''Parambassis'' 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 ...

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...

in the Asiatic glassfish

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 ...

Ambassidae The Asiatic glassfishes are a family, the Ambassidae, of freshwater and marine ray-finned fishes. Some species are known as perchlets. The family has also been called Chandidae, and some sources continue to use the name, but as Ambassidae was u ...

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 ...

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is the Iridescent glassy perchlet (''Ambassis apogonoides''). These fishes originate mostly from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, but the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

range across the

Indomalayan The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

and

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is one of eight biogeographic realms that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua Ne ...

s, 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# ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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 ...

south through

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Although primiarly found in

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

, a few species can also be seen in

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...

. The ''Parambassis'' species range in maximum size from , but they are similar in appearance, with a

lozenge Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge A throat lozenge (also known as a cough drop, sore throat sweet, troche, cachou, pastille or cough sweet) is a small, typically medicated tablet intended to ...

-shaped form, typical

perciform Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means "perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters (Percidae), and also sea ...

fins, and semitransparent or transparent body. Several of the species are common food fish in local markets, and some (most notably the Indian glassy perchlet) are kept as

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

fish.

Species

There are currently 19 currently recognized species in this genus: * '' Parambassis alleni'' ( N. C. Datta & S. Chaudhuri, 1993) * '' Parambassis altipinnis'' G. R. Allen, 1982 (High-finned glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis apogonoides'' ( Bleeker, 1851) (Iridescent glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis baculis'' ( F. Hamilton, 1822) (Himalayan glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis bistigmata'' Geetakumari, 2012 * '' Parambassis confinis'' ( M. C. W. Weber, 1913) (Sepik glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis dayi'' ( Bleeker, 1874) (Day's glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis gulliveri'' ( Castelnau, 1878) (Giant glassfish) * '' Parambassis lala'' ( F. Hamilton, 1822) (High-fin glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis macrolepis'' ( Bleeker, 1856) * '' Parambassis piratica'' ( T. R. Roberts, 1989) * '' Parambassis pulcinella'' Kottelat, 2003 (Humphead glassy perchlet) * ''

Parambassis ranga ''Parambassis ranga'', commonly known as the Indian glassy fish, Indian glassy perch, or Indian X-ray fish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the Asiatic glassfish family Ambassidae. It is native to an area of South Asia from Pakista ...

'' ( F. Hamilton, 1822) (Indian glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis serrata'' Mayanglambam & Vishwanath, 2015Mayanglambam, D. & Vishwanath, W. (2015): ''Parambassis serrata'', a new species of glassperch (Teleostei: Ambassidae) from the Kaladan drainage, India. ''Zootaxa, 4040 (5): 583–588.'' * '' Parambassis siamensis'' ( Fowler, 1937) (Indochinese glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis tenasserimensis'' Roberts, 1995 * '' Parambassis thomassi'' ( F. Day, 1870) (Western Ghats glassy perchlet) * '' Parambassis vollmeri'' T. R. Roberts, 1995 * '' Parambassis waikhomi'' Geetakumari & Basudha, 2012Geetakumari, K. & Basudha, C. (2012)
''Parambassis waikhomi'', a new species of glassfish (Teleostei: Ambassidae) from Loktak Lake, northeastern India.
''Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4 (14): 3327–3332.'' * '' Parambassis wolffii'' ( Bleeker, 1850) (Dusky-fin glassy perchlet)

References

Freshwater fish genera Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker {{Ambassidae-stub