Chaetobranchini is a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Cichlinae The Cichlinae are a subfamily of fishes in the Cichlidae, cichlid family, native to Centra America, Central and South America. This subfamily consists of approximately 117 described species as of July 2017. Some authors have suggested that the ...

, the American cichlids. They are distributed from the river basin of the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

and

the Guianas The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, are a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana respectiv ...

south to the basins of the

Río Paraná Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

and Río Paraguay . The two recognised genera of the Chaetobranchini have been classified together with '' Astronotus'' in the subfamily Astronotinae but the consensus is that this genus forms the

monogeneric 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 "unispe ...

tribe, the

Astronotini ''Astronotus'' is a genus of South American fish from the family Cichlidae. There are two commonly recognized species in the genus (listed below), though genetic evidence suggests that additional species exist; several of these possibly distinct ...

, these two each being one of the seven tribes in Cichlinae.

Characteristics

The species in Chaetobranchini grow to lengths of in length and have an oval, laterally compressed body with a pointed head. They have small mouths and teeth, feed on plankton using filaments on their gill arches as a filter. The chaetobranchins possess a very reduced lower pharyngeal jaw which has elongated lateral processes, a keel and conical teeth. Chaetobranchines are also characterised by their long pointed

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s, which extend almost to the end of the base of the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

and the three or four long posterior lateral lines which reach to the

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

Genera

The two genera included in the Chaetobranchini are: * '' Chaetobranchopsis''

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1875 * '' Chaetobranchus'' Heckel, 1840

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9188606 Cichlinae Fish tribes