''Percocypris'' is a genus of

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...

freshwater fishes found in large rivers and Fuxian Lake in the highlands of southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and northern

mainland southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

. They are predators that mainly feed on smaller fish. They can reach up to around in

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

and more than in weight. ''Percocypris'' all are rare and threatened. As of 2013, the Chinese Red List only recognizes one species in this genus (others considered

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

) and treats it as vulnerable. ''P. tchangi'' of the Red River has not been confirmed since its original description in 1936 (however, ''P. retrodorsalis'' has been recorded recently and some include it in ''P. tchangi''). Primary threats are overfishing and habitat loss, especially from dams and pollution. ''P. pingi'' is farmed and captive-bred individuals are released back into the wild by several institutions in an attempt of countering its threatened status.

Taxonomy and species

The currently recognized species historically were all considered as

of ''P. pingi'', a treatment still used by

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. Genetic and morphological evidence support their validity as separate species and also indicate that there are two currently

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

(one from upper Pearl River, another from Salween River), bringing the total to six allospecies. The status of ''P. retrodorsalis'' remains disputed. It is recognized as a species by Catalog of Fishes, but not by

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

where included in ''P. tchangi''. * '' Percocypris pingi'' ( T. L. Tchang, 1930) * '' Percocypris regani'' ( T. L. Tchang, 1935) * '' Percocypris retrodorsalis'' Cui & Chu, 1990 * '' Percocypris tchangi'' ( Pellegrin & Chevey, 1936)

References

Schizothoracinae Cyprinid fish of Asia Cyprinidae genera {{Cyprinidae-stub