''Cranoglanis'' is the only

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of armorhead catfishes.

Taxonomy

''Cranoglanis bouderius'' was first described as ''Bagrus bouderius'' in 1846 by John Richardson based on a Chinese

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

. Wilhelm Peters later described ''Cranoglanis'' along with a new species, ''Cranoglanis sinensis''. Otto Koller (1926) described a new species, ''Pseudotropichthys multiradiatus''. George Myers (1931) synonymized ''Pseudotropichthys'' with ''Cranoglanis'', as well as described the family Cranoglanididae. Jayaram (1955) synonymized ''C. multiradiatus'' and ''C. sinensis'' under ''C. bouderius''. More recently, ''C. bouderius'' and ''C. multiradiatus'' have been treated as separate species. ''C. henrici'', described by Léon Vaillant in 1893, is often overlooked, but is a valid species. In 2005, ''Cranoglanis'' had been considered a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus by some, with ''C. bouderius'' as the only valid species. The Cranoglanididae are closely related to the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n family

Ictaluridae The Ictaluridae, sometimes called ictalurids, are a family of catfish native to North America, where they are an important food source and sometimes fished for sport. The family includes about 51 species, some commonly known as bullheads, madt ...

. These two families are

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

in the superfamily Ictaluroidea.

Species

The five currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Cranoglanis bouderius'' ( J. Richardson, 1846) * ''

Cranoglanis caolangensis ''Cranoglanis'' is the only genus of armorhead catfishes. Taxonomy ''Cranoglanis bouderius'' was first described as ''Bagrus bouderius'' in 1846 by John Richardson based on a Chinese watercolor painting. Wilhelm Peters later described ''Cranogl ...

'' V. H. Nguyễn, 2005 * '' Cranoglanis henrici'' ( Vaillant, 1893) * ''

Cranoglanis multiradiatus ''Cranoglanis multiradiatus'' is a species of armorhead catfish found in China with questionable records from Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast A ...

'' ( Koller, 1926) * '' Cranoglanis songhongensis'' V. H. Nguyễn, 2005

Distribution and habitat

These fish are found in large

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 ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s in

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

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Appearance and anatomy

These fish have short

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

s. The caudal fins are deeply forked. The eyes are large. Their bodies are scaleless, though rough, bony plates are located on the tops of their heads. These fish have four pairs of

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q653843 Cranoglanididae Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Catfish of Asia Catfish genera

Taxonomy

Species

Distribution and habitat

Appearance and anatomy

See also

References