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Characiformes

Article by: Boschung, Herbert Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Publication year: 2014 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.803070 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.803070)

Content

• Characteristics • Diversity and • Classification • Bibliography • Additional Readings

An of sharing the superorder , series Otophysi, with the (minnows, , and suckers), Siluriformes (), and (knife fishes). See also: Cypriniformes (/content/cypriniformes/177800); Gymnotiformes (/content/gymnotiformes/803360); Ostariophysi (/content/ostariophysi/802680); Siluriformes (/content/siluriformes/623700); Teleostei (/content/teleostei/680400)

Characteristics

The Characiformes are distinguished by the following characters: usually an adipose fin (only one of 18 families totally without an adipose fin; several families and genera with and without); teeth in jaws usually well-developed; usually present but usually not specialized as in cypriniforms; upper jaw usually nonprotractile or, if movable, not protrusible as in most cyprinids; virtually all have scales, with some being ctenoid or ctenoid-like (with a serrated margin) as opposed to the usual cycloid scales (with annual growth rings); barbels (slender, tactile processes near the mouth) are absent; usually three postcleithra; pelvic fins and pelvic girdle are minute in some species; and adult sizes range from only 13 mm (0.5 in.) to 1.4 m (4.6 ft).

Diversity and habitat

The Characiformes comprise 18 families, about 270 genera, and no less than 1675 species, all of which are limited to freshwaters in (209 species) and in the New World from the southwestern United States (one species, Mexican , mexicanus), (eight species), and Central and (the remainder of the species).

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Classification

The classification of the Characiformes has changed significantly since the mid-1980s. The current consensus classification for the order is as follows.

Suborder Citharinoidei

There are 20 genera and about 98 species. Features distinguishing the Citharinoidei from all other characiforms are bicuspid teeth in the jaws; second and third postcleithra fused; ascending process of premaxilla absent; and virtually all species with ctenoid scales. This suborder is endemic to Africa.

Family

The family comprises 17 genera and 90 species. There are two distinct forms (see illustration). In one, the members have a nonprotractile upper jaw and are micropredators and herbivores, and the body shape varies from deep to moderately deep. The other group has an elongate body and movable jaws, and is carnivorous, feeding on fishes or the fins of fishes. Maximum length is about 83 cm (32.7 in.).

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Four families of Characiformes. (From J. S. Nelson, , Wiley, New York, 2006)

Family

There are 3 genera and 8 species. The body is deep, the dorsal and anal fins are relatively long, and the maxilla is quite small and lacks teeth. Maximum length is 84 cm (33 in.).

Suborder Characoidei

The following families are contained in the suborder.

Family

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This family comprises 3 genera and about 21 described species. It is characterized by a ventral mouth with greatly enlarged, highly mobile premaxillae and teeth modified for scraping algae off rocks. It inhabits mountain streams of eastern Panama and most of South America. Most species are less than 15 cm (6 in.) in length.

Family

There are 8 genera and 95 species. The absence of jaw teeth distinguishes this family from all other characiforms, except one , , in the family . Curimatidae occurs from southern Costa Rica to northern . Maximum length is 32 cm (12.6 in.), usually much less.

Family

The family includes 3 genera and 21 species. The mouth is protractile; the lips are enlarged, forming a sucking disc; and the jaws have numerous small teeth. Most species are herbivores or detritovores (organisms that consume dead organic matter), and some swim in an oblique head-down position. This family and the next two families are commonly called headstanders. The range is primarily in the northern half of South America. Maximum length is 74 cm (29 in.).

Family

The Anostomidae have 12 genera and 137 species. The mouth is small and nonprotractile; the premaxilla is enlarged and excludes the maxillae from the gape; the body is usually elongate; and the anal fin is short. The range is Central and South America. Maximum total length is about 88 cm (34.6 in.).

Family

There are 2 genera and 7 species. The premaxilla is relatively small and the maxillae much enlarged. The range is northern South America. Maximum total length is 18 cm (7 in.).

Family

The Crenuchidae has 12 genera and 74 species. The frontal bones have paired foramina posterodorsally to the orbits, which are enlarged in the subfamily Crenuchinae. Most of the species (10 genera and 71 species) are in the subfamily Characidiinae; in the largest genus, , are species that have the ability to climb waterfalls by using their paired fins to cling to the underside of rocks. The family inhabits eastern Panama and South America. Maximum total length is under 110 mm (4.3 in.), with the smallest species being only 57 mm (2.2 in.).

Family Hemiodontidae

The family comprises 5 genera and about 28 described species. Members are fast swimmers with a subcylindrical to fusiform body, adipose eyelids, teeth absent on the lower jaw of adults, and typically with a round spot on the side of the body and a stripe on the lower lobe of the caudal fin. Hemiodontids range from northern South America to the Paraná-Paraguay Basin. Maximum total length is about 33 cm (13 in.).

