Climbing catfish

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Climbing catfish
Astroblepus sabalo

Astroblepus sabalo

Systematics
Cohort : Otomorpha
Sub-cohort : Ostariophysi
Order : Catfish (Siluriformes)
Subordination : Loricarioidei
Family : Astroblepidae
Genre : Climbing catfish
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 :

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the world . 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2006, ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9 , pp. 164 .
  2. ↑ 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

Commons : Kletterwelse ( Astroblepus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files