Paramphilius

Paramphilius is a genus of loach catfishes found in Africa.

Paramphilius
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Amphiliidae
Subfamily: Amphiliinae
Genus: Paramphilius
Pellegrin, 1907
Type species
Paramphilius trichomycteroides
Pellegrin, 1907

Description

Paramphilius have a lengthened and cylindrical body with a short and high head and short and round fins. The small eyes are located far forward. The barbels are long. The caudal fin is truncated or round. All of the West African species are uniformly brown with a paler underside; P. firestonei also has irregularly distributed brown spots as well as a dark spot at the base of the caudal fin. Paramphilius species exhibit a peculiar form of sexual dimorphism in that the males mature have a more inflated head.[1] Unlike species of Amphilius, the length of the snout is less than half of the length of the head, the adipose fin is confluent with the caudal fin, and the anal fin has seven or more branched rays.[1]

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus:[2]

References
  1. Skelton, Paul H. (1992). "Amphiliidae (French)" (PDF). Faune des poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Tome 2. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgique and O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris, France, 902. pp. 450–467.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). Species of Paramphilius in FishBase. December 2011 version.
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