The Mochokidae 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 ...

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) that are known as the squeakers and

upside-down catfish The name upside-down catfish is most commonly used by aquarists to refer to the mochokid catfish '' Synodontis nigriventris'' alternately known to ichthyologists as the blotched upside-down catfish or false upside-down catfish. However, a number ...

(although not all species swim upside-down). There are nine

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 about 200 species of mochokids. All the mochokids are freshwater species originating from

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 square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. They have three 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 ...

, with the nasal barbels absent; sometimes, the mandibular barbels may be branched. The lips are modified into a

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' ...

in '' Atopochilus'', ''

Chiloglanis ''Chiloglanis'' is a genus of upside-down catfishes native to Africa. These species have modified lips and barbels that form a suckermouth. They also have a naked (scaleless) body. Sexual dimorphism has been reported in ''Chiloglanis''. The adul ...

'', and '' Euchilichthys''. The

adipose fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

is usually very long. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

and

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

s have spines that are usually strong and with a locking mechanism. They range in size up to SL. This group contains many popular species among aquarists, such as ''

Synodontis nigriventris ''Synodontis nigriventris'', the blotched upside-down catfish, is a species of upside-down catfish native to the Congo Basin of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Appearance and anatomy Blotched upsid ...

'', '' Synodontis angelicus'', and ''

Synodontis multipunctatus ''Synodontis multipunctatus'', also known as the cuckoo catfish, cuckoo squeaker, or multipunk, is a small catfish from Lake Tanganyika, one of the lakes in the Great Rift Valley system in Africa. It is a brood parasite upon mouthbrooding cichlids ...

''.

References

External links

Tree of Life Mochokidae
* * Catfish families Taxa named by David Starr Jordan {{mochokidae-stub