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Family Alestiidae

There are 18 genera and 110 species in the family. Many species superficially resemble clupeids, being predominantly silvery. The body varies from deep to moderately slender; the mouth varies from terminal to superior; and many species have a large black spot at the base of the caudal fin. The family, endemic to Africa, is commonly known as African tetras. The maximum length of the small tetras is no more than 21 mm (8.3 in.), whereas the giant ( goliath), a formidable with jaws armed with very large saberlike teeth, attains a length up to 1.4 m (4.6 ft).

Family

Gasteropelicids comprise 3 genera and 9 species. This small family (both in number and size) is known as freshwater hatchetfishes because of the deep and strongly compressed body in the shape of a half disk (see illustration). An adipose fin is present in the larger species but absent in the smaller species; the pelvic fins and associated girdle are minute; the elongate pectoral fins are provided with greatly enlarged musculature and corresponding skeletal support. These fishes are capable of jumping relatively high out of the water and making short flights by using their heavily muscled pectoral fins. Commercially collected for the aquarium trade, hatchetfishes are found in Panama and all countries of South America except Chile. Maximum total length ranges from about 23 to 76 mm (0.9 to 3 in.).

Family

With 165 genera and not less than 962 species, this family is by far the largest and most diverse of characiform fishes. It presents uncertainties regarding the taxonomic affinities of numerous genera. Many genera are monotypic, whereas several genera have numerous species (such as Astyanax with 86 species and with 97). Some characins resemble shads and herrings (Clupeidae), minnows (Cyprinidae), and darters (Percidae) [see illustration]. Included in the family are popular aquarium fishes (such as neon tetras), food fishes (such as ), and the infamous (). Characins range from southwestern Texas, through Mexico, and into Central and South America; elsewhere they are introduced. Maximum adult length varies from less than 30 mm (1.2 in.) to over 100 cm (39 in.).

Family Acestrorhynchidae

One genus and 15 species constitute this family. Members have an elongate pikelike body covered with small scales. They are found mostly in the Orinoco and Amazon basins of South America. Maximum total length is about 44 cm (17.3 in.).

Family

There are 5 genera and 14 species. The mouth is oblique and the jaws bear large canine teeth, which in some species are saberlike. The family is endemic to South America. Maximum length is about 65 cm (25.6 in.).

Family

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There are 3 genera and 14 species. The family is characterized by a cylindrically shaped body (similar to that of the , Amiidae) (see illustration); relatively large mouth, the gape extending beyond the anterior margin of the eye; numerous palatine teeth, as well as sharp conical teeth in the jaws; no adipose fin; and a round caudal fin. It is endemic to South America, and some species can breathe air and move overland between ponds. Maximum length is about 1.0 m (3.3 ft).

Family

The family comprises 7 genera and 61 species. The mouth is small and superior, the gape not reaching the eye; the adipose fin is present or absent; and in some species the upper lobe of the caudal fin is longer than the lower. The family occurs in Costa Rica, Panama, and South America.

Family

There are 2 genera and 7 species. Members are called pike-characins because they resemble Northern Hemisphere pikes (Esocidae) in having an elongate body, large terminal mouth, jaws equipped with numerous small teeth and a single row of recurved teeth posteriorly in each jaw, and the anal and dorsal fins set far back on the body. Pike-characins are carnivorous, feeding primarily on fishes. They occur in Panama and South America. Maximum length of smallest species is 23 cm (9 in.); largest is 68 cm (27 in.).

Family Hepsetidae

The single species, odoe, is called the African pike. It has a pikelike body shape and a large mouth and jaws with small pointed teeth as well as a few large canine teeth; it lays its eggs in a nest of floating foam. These characteristics readily distinguish this monotypic family from other African characiforms. It is endemic to tropical Africa. Maximum length is 30 cm (11.8 in.).

Herbert Boschung

Bibliography

P. A. Buckup, Relationships of the Characidiinae (Teleostei, Ostariophysi) and phylogeny of characiform fishes, pp. 123–144 in L. R. Malabarba et al. (eds.), Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, Edipucrs, Porto Alegre, , 1998

J. S. Nelson, Fishes of the World, 4th ed., Wiley, New York, 2006

R. P. Vari, Higher level phylogenetic concepts within Characiformes (Ostariophysi), a historical review, pp. 111–122, in L. R. Malabarba et al. (eds.), Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes, Edipucrs, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1998

Additional Readings

J. S. Albert and R. E. Reis (eds.), Historical of Neotropical Freshwater Fishes, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 2011

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R. Arai, Fish Karyotypes: A Check List, Springer, New York, 2011

D. R. Blanco et al., Comparative cytogenetics of giant trahiras aimara and H. intermedius (Characiformes, Erythrinidae): Chromosomal characteristics of minor and major ribosomal DNA and cross- species repetitive centromeric sequences mapping differ among morphologically identical karyotypes, Cytogenet. Genome Res., 132(1-2):71–78, 2010 DOI: 10.1159/000320923 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000320923)

G. Helfman et al., The Diversity of Fishes: Biology, Evolution, and Ecology, 2d ed., John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, UK, 2009

J. H. A. Mol (ed.), The Freshwater Fishes of Suriname, Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 2012

FishBase, version (11/2005) (http://www.fishbase.org)

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