Siluridae is the nominate

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 ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

es 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 ...

Siluriformes. About 105 living

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), ...

of silurids are placed in 12 or 14

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. Although silurids occur across much of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

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 ...

, they are most diverse in

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 ...

, beyond which their diversity decreases in temperate

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, Southwest Asia, and Europe. Silurids are apparently absent from much of central Asia. The family can be divided into two groups, a temperate North

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

n clade and a more diverse subtropical/tropical South and Southeast Asian clade.

Notable species

Wels catfish The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been intro ...

, ''Silurus glanis'' *

Phantom catfish ''Kryptopterus vitreolus'', known commonly as the glass catfish, the glass cat, the ghost catfish or the phantom catfish, is a small species of translucent-bodied, social glass catfish in the family Siluridae. It is commonly seen in captivity an ...

, ''Kryptopterus vitreolus'' *''

Wallago attu ''Wallago attu'', boal, or helicopter catfish, is a species of freshwater catfish of the family Siluridae, native to South and Southeast Asia. ''W. attu'' is found in large rivers and lakes in two geographically disconnected regions (disjunct di ...

'' *''

Wallagonia leerii ''Wallagonia leerii'', also known as the Tapah and formerly the striped wallago catfish is a species of catfish native to Southeast Asia. Its habitat ranges from the river drainages of Thailand through the Malayan peninsula to the islands of Suma ...

'' *

Aristotle's catfish Aristotle's catfish (''Silurus aristotelis'') is a species of fish in the family Siluridae. It is endemic to Greece, where it occurs in the Acheloos River drainage. Its natural habitat is freshwater lakes. It is threatened by habitat loss. This ...

Amur catfish ''Silurus asotus'', commonly called the Amur catfish, Japanese common catfish, Far Eastern catfish, and Chinese catfish, is a carnivorous catfish species belonging to the Siluridae family. It lives in widespread distribution in freshwater habitat ...

*''

Phalacronotus apogon ''Phalacronotus apogon'' is a species of catfish of the genus ''Phalacronotus'' found in Southeast Asia. This species grows to a length of fish measurement, SL. This fish is common in the murky waters of large rivers in the basins of the Mekong ...

'' *''

Ompok ''Ompok'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Siluridae found in lakes and large rivers throughout South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. Taxonomy The genus is recognized to be paraphyly, paraphyletic. The species of ''Ompok'' have ...

Common features

The family Siluridae is very diverse, with not very many distinctive features among all species, but some major ones include

gigantism Gigantism (, ''gígas'', "wiktionary:giant, giant", plural γίγαντες, ''gígantes''), also known as giantism, is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average height, average. In humans, this conditi ...

, and smaller versions of attributes that

regularly have, such as smaller

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

s and

whiskers Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; vibrissa; ) are a type of stiff, functional hair used by most therian mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarser as ta ...

. These catfish do not have spines before their

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

s or

adipose fin 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 b ...

s, and their

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s are either small or absent. The

anal fin 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 o ...

base is usually very long. The largest species in this family is ''Silurus glanis'', the

, which can grow to lengths over and weigh up to .

References

Fish of Europe Fish of Asia Catfish families Taxa named by Georges Cuvier {{catfish-stub