Erethistidae

Taxobox
name = Erethistidae
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Siluriformes
superfamilia = Sisoroidea
familia = Erethistidae
familia_authority = Bleeker, 1862
subdivision_ranks = Generacite journal|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/zt01345p096.pdf|title=Genera of the Asian Catfish Families Sisoridae and Erethistidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes)|first=Alfred W.|last=Thomson|coauthors=Page, Lawrence M.|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1345|pages=1–96|year=2006|format=PDF]
subdivision = "Ayarnangra"
"Caelatoglanis"
"Conta"
"Erethistes"
"Erethistoides"
"Pseudolaguvia"

Erethistidae are a family of catfishes that originate from southern Asia.

Taxonomy

This family includes species previously placed in Sisoridae.cite book|title=Fishes of the World|last=Nelson|first=Joseph S.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc|year=2006|isbn=0-471-25031-7] They were removed because they were thought to be more closely related to the neotropical Aspredinidae than to the remaining sisorids due to a number of morphological characters.cite journal|first=R.|last=Diogo|coauthors=Chardon, M.; Vandewalle, P.|year=2003|title=Osteology and myology of the cephalic region and pectoral girdle of "Erethistes pusillus", comparison with other erethistids, and comments on the synapomorphies and phylogenetic relationships of the Erethistidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes)|journal=Journal of Fish Biology|volume=63|issue=5|pages=1160–1175|doi=10.1046/j.1095-8649.2003.00235.x] However, it has been suggested that the erethistid catfishes be included back into Sisoridae. [cite journal|url=http://silurus.acnatsci.org/ACSI/library/biblios/2007_Ferraris_Catfish_Checklist.pdf|title=Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types|first=Carl J., Jr.|last=Ferraris|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1418|pages=1–628|year=2007|format=PDF]

Distribution

Erethistids are found on the Indian subcontinent eastwards to western Thailand and northern Malay Peninsula.cite journal|url=http://www.pfeil-verlag.de/04biol/pdf/ief16_1_03.pdf|title="Conta pectinata", a new erethistid catfish (Teleostei: Erethistidae) from northeast India|first=Heok Hee|last=Ng|journal=Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters|volume=16|issue=1|pages=23–28|month=March | year=2005|format=PDF]

Description

Many of the members of this family are small, cryptically colored fishes with tuberculate skin. Erethistids are distinguished from sisorids by having a pectoral girdle with a long coracoid process that extends well beyond the base of the pectoral fin; this structure can be felt through the skin in all genera and is visible externally in all genera except "Pseudolaguvia". Erethistids differ from amblicipitids in that they lack a cuplike fold of skin in front of the pectoral fin (vs. possessing the cuplike fold), and have a dorsal fin with a strong spine and no thick covering of skin (vs. a weak spine with a thick covering of skin). Erethistids have nostrils close together, separated by a nasal barbel, which differs from akysids which have widely separated nostrils on each side of the head, with a barbel on the posterior nostril. Some erethistids possess a thoracic adhesive apparatus formed by longitudinal skin folds densely covered with unculi that appears to be an adaptation to life in fast flowing waters; this closely resembles a similar structure in the sisorid "Glyptothorax". [cite journal|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00388.pdf|title=A new species of the Asian catfish genus "Pseudolaguvia" from Myanmar (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Siluriformes: Erethistidae)|first=Ralf|last=Britzi|coauthors=Ferraris, Carl J., Jr.|journal=Zootaxa|volume=388|pages=1–8|year=2003|format=PDF]

References