''Astroblepus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Astroblepidae found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. This genus is the only member of its family. These catfishes are primarily found in torrential streams in the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

area. ''Astroblepus pholeter'' and ''A. riberae'' are

troglobites A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

adapted to living in subterranean water systems. These

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

are typically small, less than . The largest species reaches . These fish have

suckermouth In fish, a suckermouth is a ventrally-oriented (inferior) mouth adapted for grazing on algae and small organisms that grow on submerged objects. All Loricariidae possess a suckermouth as do the cypriniform algae eaters of the genus ''Gyrinocheilus' ...

s like those of

loricariids The Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with 92 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are ...

. They have two pairs of

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some s ...

, maxillary and nasal. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

spine lacks a locking mechanism. These fish also have

odontode Odontodes, or dermal teeth, are hard structures found on the external surfaces of animals or near internal openings. They consist of a soft pulp surrounded by dentine and covered by a mineralized substance such as enamel, a structure similar to th ...

s, tiny teeth on their skin. All species exhibit a conical, pointy type on their fin rays like that found in other loricarioids; other species also exhibit a blunt type that is only found on their

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different de ...

. Some of these fish are able to live in high

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

and climb the faces of waterfalls. Their climbing ability comes from specially developed pelvic fins, as well as their suckermouths. In their

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

Andean habitat, dry and wet seasons are quite extreme, and odontodes may help in sensing food, mates and water flow, as well as help cling to surfaces. They feed upon invertebrates, such as caterpillars and annelids. The Astroblepidae were usually placed within

Siluriformes Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

as the sister family of

Loricariidae The Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with 92 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are not ...

, but a recent study found them to be more closely related to the family Scoloplacidae.

