The Anabantiformes , collectively known as Labyrinth fish. are an order of air-breathing

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does includ ...

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

with two

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s, five

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

(

Channidae The snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with ...

Aenigmachannidae ''Aenigmachanna'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the order Ananbantiformes. It is the only genus in the family Aenigmachannidae, or dragon snakeheads. It contains two species, both of which are largely restricted to subterranean habitats in ...

, Anabantidae, Helostomatidae, and Osphronemidae) and having at least 207 species. In addition, some authorities expand the order to include the suborder Nandoidei, which includes three families - the Nandidae, Badidae and Pristolepididae - that appear to be closely related to the Anabantiformes. The order, and these three related families (classified as ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertaint ...

'' by the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

''), are part of a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic grou ...

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

which is a sister clade to the

Ovalentaria Ovalentaria is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the Percomorpha, referred to as a subseries. It is made up of a group of fish families which are referred to in ''Fishes of the World's'' fifth edition as'' incertae sedis'', as well as the orde ...

, the other orders in the clade being Synbranchiformes,

Carangiformes Carangiformes is an order of the ray-finned fishes. The order is part of a clade which is a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, the other orders in the clade being Synbranchiformes, Anabantiformes, Istiophoriformes and Pleuronectiformes. The Cara ...

Istiophoriformes Istiophoriformes are an order of bony fish which is not fully recognized by some taxonomists, with some including the two extant families Xiphiidae and Istiophoridae, and others including the family Sphyraenidae. Families The following famili ...

and

Pleuronectiformes A flatfish is a member of the ray-finned demersal fish order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migratin ...

. This clade is sometimes referred to as the Carangaria but is left unnamed and unranked in ''Fishes of the World''. This group of fish are found in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, with some species introduced in

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. These fish are characterized by the presence of teeth on the parasphenoid. The snakeheads and the anabantoids are united by the presence of the labyrinth organ, which is a highly folded supra branchial accessory breathing organ. It is formed by

vascular The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide awa ...

ized expansion of the epibranchial bone of the first gill arch and used for

respiration Respiration may refer to: Biology * Cellular respiration, the process in which nutrients are converted into useful energy in a cell ** Anaerobic respiration, cellular respiration without oxygen ** Maintenance respiration, the amount of cellul ...

in air.Pinter, H. (1986). Labyrinth Fish. Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Many species are popular as aquarium fish - the most notable are the

Siamese fighting fish The Siamese fighting fish (''Betta splendens''), commonly known as the betta, is a freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is one of 73 species of the genus ''Bett ...

and several species of

gourami Gouramis, or gouramies , are a group of freshwater anabantiform fishes that comprise the family Osphronemidae. The fish are native to Asia—from the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia and northeasterly towards Korea. The name "gourami", of ...

es. In addition to being aquarium fish, some of the larger anabantiforms (such as the giant gourami) are also harvested for food in their native countries.

Taxonomy

There are two suborders and five families currently recognized within the order Anabantiformes: * suborder Anabantoidei

Berg Berg may refer to: People * Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer Former states *Berg (state), county and duchy of the Ho ...

, 1940 ** family Anabantidae Bonaparte, 1831 *** '' Anabas'' ( Cloquet, 1816) *** '' Ctenopoma'' ( Peters, 1844) *** '' Microctenopoma'' ( Norris, 1995) *** '' Sandelia'' ( Castelnau, 1861) ** family Helostomatidae

Gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...

, 1872 *** '' Helostoma'' ( Cuvier, 1829) ** family Osphronemidae van der Hoeven, 1832 *** Subfamily Belontiinae (

Liem Many ethnic Chinese people have lived in Indonesia for many centuries. Over time, especially under social and political pressure during the New Order era, most Chinese Indonesians have adopted names that better match the local language. History ...

, 1962) **** '' Belontia'' (

Myers Myers as a surname has several possible origins, e.g. Old French ("physician"), Old English ("mayor"), and Old Norse ("marsh"). People * Abram F. Myers (born 1889), chair of the Federal Trade Commission and later general counsel and board cha ...

, 1923) *** Subfamily Osphroneminae (van der Hoeven, 1832) **** '' Osphronemus'' ( Lacepède, 1801) *** Subfamily Luciocephalinae ( Bleeker, 1852) **** '' Luciocephalus'' (Bleeker, 1851) **** '' Sphaerichthys'' ( Canestrini, 1860) **** '' Ctenops'' (

McClelland McClelland is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alyssa McClelland, Australian actress * Charles A. McClelland (1917–2006), American political systems analyst * Charles P. McClelland (1854–1944), New York politician, and US ...

, 1845) **** '' Parasphaerichthys'' (Prashad & Mukerji, 1929) *** Subfamily Macropodusinae ( Hoedeman, 1948) **** '' Trichogaster'' ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801) **** '' Trichopodus'' (Lacepède, 1801) **** ''

Betta ''Betta'' is a large genus of small, active, often colorful, freshwater ray-finned fishes, in the gourami family (Osphronemidae). The best known ''Betta'' species is ''B. splendens,'' commonly known as the Siamese fighting fish and often kept ...

'' (Bleeker, 1850) **** '' Parosphromenus'' (Bleeker, 1877) **** '' Macropodus'' (Lacepède, 1801) **** '' Malpulutta'' ( Deraniyagala, 1937) **** '' Pseudosphromenus'' (Bleeker, 1879) **** '' Trichopsis'' (Canestrini, 1860) * suborder Channoidei Berg, 1940 ** family

Britz ''et al.'', 2020 *** '' Aenigmachanna'' (

Britz Britz () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Neukölln. History The village of ''Britzig'' was first mentioned in 1273. It was incorporated by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. It is known for being the site ...

, Anoop, Dahanukar and Raghavan, 2019) ** family

Fowler, 1934 ***''

Parachanna ''Parachanna'' is a genus of snakeheads native to freshwater habitats in tropical Africa. Three recognized extant (living) species are in this genus, but a phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe ...

'' (Guy G. Teugels, Teugels & Jacques Daget, Daget, 1984) ***''Channa'' (Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Scopoli, 1777)

Alternative systematics

Phylogeny

Below shows the phylogenetic relationships among the Anabantiform families after Collins et al. (2015), here including the Nandoidei as Anabantiforms:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1744606