Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and the largest vertebrate animal family overall, with about 3,000 species; only 1,270 of these remain extant, divided into about 200 valid genera. Cyprinids range from about 12 mm (0.5 in) in size to the 3 m (9.8 ft) giant barb. By genus and species count, the family makes up more than two-thirds of the ostariophysian order Cypriniformes. The family name is derived from the Greek word kyprînos.
Cypriniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, which includes many families and genera of cyprinid fish, such as barbs, gobies, loaches, botias, and minnows. Cypriniformes is an "order-within-an-order", placed under the superorder Ostariophysi—which is also made up of cyprinid, ostariophysin fishes. The order contains 11–12 families, over 400 genera, and more than 4,250 named species; new species are regularly described, and new genera are recognized frequently. Cyprinids are most diverse in South and Southeast Asia, but are entirely absent from Australia and South America. At 112 years old, the longest-lived cypriniform fish documented is the bigmouth buffalo.
Cobitidae, also known as the true loaches, is a family of Old World freshwater fish. They occur throughout Eurasia and in Morocco, and inhabit riverine ecosystems. Today, most "loaches" are placed in other families. The family includes about 260 described species. New species are being described regularly.
Pangio is a genus of small Asian freshwater fish in the true loach family Cobitidae. In earlier taxonomic schemes it was known as Acanthophthalmus. The "kuhli loach" is well-known in the aquarium trade and commonly identified as P. kuhlii, but most individuals actually appear to be P. semicincta.
Sinocyclocheilus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae that is endemic to Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan in China. Almost all of its species live in or around caves and most of these have adaptions typical of cavefish such as a lack of scales, lack of pigmentation and reduced eyes. Several species have an unusual hunchbacked appearance and some of the cave-dwellers have a "horn" on the back, the function of which is unclear. In contrast, the Sinocyclocheilus species that live aboveground, as well as a few found underground, show no clear cavefish adaptions. They are relatively small fish reaching up to 23 cm (9.1 in) in length. The individual species have small ranges and populations, leading to the status of most of the evaluated species as threatened. Many species populations in the genus have yet to be evaluated by the IUCN.
Cobitis is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cobitidae from temperate and subtropical Eurasia. It contains the "typical spiny loaches", including the well-known spined loach of Europe. Similar spiny loaches, occurring generally south of the range of Cobitis, are nowadays separated in Sabanejewia.
Oreonectes is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found in the rivers and caves of Asia. Many of these species are troglobitic.
Protocobitis is a genus of loaches endemic to Guangxi in China and living in caves.
Schistura is a genus of fish in the stone loach family Nemacheilidae native to the streams and rivers of the southern and eastern Asia. Some of these species are troglobitic.
Triplophysa is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found mainly in and around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, as well as inland waters of the larger part of central Asia. They can be distinguished from other genera of Nemacheilidae by marked sexual dimorphism, including the development of nuptial tubercles on breeding males. Currently, the genus is a mixed assemblage of species. Some lineages have been identified and treated as subgenera, but as Wikipedia follows Fishbase for fish species all but Hedinichthys have been treated as subgenera in Wikipedia, although Kottelat in his revision of the loaches did recognise them as valid. FishBase, however, includes these in Triplophysa without specifying subgenera and treats the names given by Kottelat as synonyms.
Yunnanilus is a genus of small stone loaches that are endemic to southeastern China, especially Guangxi and Yunnan. They are found in rivers, streams and lakes; some species are restricted to caves.
Botiidae, the pointface loaches, is a family of cypriniform ray-finned fishes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Until recently they were placed in the true loach family Cobitidae, until Maurice Kottelat revised the loaches and re-elevated this taxon to family rank in 2012. The family includes about 56 species.
Balitora is a genus of fish in the family Balitoridae endemic to Asia.
Loaches are ray-finned fish of the suborder Cobitoidei. They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in rivers and creeks throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Loaches are among the most diverse groups of fish; the 1249 known species of Cobitoidei comprise about 107 genera divided among 9 families.
Erromyzon is a genus of fish in the family Gastromyzontidae endemic to China and Vietnam.
Bibarba is a genus of loach that is found in the Chengjiang River and Hongshuihe River in China.
Bibarba bibarba is a species of loach that is found in the Chengjiang River of the Long River system in China. It is the only known congener of Bibarba parvoculus, a troglobitic species described in 2015, from which it is believed to have evolutionarily split in the Early Miocene.
Yaoshania pachychilus, the panda loach, is a species of gastromyzontid loach endemic to mountain streams in Jinxiu County, Guangxi in China. This species grows to a length of 5.8 centimetres (2.3 in) SL. This species is monotypic, but it was formerly included in Protomyzon. Juveniles are strikingly coloured in black-and-white, but adults are relatively plain. Y. pachychilus quickly became a popular aquarium fish in the 2010s.
Vaillantella maassi, the forktail loach, is a species of loach in the family Vaillantellidae, a monogeneric family with two other species, Vaillantella cinnamomea and Vaillantella euepiptera. They are from Southeast Asia.
Yang Jun-Xing is a Chinese herpetologist and ichthyologist with the Kunming Institute of Zoology. As of 2018, Yang authored 9 species of fish and amphibians.
