Characidae, the characids, is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

belonging to the order Characiformes. They are found throughout much of Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, including such major waterways as the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and Orinoco Rivers.Nelson (2006) These fish vary in length; many are less than . The name " characins" is a historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a, by and large,

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

group (at family rank). This family includes some of the first characiforms to be described to science, such as '' Charax'' and '' Tetragonopterus'', and thus lend their name to the order, as well as to common names such as "characin" and " tetra". Past taxonomic treatments had a much more expansive definition of the family, including numerous South American fish families such as the piranhas and dorados, as well as the African alestids. Following multiple taxonomic revisions, this was eventually restricted to just the American "tetra" type characins by the 2010s. However, even this definition of Characidae was found to obscure much of the evolutionary diversity within the group, and in 2024 the "tetra" families Acestrorhamphidae and Stevardiidae were split out of the Characidae, leaving it with just five subfamilies.

Classification

Taxonomy

The following classification is based on '' Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'' (2025):

Family Characidae * Subfamily Aphyocharacinae Eigenmann, 1909 ** '' Amazonichthys'' Esguícero & Mendonça, 2023 ** '' Aphyocharacidium'' Géry, 1960 ** '' Aphyocharax'' Günther, 1868 ** '' Cyanogaster'' Mattox, Britz, Toledo-Piza & Marinho, 2013 ** '' Leptagoniates'' Boulenger, 1887 ** '' Paragoniates'' Steindachner, 1876 ** '' Phenagoniates'' Eigenmann & Wilson, 1914 ** '' Prionobrama'' Fowler, 1913 ** '' Xenagoniates'' Myers, 1942 * Subfamily Cheirodontinae Eigenmann, 1915 ** '' Acinocheirodon'' Malabarba & Weitzman, 1999 ** '' Amblystilbe'' Fowler, 1940 ** '' Aphyocheirodon'' Eigenmann, 1915 ** '' Cheirodon'' Girard, 1855 ** '' Cheirodontops'' Schultz, 1944 ** '' Compsura'' Eigenmann, 1915 ** '' Ctenocheirodon'' Malabarba & Jerep, 2012Malabarba, L.R. & Jerep, F.C. (2012): A New Genus and Species of Cheirodontine Fish from South America (Teleostei: Characidae). ''Copeia, 2012 (2): 243–250.'' ** '' Heterocheirodon'' Malabarba, 1998 ** '' Holoshesthes'' Eigenmann, 1903 ** '' Kolpotocheirodon'' Malabarba & Weitzman, 2000 ** '' Macropsobrycon'' Eigenmann, 1915 ** '' Nanocheirodon'' Malabarba, 1998 ** '' Odontostilbe'' Cope, 1870 ** '' Prodontocharax'' Eigenmann & Pearson, 1924 ** '' Protocheirodon'' Vari, Melo & Oliveira, 2016Vari, R.P., Melo, B.F. & Oliveira, C. (2016): ''Protocheirodon'', a new genus of Characidae (Teleostei: Characiformes) with the redescription of the poorly known ''Protocheirodon pi''. ''Neotropical Ichthyology, 14 (2): e150154.'' ** '' Pseudocheirodon'' Meek & Hildebrand, 1916 ** '' Saccoderma'' Schultz, 1944 ** '' Serrapinnus'' Malabarba 1998 * Subfamily Exodontinae Fowler, 1958 ** '' Bryconexodon'' Géry, 1980 ** '' Exodon'' Müller & Troschel, 1844 ** '' Roeboexodon'' Géry, 1959 * Subfamily Tetragonopterinae Gill, 1858 ** '' Tetragonopterus'' Cuvier, 1816 * Subfamily Characinae Latreille, 1825 ** '' Acanthocharax'' Eigenmann, 1912 ** '' Acestrocephalus'' Eigenmann, 1910 ** '' Atopomesus'' Myers, 1927 ** '' Charax'' Scopoli, 1777 ** '' Cynopotamus'' Valenciennes, 1850 ** '' Galeocharax'' Fowler, 1910 ** '' Microschemobrycon'' Eigenmann, 1915 ** '' Phenacogaster'' Eigenmann, 1907 ** '' Roeboides'' Günther 1864

Former members

This family has undergone a large amount of systematic and taxonomic change. More recent revision has moved many former members of the family into their own related but distinct families – the pencilfishes of the genus '' Nannostomus'' are a typical example, having now been moved into the Lebiasinidae, the assorted predatory species belonging to '' Hoplias'' and '' Hoplerythrinus'' have now been moved into the Erythrinidae, and the sabre-toothed fishes of the genus '' Hydrolycus'' have been moved into the Cynodontidae. The former subfamily Alestiinae was promoted to family level ( Alestiidae) and the subfamilies Crenuchinae and Characidiinae were moved to the family Crenuchidae. Other fish families that were formerly classified as members of the Characidae, but which were moved into separate families of their own during recent taxonomic revisions (after 1994) include Acestrorhynchidae, Anostomidae, Chilodidae, Citharinidae, Ctenoluciidae, Curimatidae, Distichodontidae, Gasteropelecidae, Hemiodontidae, Hepsetidae, Parodontidae,

Prochilodontidae The Prochilodontidae, or flannel-mouthed characins, are a small family of freshwater fishes found primarily in the northern half of South America, south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. This family is closely related to the Curimatidae, and in ...

Serrasalmidae The Serrasalmidae (serrasalmids) are a family of characiform fishes native to freshwater habitats of South America. They include more than 90 species. The name means "serrated salmon family", which refers to the serrated keel running along the ...

, and Triportheidae.Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011)
Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling.
''BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275'' In 2024, the families Stevardiidae and Acestrorhamphidae, containing a high proportion of the famous ornamental aquarium tetras, were also split out of the family, in addition to the small family Spintherobolidae.

References

* * de Lucena, Carlos Alberto Santos (2003): New characid fish, ''Hyphessobrycon scutulatus'', from the rio Teles Pires drainage, upper rio Tapajós system (Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Characidae). ''Neotropical Ichthyology'' 1(2): 93–96
PDF fulltext
* Géry, Jacques (1977): ''Characoids of the World''. * Nelson, Joseph S. (2006): '' Fishes of the World''. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. {{Authority control Characiformes families