Bryconidae

Bryconidae Temporal range: Oligocene to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Two large bryconids in Bonito: Salminus brasiliensis (foreground) and Brycon hilarii (background)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
(unranked):	Otophysi
Order:	Characiformes
Suborder:	Characoidei
Family:	Bryconidae C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 [1]
Type genus
Brycon [1] Müller & Troschel, 1844 [2]
Subfamilies
see text

Bryconidae, also known as bryconids, is a family of freshwater fishes belonging to the order Characiformes. They are native to South America. ^[3] Some species reach particularly large sizes for characins, with Salminus franciscanus being one of the largest characiforms overall. ^[4]

Genera: ^[5]

• Family Bryconidae Eigenmann, 1912
  • Subfamily Bryconinae Eigenmann, 1912
    • Genus Brycon Müller & Troschel, 1844
    • Genus Chilobrycon Géry & de Rham, 1981
    • Genus Henochilus Garman, 1890
  • Subfamily Salmininae Cockerell, 1915
    • Genus Salminus Agassiz, 1829

The earliest known fossil member of this group is † Brycon avus (Woodward, 1898) from the Oligocene-aged Tremembé Formation of Brazil. ^{[6] [7]} A slightly older potential specimen of B. avus is also known from the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of the Aiuruoca Basin. ^[8]

References

1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . PMID   25543675.
2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Bryconidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 17 August 2025.
3. "Bryconidae". Global Biodiversity Information Facility . Retrieved 17 June 2021.
4. Lima, Flávio C. T.; Britski, Heraldo A. (2007). "Salminus franciscanus, a new species from the rio São Francisco basin, Brazil (Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Characidae)". Neotropical Ichthyology. 5 (3): 237–244. doi:10.1590/S1679-62252007000300001. ISSN   1679-6225.
5. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Bryconidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 29 April 2025.
6. Abe, Kelly T.; Mariguela, Tatiane C.; Avelino, Gleisy S.; Foresti, Fausto; Oliveira, Claudio (2014-07-08). "Systematic and historical biogeography of the Bryconidae (Ostariophysi: Characiformes) suggesting a new rearrangement of its genera and an old origin of Mesoamerican ichthyofauna". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14 (1): 152. Bibcode:2014BMCEE..14..152A. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-14-152 . ISSN   1471-2148. PMC   4109779 . PMID   25005252.
7. Malabarba, Maria Cláudia S. L. (1998). "Phylogeny of Fossil Characiformes and Paleobiogeography of the Tremembé Formation, São Paulo, Brazil.". Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes. Part 1 - Fossils and Geological Evidence (PDF). pp. 69–84.
8. Malabarba, María Claudia de S. L. (2004). "On the paleoichthyofauna from the Aiuruoca Tertiary Basin, Minas Gerais State, Brazil". Ameghiniana (in Spanish). 41 (4): 515–519. ISSN   1851-8044.