Labeo

This article is about the fish genus. For other uses, see Labeo (disambiguation).
Labeo
orangefin labeo (Labeo calbasu)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Osteichthyes
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Superorder: Ostariophysi
Order: Cypriniformes
Superfamily: Cyprinioidea
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Labeoninae (disputed)
Tribe: Labeonini (but see text)
Genus: Labeo
Cuvier, 1816
Species

See text

Labeo is a genus of carps in the family Cyprinidae. They are found mainly in the Old World tropics.

It contains the typical labeos in the subfamily Labeoninae, which may not be a valid group, however, and is often included in the Cyprininae as tribe Labeonini. If the Labeoninae are accepted as distinct, Labeonini is the name of the tribe in this subfamily to which the labeos belong. If the Labeonini are considered a tribe of the Cyprininae, the labeos are placed in subtribe Labeoina.

The labeos appear fairly similar to the "freshwater sharks" of the genus Epalzeorhynchos, which is also part of the Labeoninae (or Labeonini), but is not very closely related. Labeos are larger, and have a more spindle-shaped body, as they are mostly free-swimming rather than benthic like Epalzeorhynchos. Their mouths look very different, too; they have a pronounced rostral cap, which covers the upper lip except when feeding. The lips are expanded into thick, sausage-shaped pads which have keratinized edges. Thus, their mouth parts are moderately apomorphic; not as little-developed as in barbs or in Epalzeorhynchos, but neither as extensive as in, for example, Garra or Ptychidio.[1] The genus name Labeo is Latin for "one who has large lips".[2]

Labeos have the two barbels on the rostrum which are common among the Cyprinidae, and also another pair of barbels at the rear edges of the lower maxilla, which has been lost in some of their relatives. They have a well-developed vomeropalatine organ. In the Weberian apparatus, the posterior supraneural bone is elongated and contacts the skull at the forward end.[1]

Species

There are currently 103 recognized species in this genus:[3]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Labeo.
  1. 1 2 Stiassny, M. L. and A. Getahun. (2007). An overview of labeonin relationships and the phylogenetic placement of the Afro-Asian genus Garra Hamilton, 1922 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), with the description of five new species of Garra from Ethiopia, and a key to all African species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 150(1), 41-83.
  2. ↑ Froese, R. and D. Pauly. (Eds.) Labeo alluaudi. FishBase. 2011.
  3. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2012). Species of Labeo in FishBase. December 2012 version.
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