''Clupeocharax'' is a

monospecific genus 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 ...

of freshwater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Alestidae African tetras (family (biology), family Alestidae, formerly spelled Alestiidae) are a group of Characiformes, characiform fish found exclusively in Africa. This family contains about 18 genera and 119 species. Among the best known members are th ...

, the African tetras. The only species in the genus is ''Clupeocharax schoutedeni'' a fish that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Taxonomy

''Clupeocharax'' was first proposed as a genus in 1926 by the French

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Jacques Pellegrin Jacques Pellegrin (12 June 1873 – 12 August 1944) was a French zoology, zoologist. Biography Pellegrin was born in Paris on 12 June 1873. He worked under zoologist Léon Vaillant (chair of reptiles and fishes) at the ''Muséum national d'hi ...

when he described its only species, ''Clupeocharax schoutedeni''.type locality of ''C. schoutedeni'' was given as

Tondu Tondu () is a village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, located about north of the town of Bridgend, in the community of Ynysawdre. Tondu lies on the A4063 from Bridgend to Maesteg, and was established in the late 18th century as a coal mini ...

in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This taxon is classified within the African tetra family, Alestidae, in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Characiformes Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationsh ...

Etymology

''Clupeocharax'' combines ''

Clupea ''Clupea'' is genus of planktivorous bony fish belonging to the family Clupeidae, commonly known as herrings. They are found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two main ...

'', Latin for "

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

", a reference to this peagic species herring-like body, with '' Charax'', the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the order Characiformes. ''Charax'' is derived from the Greek word ''chárax'', which means a "pointed stake in a palisade", an allausion to these fishes having densely arranged sharp teeth and which forms the root of many genus names of characins. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours

Henri Schouteden Henri Schouteden (9 July 1881 in Brussels – 15 November 1972 in Brussels) was a Belgian zoologist, ornithologist and entomologist who undertook numerous expeditions into the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. Works (All in French) *Schouteden, H. (191 ...

, a Belgian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

who collected specimens in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, including the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of this taxon.

Description

''Clupeocharax'', as its name suggests, has a herring like body that grows to a maximum

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

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Clupeocharax'' is endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo where it occurs in

Lake Tumba Lake Tumba (or Ntomba) is a shallow lake in northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the Bikoro Territory of the Province of Équateur. The lake covers about depending on the season, connected via the Irebu channel with th ...

and Lake Yandja, near

Yangambi Yangambi is a town in Isangi territory of Tshopo province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Location Yangambi is on the north side of the Congo River and lies on the R408 road which connects it to Kisangani 100 kilometers to the east. This road ...

in the Central

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

basin. It has also been collected in and around

Lake Mai-Ndombe Lake Mai-Ndombe (, ) is a large freshwater lake in Mai-Ndombe province in western Democratic Republic of the Congo. The lake is within the Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe area, the largest Wetland of International Importance recognized by the Ramsar Con ...

and it is likely that ''C. schoutendeni'' hase a wider distribution in Central Congo. This is a

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reefs. ...

Conservation

''Clupeothorax'' is classified by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 stat ...

as Vulnerable, citing the example that overfishing has wiped out almost all the adult fish in Lake Tumba, so much that the former fishermen around the lake have ceased fishing and are now farmers.

References

Alestidae Monotypic fish genera Endemic fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Fish of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Taxa named by Jacques Pellegrin Fish described in 1926 {{Characiformes-stub