The Citharinidae, the lutefishes, are a small family of
characiform
Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationshi ...
fish. They are freshwater fish native to Africa, and are sufficiently abundant to be significant food fishes.
[
They are deep-bodied, silvery fish, measuring up to in length and weighing up to .]
Genera
The family contains three genera:
*''Citharidium
''Citharidium ansorgii'' is a species of lutefish found in the Niger River basin in Nigeria and also reported from Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun ...
'' (monotypic)
*''Citharinops
''Citharinops distichodoides'' is a species of lutefish found in tropical Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million squar ...
'' (monotypic)
*''Citharinus
''Citharinus'' is a genus of lutefishes from tropical Africa, with six currently described species:
* '' Citharinus citharus'' ( É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809)
** ''C. c. citharus'' (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809) (moon fish)
** ''C. c. in ...
'' (6 species)
References
Characiformes
*
Ray-finned fish families
{{characiformes-stub