The Curimatidae, toothless characins, are a

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

of freshwater fishes, of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Characiformes 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 ...

. They originate from southern

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The family has around 105

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 ...

, many of them frequently exploited for human consumption. They are closely related to the

Prochilodontidae The Prochilodontidae, or flannel-mouthed characins, are a small family of freshwater fishes found primarily in the northern half of South America, south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. This family is closely related to the Curimatidae, and in ...

. This family lacks jaw teeth, although they do sometimes have small teeth on their pharyngeal plates. They eat films of slime coating underwater surfaces, which consist largely of

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

and

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

. It has been suggested that feeding behavior of some species like ''

Psectrogaster ''Psectrogaster'' is a genus of toothless characins from 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 a ...

essequibensis'' may change its diet pattern in function of the sediment content of the water, showing a regime mainly based on

in waters with high sediment load, until an omnivorous or detritivore regime in waters with low sediment load.

Classification

The family has eight

genera 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 nomenclat ...

and around 105 species: Family Curimatidae * '' Curimata'' (13 species) * ''

Curimatella ''Curimatella'' is a genus of toothless characin The Curimatidae, toothless characins, are a family of freshwater fishes, of the order Characiformes. They originate from southern Costa Rica to northern Argentina. The family has around 105 spe ...

'' (five species) * ''

Curimatopsis ''Curimatopsis'' is a genus of small South American fish in the family Curimatidae. They are native to freshwater habitats in the Amazon, Orinoco and Paraguay basins, as well as river of the Guianas. Species There are currently 11 recognized sp ...

'' (nine species) * ''

Cyphocharax ''Cyphocharax'' is a genus of fish in the family Curimatidae native to South America. Species There are currently 41 recognized species in this genus: * '' Cyphocharax abramoides'' ( Kner, 1858) * '' Cyphocharax aninha'' Wosiacki & D. P. S. Mi ...

'' (38 species) * ''

Potamorhina ''Potamorhina'' is a genus of toothless characin from South America, with these currently described species: * '' Potamorhina altamazonica'' (Cope, 1878) * '' Potamorhina laticeps'' (Valenciennes, 1850) * '' Potamorhina latior'' (Spix & Agassiz ...

'' (five species) * ''

Psectogaster ''Psectrogaster'' is a genus of toothless characins from 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 Hemispher ...

'' (eight species) * ''

Pseudocurimata ''Pseudocurimata'' is a genus of toothless characins found in tropical South America, with these currently described species: * '' Pseudocurimata boehlkei'' Vari, 1989 * '' Pseudocurimata boulengeri'' ( C. H. Eigenmann, 1907) * '' Pseudocurimata ...

'' (six species) * ''

Steindachnerina ''Steindachnerina'' is a genus of toothless characins from South America, with 24 currently described species: * ''Steindachnerina amazonica'' (Franz Steindachner, Steindachner, 1911) * ''Steindachnerina argentea'' (Theodore Gill, T. N. Gill, 185 ...

'' (23 species)

References

* Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

''. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Fish of South America Ray-finned fish families {{Characiformes-stub

Classification

See also

References