Overview
Aplocheilidae are a of bony fishes containing about 15 species. Formerly, the name "Aplocheilidae" was used for the Aplocheiloidei as a whole, i.e. including the Nothobranchiidae of Africa and the mainly South American Rivulidae as subfamilies. This obsolete system is sometimes still seen, e.g. in ITIS.
They are small killifish, usually measuring about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length. Species are found southern Asia, and Madagascar. They live in fresh water but are somewhat salt-tolerant. They are also found in muddy or brackish water. Some species are kept as aquarium pets.
Many aplocheilid fish lay their eggs at the end of the rainy season, attaching them to the mud as their habitat begins to dry out. The adults die shortly after spawning, and the eggs remain inactive (diapause) throughout the dry season. Once the return of the rains stimulates the eggs to develop and hatch, growth is swift; there is almost no larval period, and the fish are sexually mature at the age of about one month.1]
Classification
The family Aplocheilidae includes fifteen species, grouped into three genera, as follows:[2]
Family Aplocheilidae
- Genus Aplocheilus
- Aplocheilus blockii - Green panchax
- Aplocheilus dayi - Ceylon killifish or Uda handeya[3]
- Aplocheilus kirchmayeri
- Aplocheilus lineatus - Striped panchax
- Aplocheilus panchax - Blue panchax
- Aplocheilus parvus - Dwarf panchax
- Aplocheilus werner i - Werner's killifish
- Genus Pachypanchax
- Pachypanchax arnoulti
- Pachypanchax omalonotus - Powder-blue panchax
- Pachypanchax patriciae
- Pachypanchax playfairii - Golden panchax
- Pachypanchax sakaramyi
- Pachypanchax sparksorum
- Pachypanchax varatraza
- Genus Pseudepiplatys
- Psuedepiplatys annulatus - Banded panchax
Photos
Taxonomy
The Family Aplocheilidae is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Genus (16): Adamas · Aphyoplatys · Aphyosemion · Aplocheilus · Callopanchax · Chromaphyosemion · Epiplatys · Episemion · Foerschichthys · Fundulopanchax · Millerichthys · Pachypanchax · Panchax · Pseudepiplatys · Rivulus · Scriptaphyosemion
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 297 species and subspecies in the Family Aplocheilidae.
Genera
Adamas
A Genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]
Aphyoplatys
Aphyosemion
Aplocheilus
Aplocheilus (McClelland, J., 1839) is a of killifish in the family Aplocheilidae, with 7 species. Their range is primarily South and Southeast Asia, from Pakistan to Vietnam and Malaysia, and from Nepal to Sri Lanka. Several species, especially the striped panchax, Aplocheilus lineatus, are important aquarium fishes. The name Aplocheilus is consisted of Greek words "aploe" meaning "simplicity", and "cheilos" meaning "lip". [more]
Callopanchax
Chromaphyosemion
Epiplatys
Episemion
Foerschichthys
Fundulopanchax
Millerichthys
Pachypanchax
Pachypanchax is a genus of in the Aplocheilidae family. It contains the following species: [more]
Panchax
Pseudepiplatys
Rivulus
Rivulus is a genus of freshwater in the Rivulidae family of Cyprinodontiformes. Over one hundred species of Rivulus have been described to date, some of them finding a degree of popularity among aquarists, especially killifish fanciers. The genus was erected by Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey in 1860 with the type species, Rivulus cylindraceus. [more]
Scriptaphyosemion
At least 15 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Scriptaphyosemion.
More info about the Genus Scriptaphyosemion may be found here.
References
- ^ Parenti, Lynne R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ "Aplocheilidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. November 2008 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2008.
- ^ List of Freshwater Fish of Sri Lanka
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It includes material from Wikipedia retrieved Thursday, August 13, 2009.
- The distribution map on the Distribution tab comes from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and is used with permission.
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