Category:Catfish
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Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish with over 2,700 species known. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behaviour from the heaviest, the Mekong Giant Catfish from Southeast Asia and the longest, the Wels Catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the Candiru, Vandellia cirrhosa. There are armour-plated types and also naked types, neither having scales. Despite their name, not all catfish have prominent barbels; members of the Siluriformes order are defined by features of the skull and swimbladder. Catfish are of considerable commercial importance; many of the larger species are farmed or fished for food. Many of the smaller species, particularly the genus Corydoras, are important in the aquarium hobby.
Most catfish are bottom feeders. In general, they are negatively buoyant, which means that they will usually sink rather than float due to a reduced gas bladder and a heavy, bony head. Catfish have a variety of body shapes, though most have a cylindrical body with a flattened ventrum to allow for benthic feeding.
A flattened head allows for digging through the substrate as well as perhaps serving as a hydrofoil. Most have a mouth that can expand to a large size and contains no incisiform teeth; catfish generally feed through suction or gulping rather than biting and cutting prey. However, some families, notably Loricariidae and Astroblepidae, have a suckermouth that allows them to fasten themselves to objects in fast-moving water. Catfish also have a maxilla reduced to a support for barbels; this means that they are unable to protrude their mouths as other fish such as carp.
Catfish may have up to four pairs of barbels: nasal, maxillary (on each side of mouth), and two pairs of chin barbels, although pairs of barbels may be absent, depending on the species. Because their barbels are more important in detecting food, the eyes on catfish are generally small. Like other ostariophysans, they are characterized by the presence of a Weberian apparatus. Their well-developed Weberian apparatus and reduced gas bladder allow for improved hearing as well as sound production.
Catfish have no scales; their bodies are often naked. In some species, the mucus-covered skin is used in cutaneous respiration, where the fish breathes through its skin. In some catfish, the skin is covered in bony plates called scutes; some form of body armour appears in various ways within the order. In Loricarioids and in the Asian genus Sisor, the armour is primarily made up of one or more rows of free dermal plates. Similar plates are found in large specimens of Lithodoras. These plates may be supported by vertebral processes, as in scoloplacids and in Sisor, but the processes never fuse to the plates or form any external armour. By contrast, in the subfamily Doumeinae (family Amphiliidae) and in hoplomyzontines (Aspredinidae), the armour is formed solely by expanded vertebral processes that form plates. Finally, the lateral armour of doradids, Sisor, and hoplomyzontines consists of hypertrophied lateral line ossicles with dorsal and ventral lamina.
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Subcategories
This category has the following 10 subcategories, out of 20 total.
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Pages in category "Catfish"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 436 total.
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- Callichthys callichthys
- Calophysus macropterus
- Centromochlus perugiae
- Centromochlus schultzi
- Cephalosilurus apurensis
- Cephalosilurus fowleri
- Cetopsis coecutiens
- Chaca bankanensis
- Chaca burmensis
