Heterobranchus

Heterobranchus
Temporal range: Lower Pliocene - Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Clariidae
Genus: Heterobranchus
É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809
Type species
Heterobranchus bidorsalis
É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809
Species

5, See text.

Heterobranchus is a genus of airbreathing catfishes native to Africa. However, H. palaeindicus, the only known extinct species of the genus, was discovered in the Siwalik Hills, India, dating to the Lower Pliocene.[1]

Depending on the exact species involved, fish of this genus reach from 64 to 150 cm (25 to 59 in) with H. longifilis being the largest strict freshwater fish in southern Africa, reaching 150 cm (59 in) SL and weighing up to 55 kg (121 lb).[2]

Species

This genus contains four recent and one fossil species:[1][2]

Recent species

Fossil species

References

  1. 1 2 Ferraris, Carl J., Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa 1418: 1–628.
  2. 1 2 Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). Species of Heterobranchus in FishBase. December 2011 version.
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