Heptapteridae Gill 1861

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 26

Family Heptapteridae Gill 1861 ( Fig. 3E ). Seven-Finned Catfishes, Heptapterids; Barbudos, Chulines, Bagres

Description: Body elongate; usually less than 30 cm in length; three pairs of barbels; mouth terminal or subterminal; scales absent; pectoral, pelvic and dorsal fins usually with strong spines; adipose fin present, large (larger than dorsal fin), without a spine at the anterior border; caudal fin forked ( Angulo et al. 2021, Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Freshwater; Mexico to South America (Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and three species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 2; Bryconidae (A), Characidae (B), Gymnotidae (C), Loricariidae (D), Heptapteridae (E), Ariidae (F), Batrachoididae (G), Syngnathidae (H), Eleotridae (I), Gobiidae (J), Synbranchidae (K), Centropomidae (L), Polynemidae (M) and Paralichthyidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).