Cranoglanis

Cranoglanis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Superfamily:	Ictaluroidea
Family:	Cranoglanididae Myers, 1931
Genus:	Cranoglanis Peters, 1881
Type species
Cranoglanis sinensis Peters, 1881
Species
Cranoglanis bouderius Cranoglanis henrici Cranoglanis multiradiatus
Synonyms
Anopleutropius Vaillant, 1893 Pseudeutropichthys Koller, 1926

Cranoglanis is the only genus of catfishes (order Siluriformes) in the family Cranoglanididae, the armorhead catfishes. This family contains only three species, C. bouderius, C. henrici, and C. multiradiatus.^[1]

Taxonomy

Cranoglanis bouderius was first described as Bagrus bouderius in 1846 by John Richardson based on a Chinese watercolor painting.^[2] Wilhelm Peters later described Cranoglanis along with a new species, Cranoglanis sinensis. Koller (1926) described a new species, Pseudotropichthys multiradiatus. Myers (1931) synonymized Pseudotropichthys with Cranoglanis, as well as describing 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.^[2] C. henrici, described by Léon Vaillant in 1893, is often overlooked, but is a valid species.^[2]

In 2005, Cranoglanis had been considered a monotypic genus by some, with C. bouderius as the only valid species.^[1]

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

Distribution and habitat

These fish are found in large fresh water rivers in China and Vietnam.^[4] C. henrici is only known from the Red River drainage.^[2] C. bouderius is found in the Kwangsi province of China and is found in river bottoms with clear water flows.^[5]

Appearance and anatomy

These fish have a short dorsal fin. The caudal fin is deeply forked. The eyes are larged. The body is scaleless, though there are rough bony plates on the top of the head. These fish have four pairs of barbels.^[4] C. bouderius grows to a length of 43 centimetres (17 in) SL and has a maximum published weight of 2.2 kilograms (4.9 lb).^[5] C. henrici reaches a length of about 29 centimetres (11 in) SL.^[6]

Ecology

C. bouderius lives on shrimps and small fishes.^[5]

Relationship to humans

This fish is delicious and is the main edible of the Zhujiang River valley.^[5]

See also

• List of fish families

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Ferraris, Carl J., Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa 1418: 1–628. http://silurus.acnatsci.org/ACSI/library/biblios/2007_Ferraris_Catfish_Checklist.pdf. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} 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. http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/zoosyst/z00n4a13.pdf. 
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. ^ ^{a b} Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2007). "Cranoglanis bouderius" in FishBase. June 2007 version.
6. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2007). "Cranoglanis henrici" in FishBase. June 2007 version.