Cranoglanis is the only genus of armorhead catfishes.

Cranoglanis
Cranoglanis bouderius
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Cranoglanididae
G. S. Myers, 1931
Genus: Cranoglanis
W. K. H. Peters, 1881
Type species
Cranoglanis sinensis
W. K. H. Peters, 1881
Synonyms
  • Anopleutropius
    Vaillant, 1893
  • Pseudeutropichthys
    Koller, 1926

Taxonomy

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Cranoglanis bouderius was first described as Bagrus bouderius in 1846 by John Richardson based on a Chinese watercolor painting.[1] Wilhelm Peters later described Cranoglanis along with a new species, Cranoglanis sinensis. Otto Koller (1926) described a new species, Pseudotropichthys multiradiatus. George Myers (1931) synonymized Pseudotropichthys with Cranoglanis, as well as described the family Cranoglanididae. Jayaram (1955) synonymized C. multiradiatus and C. sinensis under C. bouderius. More recently, C. bouderius and C. multiradiatus have been treated as separate species.[1] C. henrici, described by Léon Vaillant in 1893, is often overlooked, but is a valid species.[1]

In 2005, Cranoglanis had been considered a monotypic genus by some, with C. bouderius as the only valid species.[2]

The Cranoglanididae are closely related to the North American family Ictaluridae. These two families are sister taxa in the superfamily Ictaluroidea.[3]

Species

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The five currently recognized species in this genus are:[4]

Distribution and habitat

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These fish are found in large freshwater rivers in China and Vietnam.[5]

Appearance and anatomy

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These fish have short dorsal fins. The caudal fins are deeply forked. The eyes are large. Their bodies are scaleless, though rough, bony plates are located on the tops of their heads. These fish have four pairs of barbels.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Ng, Heok Hee; Kottelat, Maurice. "Cranoglanis henrici (Vaillant, 1893), a valid species of cranoglanidid catfish from Indochina (Teleostei, Cranoglanididae)" (PDF). Zoosystema. 22 (4): 847–852. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-19. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
  2. ^ Ferraris, Carl J. Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–628.
  3. ^ Sullivan, JP; Lundberg JG; Hardman M (2006). "A phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes) using rag1 and rag2 nuclear gene sequences". Mol Phylogenet Evol. 41 (3): 636–62. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.044. PMID 16876440.
  4. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Cranoglanis". FishBase. December 2011 version.
  5. ^ a b Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7.
  NODES
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