Heteropneustes is a genus of catfishes, the airsac catfishes, native to Asia. This genus has been placed in the monotypic family Heteropneustidae,[1][2] but Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes now includes it in family Clariidae.[3]
| Heteropneustes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Heteropneustes fossilis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Superfamily: | Siluroidea |
| Family: | Clariidae Hora, 1936 |
| Genus: | Heteropneustes J. P. Müller, 1840 |
| Type species | |
| Silurus fossilis Bloch, 1794 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Saccobranchus | |
Their bodies are elongated and compressed with greatly depressed heads. They have long air sacs that serve as lungs that extend from the gill chamber. Their dorsal fins are short and have no spine. Their pectoral fins have an associated venom gland, so the fish are considered dangerous.[1] They are oviparous; distinct pairing is possible.
Species
editUp to six species in this genus are recognized:[2][3]
- Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794) (stinging catfish)
- Heteropneustes fuscus Plamoottil, 2021[4] (Travancore black stinging catfish)
- Heteropneustes kemratensis (Fowler, 1937)
- Heteropneustes longipectoralis Rema Devi & Raghunathan, 1999
- Heteropneustes nani Hossain, Sarker, Sharifuzzaman & Chowdhury, 2013[5]
- Heteropneustes microps (Günther, 1864)
H. microps is recognised by FishBase[2], whereas the Catalog of Fishes considers H. microps a synonym of H. fossilis.[3]
References
edit- 1 2 Nelson, J. S. (2006). Fishes of the World (4 ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 180–181. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
- 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Heteropneustes". FishBase. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Heteropneustes". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ↑ Plamoottil, Mathews (2021). "Heteropneustes fuscus (Siluriformes: Heteropneustidae), a new catfish species from Kerala, India". Biodiversitas. 23 (1): 87–98. doi:10.13057/biodiv/d230112.
- ↑ Hossain, M.S.; Sarker, S.; Sharifuzzaman, S.M.; Chowdhury, S.R. (2013). "New species of stinging catfish Heteropneustes nani (Siluriformes: Heteropneustidae) from Noakhali, Bangladesh" (PDF). Vertebrate Zoology. 63 (3): 259–267. doi:10.3897/vz.63.e31441.
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