Claroteidae Explained

The Claroteidae are a family of catfish (order Siluriformes) found in Africa.^[1] This family was separated from Bagridae.^[2] However, the monophyly of the family is sometimes contested.^[3]

The 12 genera contain 86 known species of claroteids in two subfamilies, Claroteinae and Auchenoglanidinae.^{[1] [2]} The subfamily Auchenoglanidinae is sometimes classified as a separate family Auchenoglanididae. This group was also often formerly placed in Bagridae.^[1] The monophyly of Auchenoglanidinae is uncontested; it contains the three genera Auchenoglanis, Parauchenoglanis and Notoglanidium.^{[3] [4]}

Two commonly known species are the giraffe catfish, Auchenoglanis occidentalis, and the African big-eye catfish, Chrysichthys longipinnis.

Claroteids have moderately elongated bodies, usually with four pairs of barbels, an adipose fin, and strong pectoral and dorsal fin spines.^[2]

References

1. Book: Nelson, Joseph, S. . . John Wiley & Sons, Inc. . 2006 . 0-471-25031-7.
2. Geerinckx. T.. Adriaens, D. . Teugels, G. G. . Verraes, W. . 2004. A systematic revision of the African catfish genus Parauchenoglanis (Siluriformes: Claroteidae). Journal of Natural History. 38. 6. 775–803. 10.1080/0022293021000039160.
3. A New Claroteid Catfish (Siluriformes) From the Upper Miocene of Toros-Menalla, Chad: Auchenoglanis soye, sp. nov. Olga. Otero. Likius, Andossa . Vignaud, Patrick . Brunet, Michel . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27. 2. 285–294. 2007. 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[285:ANCCSF]2.0.CO;2.
4. T. Geerinckx . E. Vreven . M. Dierick . L.V. Hoorebeke . D. Adriaens . 2013 . Revision of Notoglanidium and related genera (Siluriformes: Claroteidae) based on morphology and osteology . Zootaxa . 3691 . 1 . 165–191 . 2017-08-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170805145343/http://www.fun-morph.ugent.be/sites/default/files/Geerinckx%202013%20Notoglanidium.pdf . 2017-08-05 . dead .