- Chaca chaca
- Chaetostoma dorsale
- Chaetostoma formosae
- Chaetostoma milesi
- Chaetostoma thomsoni
- Channallabes apus
- Chrysichthys longipinnis
- Clarias alluaudi
- Clarias batrachus
- Clarotes laticeps
- Cnidoglanis macrocephalus
- Cordylancistrus daguae
- Corydoras adolfoi
- Corydoras aeneus
- Corydoras agassizii
- Corydoras amandajanea
- Corydoras ambiacus
- Corydoras arcuatus
- Corydoras armatus
- Corydoras atropersonatus
- Corydoras axelrodi
- Corydoras bilineatus
- Corydoras bondi
- Corydoras breei
- Corydoras brevirostris
- Corydoras burgessi
- Corydoras caudimaculatus
- Corydoras concolor
- Corydoras condiscipulus
- Corydoras copei
- Corydoras cruziensis
- Corydoras davidsandsi
- Corydoras delphax
- Corydoras diphyes
- Corydoras duplicareus
- Corydoras ehrhardti
- Corydoras elegans
- Corydoras ephippifer
- Corydoras fowleri
- Corydoras garbei
- Corydoras geryi
- Corydoras gomezi
- Corydoras gossei
- Corydoras griseus
- Corydoras guapore
- Corydoras habrosus
- Corydoras haraldschultzi
- Corydoras hastatus
- Corydoras imitator
- Corydoras incolicana
- Corydoras julii
- Corydoras leopardus
- Corydoras leucomelas
- Corydoras longipinnis
- Corydoras loretoensis
- Corydoras loxozonus
- Corydoras melanistius
- Corydoras melanotaenia
- Corydoras melini
- Corydoras metae
- Corydoras napoensis
- Corydoras narcissus
- Corydoras nattereri
- Corydoras nijsseni
- Corydoras oiapoquensis
- Corydoras ornatus
- Corydoras ortegai
- Corydoras ourastigma
- Corydoras paleatus
- Corydoras panda
- Corydoras pantanalensis
- Corydoras pastazensis
- Corydoras pinheiroi
- Corydoras polystictus
- Corydoras pulcher
- Corydoras pygmaeus
- Corydoras rabauti
- Corydoras reticulatus
- Corydoras reynoldsi
- Corydoras robineae
- Corydoras robustus
- Corydoras schwartzi
- Corydoras semiaquilus
- Corydoras septentrionalis
- Corydoras seussi
- Corydoras similis
- Corydoras simulatus
- Corydoras sodalis
- Corydoras spectabilis
- Corydoras sterbai
- Corydoras sychri
- Corydoras trilineatus
- Corydoras virginiae
- Corydoras weitzmani
- Corydoras xinguensis
- Corydoras zygatus
- Cranoglanis bouderius
D
H
- Hassar orestis
- Hemiancistrus guahiborum
- Hemiancistrus pankimpuju
- Hemiancistrus sp "L128"
- Hemiancistrus subviridis
- Hemibagrus nemurus
- Hemibagrus planiceps
- Hemibagrus punctatus
- Hemibagrus wyckii
- Hemibagrus wyckioides
- Hemiloricaria beni
- Hemiloricaria eigenmanni
- Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus
- Hemisorubim platyrhynchos
- Heteropneustes fossilis
- Hisonotus leucofrenatus
- Hisonotus paulinus
- Hoplosternum littorale
- Hoplosternum punctatum
- Horabagrus brachysoma
- Horabagrus nigricollaris
- Hyalobagrus flavus
- Hyalobagrus ornatus
- Hypancistrus contradens
- Hypancistrus debilittera
- Hypancistrus furunculus
- Hypancistrus inspector
- Hypancistrus lunaorum
- Hypancistrus margaritatus
- Hypancistrus sp "L004"
- Hypancistrus sp "L066"
- Hypancistrus sp "L201"
- Hypancistrus sp "L260"
- Hypancistrus sp "L270"
- Hypancistrus sp "L333"
- Hypancistrus sp "L411"
- Hypancistrus sp "Platinum"
- Hypancistrus vandragti
- Hypancistrus zebra
- Hypoptopoma gulare
- Hypoptopoma inexspectatum
- Hypoptopoma sp "Peru"
- Hypostomus cochliodon
- Hypostomus latifrons
- Hypostomus plecostomus
- Hypostomus punctatus
- Hypostomus roseopunctatus
- Hypostomus soniae
L
- Lamontichthys filamentosus
- Lasiancistrus heteracanthus
- Leiarius marmoratus
- Leiarius pictus
- Leiocassis longirostris
- Leiocassis siamensis
- Leporacanthicus galaxias
- Leporacanthicus joselimai
- Leporacanthicus sp "L326"
- Leporacanthicus triactis
- Lepthoplosternum pectorale
- Liosomadoras morrowi
- Liosomadoras oncinus
- Lophiobagrus cyclurus
- Lophiosilurus alexandri
- Loricaria simillima