Astyanax (fish)

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Astyanax
Normal (Mexican Tetra, below) and blind (Blind Cave Fish, above) Astyanax mexicanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Osteichthyes
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Superorder: Ostariophysi
Order: Characiformes
Family: Characidae
Genus: Astyanax
Baird & Girard, 1854
Species

137, see text
Synonyms

Anoptichthys

Astyanax is a genus of freshwater fish in the characid family (family Characidae) of the order Characiformes. Some of these fish, like many of their relatives, are kept as aquarium pets and known collectively as tetras. With around 130 described Astyanax species and new ones being described every few months, this genus is among the largest of the entire order: Hyphessobrycon also has more than 100 species, and which one is larger at any one time depends on whether more species have been recently described in one or the other.[1]

The blind cave fish, a form of A. mexicanus, is a famous member of this genus. A. jordani, a different but closely related blind fish, was formerly considered to form its own genus, Anoptichthys.

The type species is A. mexicanus, the Mexican tetra. The generic name comes from Astyanax, a character in Greek mythology who was the son of Hector of Troy; in homage to this, several specific epithets also refer to the Iliad.[2]

[edit] Taxonomy and systematics

This genus is more or less defined as in 1917 by Carl H. Eigenmann. The lack of comprehensive phylogenetic analyses dealing with this genus is hindering a thorough review, and the relationships remain as indeterminate as the monophyly is doubtful.[3]

[edit] Species

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ de Lucena (2003), Nelson (2006)
  2. ^ FishBase (2006)
  3. ^ de Lucena (2003)
  4. ^ a b c d e Garavello; Sampaio (2010). "Five new species of genus Astyanax Baird & Girard, 1854 from Rio Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil (Ostariophysi, Characiformes, Characidae)". Brazilian Journal of Biology 70 (3): 847–865. http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjb/v70n3s0/16.pdf. 
  5. ^ Tagliacollo, V.A.; R. Britzke, G.S.C. Silva, & R.C. Benine (2011). "Astyanax pirapuan: a new characid species from the upper Rio Paraguay system, Mato Grosso, Central Brazil (Characiformes, Characidae)". Zootaxa 2749: 40–46. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/z02749p046f.pdf. 

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Astyanax (genus)
Wikispecies has information related to: Astyanax
  • Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). Species of Astyanax in FishBase. October 2011 version.
  • de Lucena, Carlos Alberto Santos (2003): New characid fish, Hyphessobrycon scutulatus, from the rio Teles Pires drainage, upper rio Tapajós system (Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Characidae). Neotropical Ichthyology 1(2): 93-96. PDF fulltext
  • Nelson, Joseph S. (2006): Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0471250317
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