''Hepsetus'' is a

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 freshwater

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

belonging to the

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 ...

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 ...

Hepsetidae, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order

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 ...

. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H. odoe'', but studies in 2011–2013 have shown that this species is restricted to parts of

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. The well-known species of southern Africa, including

Kafue River The long Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia. Its water is used for irrigation and for generating Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it ...

, is ''

Hepsetus cuvieri ''Hepsetus cuvieri'', the African pike, Southern African pike or Kafue pike characin, is a predatory species of freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Monotypic taxon, monotypic Family (biology), family Hepsetidae, the Afric ...

''. These predatory fish reach up to in length. A 2024 study found their closest relatives to be the newly-defined family

Lepidarchidae Lepidarchidae is a small 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. I ...

, which they diverged from during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

. The divergence of these two families appears to have been driven by the

Trans-Saharan Seaway The Trans-Saharan seaway was a sea in the present-day Sahara in the Late Cretaceous period to the Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eoce ...

, which served as a marine barrier between western and eastern Africa at the time.

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus: * ''

'' ( Castelnau, 1861) * ''

Hepsetus kingsleyae ''Hepsetus'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the monotypic family Hepsetidae, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H ...

'' Vreven, Decru & Snoeks, 2013 * ''

Hepsetus lineatus ''Hepsetus'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the monotypic family Hepsetidae, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H ...

'' ( Pellegrin, 1926) * '' Hepsetus microlepis'' ( Boulenger, 1901) * ''

Hepsetus occidentalis ''Hepsetus'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the monotypic family Hepsetidae, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H ...

'' Decru, Snoeks & Vreven, 2013 * ''

Hepsetus odoe ''Hepsetus odoe'', the African pike characin, is a predatory freshwater characin belonging to the family Hepsetidae. It was formerly considered that there was a single species of ''Hepsetus'' pike characin but recent studies have led to the spec ...

'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred Bloch ( ...

, 1794) Synonym: * ''Hepsetus akawo'' Decru, Vreven & Snoeks, 2012 = ''

''FishBase: Scientific Names where Genus Equals Hepsetus
/ref>

References

Hepsetidae Characiformes genera Freshwater fish genera Freshwater fish of Africa Taxa named by William Swainson {{Characiformes-stub