Species

There are currently 80 recognized species in this genus: * '' Astroblepus acostai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2011 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2011): ''Astroblepus itae'', ''Astroblepus acostai''. Dos nuevas especies del Río Cáchira y Río Sinú, Colombia. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 16 pp.'' * '' Astroblepus ardiladuartei'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2015)
Five new species of astroblepid fish for Colombian Andes.
''Revista de la Asociación Colombiana de Ciencias Biológicas, 27 (1): 124-135.'' * '' Astroblepus ardilai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2012 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2012): ''Astroblepus ardilai'' sp. nov. Una nuevas especie de pez del los Andes del Municipio de Floridablanca, Departamento de Norte de Santander – Colombia. ''Peces del Departamento de Santander – Colombia, 5: 1-21.'' * '' Astroblepus bellezaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus boulengeri'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus brachycephalus'' ( Günther, 1859) * '' Astroblepus cacharas'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2011 * '' Astroblepus cajamarcaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2013): ''Astroblepus hidalgoi'' – ''A. floridaensis'' – ''A. huallagaensis'' y ''A. cajamarcaensis'': Cuatro nuevas especies de los Andes del Peru. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 22pp. * '' Astroblepus caquetae'' Fowler, 1943 * '' Astroblepus chapmani'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1912) * '' Astroblepus chimborazoi'' ( Fowler, 1915) * '' Astroblepus chinchaoensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2014 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2014): ''Astroblepus tamboensis'' – ''A. chinchaoensis'' y ''A. moyanensis'': Tres nuevas especies de los Andes del Peru. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 22pp.'' * '' Astroblepus chotae'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus cirratus'' ( Regan, 1912) * '' Astroblepus curitiensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2015): ''Astroblepus verai'' sp. nov. – ''A. pradai'', ''A. curitiensis'' y ''A. onzagaensis''. Cuatro nuevas especies del Departamento de Santander – Colombia. ''Barranquilla, Departamento del Atlántico, 2015 (7): 1-24.'' * '' Astroblepus cyclopus'' ( Humboldt, 1805) * '' Astroblepus eigenmanni'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus festae'' ( Boulenger, 1898) * '' Astroblepus fissidens'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus floridablancaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2016 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2016): ''Astroblepus floridablancaensis'' sp. nov. una nueva Especie de Janbonero (Siluriformes: Astroblepidae) del Municipio de Floridablanca, Departamento de Santander – Colombia. ''Peces del Departamento de Santander – Colombia, 8: 1-20.'' * '' Astroblepus floridaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 * '' Astroblepus formosus'' Fowler, 1945 * '' Astroblepus frenatus'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1918 * '' Astroblepus grixalvii'' Humboldt, 1805 * '' Astroblepus guentheri'' ( Boulenger, 1887) * '' Astroblepus heterodon'' ( Regan, 1908) * '' Astroblepus hidalgoi'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 * '' Astroblepus homodon'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus huallagaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 * '' Astroblepus itae'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2011 * '' Astroblepus jimenezae'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2013): ''Astroblepus martinezi'' y ''Astroblepus jimenezae'': Dos nuevas especies del Río Sinú y Río Atrato, Colombia. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 20pp.'' * '' Astroblepus jurubidae'' Fowler, 1944 * '' Astroblepus labialis'' N. E. Pearson, 1937 * '' Astroblepus latidens'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1918 * '' Astroblepus longiceps'' N. E. Pearson, 1924 * '' Astroblepus longifilis'' ( Steindachner, 1882) * '' Astroblepus mancoi'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1928 * '' Astroblepus mariae'' ( Fowler, 1919) * '' Astroblepus marmoratus'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus martinezi'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2013 * '' Astroblepus mendezi'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2014 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2014): ''Astroblepus mendezi'' sp. nov. una nueva especie de pez de Panamá. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 17pp.'' * '' Astroblepus micrescens'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1918 * '' Astroblepus mindoensis'' ( Regan, 1916) * '' Astroblepus mojicai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus moyanensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2014 * '' Astroblepus nettoferreirai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus nicefori'' G. S. Myers, 1932 * '' Astroblepus onzagaensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus orientalis'' ( Boulenger, 1903) * '' Astroblepus ortegai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2012 Ardila Rodríguez, C.A. (2012): ''Astroblepus ortegai'' y ''Astroblepus quispei''. Dos nuevas especies des los Andes del Perú. ''Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla. Barranquilla, Colombia. 16 pp.'' * '' Astroblepus peruanus'' ( Steindachner, 1876) * '' Astroblepus phelpsi'' L. P. Schultz, 1944 * '' Astroblepus pholeter'' Collette, 1962 * '' Astroblepus pirrensis'' (

Meek Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience. Meekness has been contrasted with humility alone insomuch as humility simply refers to an attitude towards o ...

Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword". ...

, 1913) * '' Astroblepus pradai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus praeliorum'' W. R. Allen, 1942 * '' Astroblepus prenadillus'' (

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, 1840) * '' Astroblepus putumayoensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus quispei'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2012 * '' Astroblepus regani'' ( Pellegrin, 1909) * '' Astroblepus rengifoi'' Dahl, 1960 * '' Astroblepus retropinnus'' ( Regan, 1908) * '' Astroblepus riberae'' Cardona & Guerao, 1994 * '' Astroblepus rosei'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1922 * '' Astroblepus sabalo'' (

, 1840) * '' Astroblepus santanderensis'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1918 * '' Astroblepus simonsii'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus stuebeli'' ( Wandolleck, 1916) * '' Astroblepus supramollis'' N. E. Pearson, 1937 * '' Astroblepus taczanowskii'' ( Boulenger, 1890) * '' Astroblepus tamboensis'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2014 * '' Astroblepus theresiae'' ( Steindachner, 1907) * '' Astroblepus trifasciatus'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1912) * '' Astroblepus ubidiai'' ( Pellegrin, 1931) * '' Astroblepus unifasciatus'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1912) * '' Astroblepus vaillanti'' ( Regan, 1904) * '' Astroblepus vanceae'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1913) * '' Astroblepus ventralis'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1912) * '' Astroblepus verai'' Ardila Rodríguez, 2015 * '' Astroblepus whymperi'' ( Boulenger, 1890)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q117337 Astroblepidae Catfish genera Fish of the Andes Fish of South America Freshwater fish genera Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt