The Amblycipitidae are a family of

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

es, commonly known as torrent catfishes. It includes three

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

, ''

Amblyceps ''Amblyceps'' is a genus of fish in the family Amblycipitidae.Ferraris, C.J.Jr. (2007)Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types.''Zootaxa, 1418: 1–628.'' The genera ''Am ...

'', ''

Liobagrus ''Liobagrus'' is a genus of catfishes of the family Amblycipitidae. ''Liobagrus'' fishes are distributed in the Yangtze River basin, Taiwan, Japan, and the Korea Peninsula. The adipose fin of these fishes is a confluent with the caudal fin. ...

'', and ''

Xiurenbagrus ''Xiurenbagrus'' is a genus of torrent catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Amblycipitidae. It includes three species. Taxonomy ''X. xiurenensis'' was first described in 1981 as ''Liobagrus xiurenensis''. However, it was realized tha ...

'', and about 36 species.

Taxonomy

The family Amblycipitidae is 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 gr ...

group containing four monophyletic genera, ''Amblyceps'', ''Liobagrus'', ''Nahangbagrus'' and ''Xiurenbagrus''. It is the most basal sisoroid family and is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to a

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 ter ...

formed by the remaining families. The genera ''Amblyceps'' and ''Liobagrus'' are a sister group pair that is, in turn, sister to ''Xiurenbagrus''.

Distribution and habitat

These kinds of fishes can be found in swift freshwater streams in southern and eastern

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 are ...

, including

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

across northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. ''Amblyceps'' are mainly distributed in

and the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

. ''Liobagrus'' fishes are distributed in the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

basin,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, Japan, and the Korea Peninsula. The species of the genus ''Xiurenbagrus'' are only distributed in the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

basin.

Description

Fish of this family have

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

s covered by skin. An

adipose fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

is also present, and is fused with the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

in some species. The dorsal fin base is short and the dorsal fin spine is weak. The anal fin base is short. There are six pairs of

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some s ...

. The

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

is poorly developed or absent. Both ''Amblyceps'' and ''Liobagrus'' species grow to about SL. ''Liobagrus'' is more stoutly built than ''Amblyceps'', the nostrils are close together in ''Amblyceps'' and distinctly apart in ''Liobagrus'', and ''Amblyceps'' species have a cup-like flap above the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s that is absent in ''Liobagrus''. Also, ''Amblyceps'' has double-folded lips and fin margins pigmented differently from the background colour, while ''Liobagrus'' has single-folded lips and fin margins paler than the background colour.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q80307 Fish of Asia Catfish families Taxa named by Francis Day