Gouramis, or gouramies, are a group of freshwater anabantiform fishes that comprise the family Osphronemidae. The fish are native to Asia—from Pakistan and India to Southeast Asia and northeasterly towards Korea. The name "gourami", of Indonesian origin, is also used for fish of the families Helostomatidae and Anabantidae.
Channa is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extending from Iraq in the west, to Indonesia and China in the east, and parts of Siberia in the Far East. A particularly high richness of species exists in Myanmar (Burma) and northeastern India, and many Channa species live nowhere else. In contrast, a few widespread species have been introduced to several regions outside their natural range, where they often become invasive. The large and medium-sized Channa species are among the most common staple food fish in several Asian countries, and they are extensively cultured. Apart from their importance as a food fish, snakeheads are consumed in some regions as a traditional medicine for wound healing and reducing postoperative pain and discomfort, and collected for the international aquarium pet trade.
Lates is a genus of lates perches belonging to the family Latidae. The generic name is also used as a common name, lates, for many of the species.
The three spot gourami, also known as the opaline gourami, blue gourami, and gold gourami, is a species of fish native to southeastern Asia, but also introduced elsewhere. This gourami gets its name from the two spots along each side of its body in line with the eye, considered the third spot. This species is of minor commercial importance as a food fish in its native range and is also farmed. It is also popular in the aquarium trade.
Geophagus is a genus of cichlids that mainly live in South America as far south as Argentina and Uruguay, but a single species, G. crassilabris is from Panama. They are found in a wide range of freshwater habitats. They are part of a group popularly known as eartheaters and mostly feed by picking up mouthfuls of sediment to sift out food items such as invertebrates, plant material and detritus. The largest species reach up to 28 cm (11 in) in standard length. They are often kept in aquariums.
Channa gachua, the dwarf snakehead, is a species of fish in the family Channidae. The name "dwarf snakehead" is also used for several other species of small snakeheads. C. gachua is native to freshwater habitats in southern Asia, where it has a wide distribution from Iran to Indonesia. This fish is considered to be a species complex, a group of several closely related taxa with one name. It is likely at least three to four different species, and further research may differentiate them. A few species such as Channa harcourtbutleri have been separated from the complex in recent decades. The easternmost population of C. gachua is often recognized as a separate species C. limbata, while the isolated Sri Lankan population often is recognized as C. kelaartii.
Anthias are members of the family Serranidae and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. Anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange, and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film. The name Anthiidae is preoccupied by a subfamily of ground beetles in the family Carabidae created by Bonelli in 1813 and this grouping should be called the Anthiadinae. However, both the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World and Fishbase give the Serranid subfamily as "Anthiinae".
Trichogaster is a genus of gouramis native to South Asia from Pakistan to Myanmar. It is the only genus in the monotypic subfamily Trichogastrinae as set out in the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World, although that book states that there are two genera, the other being Colisa which is treated as a synonym of Trichogaster by Fishbase and the Catalog of Fishes. Fishbase also places the genus in the Luciocephalinae. Species of this genus are very popular in the aquarium trade.
The Anabantoidei are a suborder of anabantiform ray-finned freshwater fish distinguished by their possession of a lung-like labyrinth organ, which enables them to breathe air. The fish in the Anabantoidei suborder are known as anabantoids or labyrinth fish, or colloquially as gouramies. Some labyrinth fish are important food fish, and many others, such as the Siamese fighting fish and paradise fish, are popular as aquarium fish.
The moonlight gourami, also known as the moonbeam gourami, is a labyrinth fish of the family Osphronemidae native to Indochina. This peaceful, attractive species is a popular aquarium fish.
The snakeskin gourami is a species of gourami native to Southeast Asia.
Trichopodus cantoris is a species of gourami native to Asia. This taxon is treated as a synonym of Trichopodus trichopterus by some authorities.
Badis is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Badidae found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and China. These species have a sharp spine on the opercle, soft and spinous parts of the dorsal fin contiguous, three spines in the anal fin, tubed pores in the lateral line, villiform teeth and a rounded caudal fin. In addition, they differ from the related genus Dario by being larger and displaying more involved parental care.
Macropodus is a genus of small to medium-sized labyrinth fish native to freshwater habitats in eastern Asia. Most species are restricted to southern China and Vietnam, but M. opercularis occurs as far north as the Yangtze basin, and M. ocellatus occurs north to the Amur River, as well as in Japan and Korea. In China, they are often used for fights, so they are named Chinese bettas because of their similarity to the genus Betta. A few species in the genus are regularly seen in the aquarium trade, and M. opercularis has been introduced to regions far outside its native range.
The Macropodusinae are a subfamily of freshwater anabantiform fishes in the gourami family Osphronemidae, which includes the paradisefish, fighting fish and licorice gouramis. Like all members of the family, these are air breathing fishes that frequently inhabit oxygen poor environments hostile to other fishes. They are native to Asia, from Pakistan and India to the Malay Archipelago and north-easterly towards Korea. Many members are common aquarium fish; by far the most famous is the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens. Most of the 70+ betta species are paternal mouthbrooders; the remaining members of the subfamily are bubblenesters like most osphronemids.
Trichogaster fasciata, the banded gourami or striped gourami, is a tropical labyrinth perch found in some Asian countries like Bangladesh, Eastern India, Northeastern India, Nepal, Upper Myanmar, China and Pakistan.
The Anabantiformes are an order of freshwater ray-finned fish with two suborders, five families and having at least 207 species. In addition, some authorities expand the order to include the suborder Nandoidei, which includes three families - the Nandidae, Badidae and Pristolepididae - that appear to be closely related to the Anabantiformes. The order, and these three related families, are part of a monophyletic clade which is a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, the other orders in the clade being Synbranchiformes, Carangiformes, Istiophoriformes and Pleuronectiformes. This clade is sometimes referred to as the Carangaria but is left unnamed and unranked in Fishes of the World. This group of fish are found in Asia and Africa, with some species introduced in United States of America.
Luciocephalinae is a subfamily of the gourami family Osphronemidae. The members of this subfamily differ from the other groups within the gourami family by having a reduced number of rays supporting the branchiostegal membrane, five rather than six, and in the possession of a median process of the basioccipital which reaches the first vertebra and which has an attachment to the Baudelot’s ligament.
Trichopodus poptae is a species of ray-finned fish in the subfamily Luciocephalinae, part of the gourami family Osphronemidae. It is distinguished from its congeners by the faint, almost indiscernible patterning on the body apart from the black blotch at the base of the tail. This species is endemic to Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The specific name honours the ichthyologist Canna Maria Louise Popta (1860–1929) who was Curator of Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden who was one of the earliest workers on Borneo's freshwater fishes and described manty of the specimens collected on the trans-Borneo expeditions which took place between 1893 and 1900.
The licorice gourami is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the subfamily Macropodusinae, part of the family Osphronemidae, the gouramis. It is endemic to Bangka in Indonesia where it is found in the slow, flowing streams with black waters associated with peat swamp forests. This species was formally described by the Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker as Osphromenus deissneri in 1859 with the type locality given as Sungai Baturussa basin at 8 kilometres from Pudingbesar on the road to Kampong Simpan, Bangka. It is the type species of the genus Parosphromenus. The specific name honours F. H. Deissner, a military health officer, who sent a collection of specimens of fishes from Bangka to Bleeker which included the type of this species.
