''Hypophthalmichthys'' is a genus of large

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ver ...

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 ...

consisting of three species. The name comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ὑπό, (''hypó'') "below"; ὀφθαλμός (''ophthalmós''), "eye"; ἰχθῦς (''ichthŷs''), "fish", thus "fish with eyes below", referring to the fact that the fish has its eyes below the mouth line. Members of this genus are native to fresh water in East Asia, ranging from

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, but have been widely introduced outside their native range, where often considered invasive. The genus is also known as bighead carp, though that term is also used for individual species, particularly ''

Hypophthalmichthys nobilis The bighead carp (''Hypophthalmichthys nobilis'') is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish native to East Asia, and is one of several Asian carps introduced into North America. It is one of the most intensively exploited fishes in fish farming, ...

''. The Russian language has a special word for the genus - tolstolób, "thick forehead".

Species

The three currently recognized species in the genus are: * ''H. harmandi'' Sauvage, 1884 (

largescale silver carp The largescale silver carp (''Hypophthalmichthys harmandi'') is a freshwater fish in the carp family Cyprinidae. It is native to Hainan and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., ...

) * ''H. molitrix'' (

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 ...

, 1844) (

silver carp The silver carp (''Hypophthalmichthys molitrix'') is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish, a variety of Asian carp native to China and eastern Siberia, from the Amur River drainage in the north to the Xi Jiang River drainage in the south. Alt ...

) * ''H. nobilis'' ( J. Richardson, 1845) (

bighead carp The bighead carp (''Hypophthalmichthys nobilis'') is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish native to East Asia, and is one of several Asian carps introduced into North America. It is one of the most intensively exploited fishes in fish farming, ...

)

References

Cyprinid fish of Asia Cyprinidae genera Carp {{Cyprinidae-stub