Loricarioidea is a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

catfish 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, ...

es ( order Siluriformes). It contains the six

families 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. Ideal ...

Trichomycteridae Trichomycteridae is a family of catfishes commonly known as pencil catfishes or parasitic catfishes. This family includes the candiru fish (''Vandellia cirrhosa''), feared by some people for its alleged habit of entering into the urethra of hum ...

, Nematogenyiidae,

Callichthyidae Callichthyidae is a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes), called armored catfishes due to the two rows of bony plates (or scutes) along the lengths of their bodies. It contains some of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish, such as many ...

Scoloplacidae ''Scoloplax'' is the only genus in the catfish (order Siluriformes) family Scoloplacidae, the spiny dwarf catfishes. Species The six currently recognized species in this genus are: * ''Scoloplax baileyi'' Rocha, Lazzarotto & Rapp Py-Daniel, ...

Astroblepidae ''Astroblepus'' is a genus of fish in the family Astroblepidae found in South America and Panama. This genus is the only member of its family. These catfishes are primarily found in torrential streams in the Andean area. ''Astroblepus pholeter'' ...

, and

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 ...

. Some schemes also include

Amphiliidae The loach catfishes are a family, Amphiliidae, of catfishes ( order Siluriformes). They are widespread in tropical Africa, but are most common in streams at high elevations; most species are able to cling to rocks in fast-flowing streams. The 13 ...

. This superfamily, including Amphiliidae, includes about 156

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 1,187

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 ...

Taxonomy

Loricarioidea is traditionally considered a part of Siluroidei, a clade of all catfishes excluding

Diplomystidae Diplomystidae, the velvet catfishes, are a family of primitive catfishes endemic to freshwater habitats in Argentina and Chile in southern South America. It currently contains six species in two genera. Taxonomy In traditional schemes, the fam ...

. In Nelson, 2006, this grouping is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to the superfamily

Sisoroidea Sisoroidea is a superfamily of catfishes ( order Siluriformes). It contains the four families Amblycipitidae, Akysidae, Sisoridae, and Erethistidae; many sources also include Aspredinidae. With Aspredinidae, this superfamily includes about 42 ...

. However, in a recent molecular analysis, it was determined that the suborder Loricarioidei (not including Amphiliidae) is sister to a group including Diplomystidae and Siluroidei. Amphiliidae, in this analysis, was found to be much more closely related to

Mochokidae The Mochokidae are a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes) that are known as the squeakers and upside-down catfish (although not all species swim upside-down). There are nine genera and about 200 species of mochokids. All the mochokids are fre ...

Malapteruridae Electric catfish or Malapteruridae is a Family (biology), family of catfishes (order Siluriformes). This family includes two genus, genera, ''Malapterurus'' and ''Paradoxoglanis'', with 21 species. Several species of this family have the ability ...

. Loricarioidea is currently diagnosed by the derived presence of a reduced

gas bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth w ...

, encapsulated in expansions of the parapophysis of the first

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...

e, and of

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, small dermal denticles. Amphiliidae is the most basal group in Loricarioidea. In some older sources, Amphiliidae is not even included in this classification. Based on morphologically evidence, Trichomycteridae and Nematogenyiidae diverge first; these two families are probably sister groups. This relationship was neither supported nor rejected by molecular evidence. Next, the order of divergence is probably Callichthyidae, then Scoloplacidae, and then Astroblepidae and Loricariidae. A trend in increasingly complex jaw morphology can be seen in this superfamily, which may have allowed for the great diversification of the Loricariidae, which have the most advanced jaws.

Distribution and habitat

These fish are found in

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

habitats in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

, inhabiting

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 southe ...

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 Cos ...

, and

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 ...

. Most species inhabit stream habitats or pools; water in these habitats tends to move relatively quickly. Loricariids and Astroblepids have adapted to this with

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 that allow them to cling to surfaces. Astroblepids even have the ability to climb up waterfalls.

Description

Like other catfish, loricarioidean catfish tend to have whiskers (except within the family Loricariidae). Fish in this group can be naked or, in the case of Callichthyids, Scoloplacids, and Loricariids, armored with bony plates. Most loricarioid species are depressed (flattened) in body shape, though Callichthyids tend to be more compressed (thin). Loricarioidea is defined by two characters. First, they have a unique, encapsulated

. Also, they have

integumentary The integumentary system is the set of organs forming the outermost layer of an animal's body. It comprises the skin and its appendages, which act as a physical barrier between the external environment and the internal environment that it serves ...

teeth called

odontodes 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 ...

on their body and fin rays. In Loricariids, these odontodes on their

gill cover The operculum is a series of bones found in bony fish and chimaeras that serves as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills; it is also used for respiration and feeding. Anatomy The opercular series contains four bon ...

can be extended outwards. Astroblepids may use their odontodes as a sensory organ.

Ecology

Loricarioidea is a very diverse

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

group. These fish exhibit a wide range of morphologies and occupy many different

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s and

trophic level The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it i ...

s. This group includes

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

s, and even

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s ( candirú) and wood-eating species (''

Panaque The genus ''Panaque'' contains a small number of small to medium-sized South American suckermouth armoured catfishes that are notable for being among the very few vertebrates that feed extensively on wood. In addition, algae and aufwuchs are a ...

''). Loricariidae is by far the most successful and diverse family with approximately 700 species (and new species being discovered each year), and is the most species-rich family in the entire order.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1651246 Siluriformes Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Vertebrate superfamilies *