''Phractura'' 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 ...

loach catfish The loach catfishes are a family, Amphiliidae, of catfishes (order Siluriformes). They are widespread in tropical Africa, but are most common in streams at high elevations; most species are able to cling to rocks in fast-flowing streams. The 13 g ...

es (

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 ...

Siluriformes) that occur in Africa. ''Phractura'' species are elongated fish with a long

caudal peduncle 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 ...

and bony scutes on the sides, back, and belly., this feature giving the genus its name from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''phraktos'', which means enclosed and ''oura'' which means tail. ''Phractura'' species are often associated with vegetation. The genus was originally given the name ''Peltura'' but this name was preoccupied by a genus of

trilobites Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, ...

which the name ''

Peltura ''Peltura'' is a genus of trilobites from the Upper Cambrian. The type specimen of ''Peltura scarabaeoides'', the type species of the genus, was discovered in the Alum Shale Formation of Sweden and described by the Swedish naturalist Göran Wah ...

'' had been applied to by

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

in 1846. ''Phractura'' species, like other genera in Doumeinae, have a mouth modified into a

suckermouth In fish, a suckermouth is a ventrally-oriented (inferior) mouth adapted for grazing on algae and small organisms that grow on submerged objects. All Loricariidae possess a suckermouth as do the cypriniform algae eaters of the genus '' Gyrinocheilu ...

that allows it to clean to the objects and scrape the surface of the substrate.

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus: * '' Phractura ansorgii'' Boulenger, 1902 (African whiptailed catfish) * '' Phractura bovei''

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, 1892 * '' Phractura brevicauda'' Boulenger, 1911 * '' Phractura clauseni'' Daget & Stauch, 1963 * '' Phractura fasciata'' Boulenger, 1920 * '' Phractura gladysae'' Pellegrin, 1931 * '' Phractura intermedia'' Boulenger, 1911 * '' Phractura lindica'' Boulenger, 1902 * '' Phractura longicauda'' Boulenger, 1903 * '' Phractura macrura''

Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

, 1967 * '' Phractura scaphyrhynchura'' Vaillant, 1886 * '' Phractura stiassny'' Skelton, 2007 *'' Phractura tenuicauda'' Boulenger, 1902

References

Fish of Africa Catfish genera Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Freshwater fish genera {{amphiliidae-stub