics
The climbing catfish are assigned to the superfamily Loricarioidea or the suborder Loricarioidei.
The family comprises a genus with about 75 described species :
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Astroblepus
- Astroblepus acostai
- Astroblepus ardiladuartei
- Astroblepus ardilai
- Astroblepus bellezaensis
- Astroblepus boulengeri
- Astroblepus brachycephalus
- Astroblepus cacharas
- Astroblepus cajamarcaensis
- Astroblepus caquetae
- Astroblepus chapmani
- Astroblepus chimborazoi
- Astroblepus chinchaoensis
- Astroblepus chotae
- Astroblepus cirratus
- Astroblepus cyclopus
- Astroblepus dux
- Astroblepus eigenmanni
- Astroblepus festae
- Astroblepus fissidens
- Astroblepus floridaensis
- Astroblepus formosus
- Astroblepus frenatus
- Astroblepus grixalvii
- Astroblepus guentheri
- Astroblepus heterodon
- Astroblepus hidalgoi
- Astroblepus homodon
- Astroblepus huallagaensis
- Astroblepus itae
- Astroblepus jimenezae
- Astroblepus jurubidae
- Astroblepus labialis
- Astroblepus latidens
- Astroblepus longiceps
- Astroblepus longifilis
- Astroblepus mancoi
- Astroblepus mariae
- Astroblepus marmoratus
- Astroblepus martinezi
- Astroblepus mendezi
- Astroblepus micrescens
- Astroblepus mindoensis
- Astroblepus mojicai
- Astroblepus moyanensis
- Astroblepus nettoferreirai
- Astroblepus nicefori
- Astroblepus orientalis
- Astroblepus Ortegai
- Astroblepus peruanus
- Astroblepus phelpsi
- Astroblepus pholeter
- Astroblepus pirrensis
- Astroblepus praeliorum
- Astroblepus prenadillus
- Astroblepus putumayoensis
- Astroblepus quispei
- Astroblepus regani
- Astroblepus rengifoi
- Astroblepus retropinnus
- Astroblepus riberae
- Astroblepus rosei
- Astroblepus sabalo
- Astroblepus santanderensis
- Astroblepus simonsii
- Astroblepus stuebeli
- Astroblepus supramollis
- Astroblepus taczanowskii
- Astroblepus tamboensis
- Astroblepus theresiae
- Astroblepus trifasciatus
- Astroblepus ubidiai
- Astroblepus unifasciatus
- Astroblepus vaillanti
- Astroblepus vanceae
- Astroblepus ventralis
- Astroblepus whymperi
swell
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the world . 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2006, ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9 , pp. 169-170 .
- Tim M. Berra: Freshwater Fish Distribution . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2007, ISBN 978-0-226-04442-2 , pp. 233-234 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the world . 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2006, ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9 , pp. 164 .
- ↑ JP Sullivan, Lundberg JG; Hardman M: A phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes) using rag1 and rag2 nuclear gene sequences . In: Mol Phylogenet Evol. . 41, No. 3, 2006, pp. 636-62. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2006.05.044 .
Web links
- Climbing catfish on Fishbase.org (English)