Heteropneustes

Heteropneustes fossilis

The gills hose catfish ( Heteropneustes ( Gr. " hetero " = "different", "deviant "; " pneo " = "breath" ) ) are a South Asia (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand) living genus of catfish -like ( Siluriformes ).

Features

The fish have an elongated, laterally compressed body. The head is much flattened, the mouth there are two pair of long barbels on the upper and two pairs of the lower jaw. The dorsal fin is short, with no hard radiation, the anal fin elongated. Behind the gills begin two air hoses ( hence the name - hence the old scientific name Saccobranchus ), the rich under the back muscles to the tail, making it possible for animals, such as a lung to breathe air. Gills hose catfish are 15 to 30 inches long. They feed on prey on invertebrates and small fish. They lay their eggs in self-dug pits, both parents guard the eggs and young fish.

System

The gills hose catfish are placed here by Nelson in 2006, the mono generic family Heteropneustidae. They are the sister group of the branchial sac catfish ( Clariidae ). Often they are applied to these as subfamily Straight tires Tinae or summarized together with the Clariidae to the superfamily Clarioidea.

Species

• Heteropneustes fossilis ( Bloch, 1794)
• Heteropneustes kemratensis ( Fowler, 1937)
• Heteropneustes longipectoralis Rema Devi & Raghunathan, 1999
• Heteropneustes microps ( Gunther, 1864)
• Heteropneustes nani Hossain et al., 2013