The Macropodusinae are a

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 ...

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 ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

es in the gourami

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 ...

Osphronemidae Jan van der Hoeven (9 February 1801 – 10 March 1868) was a Dutch zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both l ...

, which includes the paradisefish, fighting fish and licorice gouramis. Like all members of the family, these are air breathing fishes that frequently inhabit oxygen poor environments hostile to other fishes (the licorice gouramies of ''Parosphromenus'' inhabit well-oxygenated, but extremely soft and acidic, blackwater streams). They are native to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

and north-easterly towards

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. Many members are common aquarium fish; by far the most famous is the Siamese fighting fish, ''Betta splendens'' (note that the domesticated form is very likely a hybrid). Most (not all) of the 70+ betta species are paternal mouthbrooders; the remaining members of the subfamily are bubblenesters like most osphronemids. The subfamily was originally named Macropodinae but this name was adjudged to be a

junior homonym In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

of the mammalian family

Macropodidae Macropodidae is a Family (biology), family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, Wallaby, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing ...

, the

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s and

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

, and the name was changed by

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

Opinion 2058 to Macropodusinae.

Genera

The following genera are classified in this subfamily. ''Betta'' is by far the largest genus with over 70 species (more than the rest of the subfamily combined and easily the largest osphronemid genus), followed by ''Parosphromenus'' (which, with at least 20 species, is the next most speciose osphronemid genus). * ''

Betta ''Betta'' is a large genus of small, active, often colorful, freshwater ray-finned fishes, in the gourami family (biology), family (Osphronemidae). The best known ''Betta'' species is ''B. splendens,'' commonly known as the Siamese fighting f ...

'' Bleeker 1849 * ''

Macropodus ''Macropodus'' is a genus of small to medium-sized labyrinth fish native to freshwater habitats in eastern Asia. Most species are restricted to southern China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Vietnam, but ''M. opercularis'' occurs as far nort ...

'' Lacepède, 1801 * ''

Malpulutta The ornate paradisefish (''Malpulutta kretseri'') or spotted gourami, is a species of gourami endemic to Sri Lanka. It is the only recognized species in its genus. It inhabits shallow, slow-flowing streams in forested areas shaded with plentiful ...

'' Deraniyagala, 1937 * ''

Parosphromenus ''Parosphromenus'' is a genus of gouramies native to freshwater in Southeast Asia. All species are highly specialized peat swamp inhabitants native to southeast Asia, and the males are usually brightly colored in breeding dress; however, their ne ...

'' Bleeker, 1877 * ''

Pseudosphromenus ''Pseudosphromenus'' is a genus of medium-small gouramies native to south and southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions tha ...

'' Bleeker, 1879 * ''

Trichopsis ''Trichopsis'' is a genus of gouramies native to Southeast Asia. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * '' Trichopsis pumila'' ( J. P. Arnold, 1936) (Pygmy gourami) * '' Trichopsis schalleri'' Ladiges, 1962 (Three ...

'' Canestrini, 1860

Gallery

Image:Betta albimarginata 060311 1.jpg, ''

Betta albimarginata ''Betta albimarginata'' is a species of betta fish, endemic to the island of Borneo where it is only found in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Timur. It inhabits the shallows () of forest streams amongst vegetation and debris along the sho ...

'' Image:Kampffisch betta splendenscele4.jpg,

Siamese fighting fish The Siamese fighting fish (''Betta splendens''), commonly known as the betta, is a freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is one of 76 species of the genus '' Bet ...

(''Betta splendens'') Image:Makropode_Quang_Binh-Makropode_060114_1.jpg, '' Red-backed paradise fish'' Image:Makropode_Makropodus_opercularis_060114_1.jpg,

Paradise fish The fork tailed paradisefish (often just called paradise fish, paradise-fish, paradisefish), or paradise gourami (''Macropodus opercularis'') is a species of gourami found in most types of fresh water in East Asia, ranging from the China to nort ...

(''Macropodus opercularis'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10575588 Osphronemidae