''Atopochilus'' is a
genus
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 n ...
of
upside-down catfishes native to
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 ...
.
Species
There are currently seven recognized species in this genus:
* ''
Atopochilus chabanaudi
''Atopochilus chabanaudi'' is a species of upside-down catfish endemic to the Republic of the Congo where it occurs in Stanley Pool. It is consumed for food and is threatened by urbanisation of Stanley Pool, water pollution and lead toxicity w ...
''
Pellegrin, 1938
* ''
Atopochilus christyi''
Boulenger, 1920
* ''
Atopochilus macrocephalus''
Boulenger, 1906
* ''
Atopochilus mandevillei''
Poll, 1959
* ''
Atopochilus pachychilus''
Pellegrin, 1924
* ''
Atopochilus savorgnani''
Sauvage Sauvage, French for "savage" may refer to:
; as a surname:
* Catherine Sauvage (1929–1998), a French singer and actress
* Cyrille Sauvage (born 1973), a French racing driver
* Frédéric Sauvage (1786–1857), a French boat builder who carried ...
, 1879
* ''
Atopochilus vogti''
Pellegrin, 1922
Description
''Atopochilus'' species have their lips and barbels modified into a
suckermouth In fish, a suckermouth is a ventrally-oriented (inferior) mouth adapted for grazing on algae and small organisms that grow on submerged objects.
All Loricariidae possess a suckermouth as do the cypriniform algae eaters of the genus '' Gyrinocheilu ...
.
''Atopochilus'' species range in size from in length.
[
]
References
Mochokidae
Fish of Africa
Catfish genera
Taxa named by Henri Émile Sauvage
Freshwater fish genera
{{mochokidae-stub