Conta
| Conta | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Erethistidae |
| Genus: | Conta Hora, 1950 |
| Species | |
|
C. conta
| |
Conta is a small genus of South Asian river catfishes native to India and Bangladesh.
Species
There are currently two recognized species in this genus:[1]
- Conta conta (F. Hamilton, 1822) (Conta catfish)
- Conta pectinata H. H. Ng, 2005
Description
Conta can be distinguished from all other erethistids by the presence of a very long and narrow adhesive apparatus on its thorax about six times as it is long. It also has extremely narrow gill openings, a slender body, a serrated anterior margin on the dorsal fin spine, a papillate upper lip, and 9–10 anal fin rays. The eyes are small and located dorsolaterally. There is villiform (brush-like) teeth in both jaws. The pectoral fin spine is serrated anteriorly and posteriorly.[2]
C. pectinata differs from C. conta in that it has a longer and more slender caudal peduncle and in having anteriorly-directed serrations (instead of antrorse or distally-directed serrations) the anterior edge of the pectoral fin spine.[3]
References
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). Species of Conta in FishBase. December 2011 version.
- ↑ Thomson, Alfred W.; Page, Lawrence M. (2006). "Genera of the Asian Catfish Families Sisoridae and Erethistidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1345: 1–96.
- ↑ Ng, Heok Hee (March 2005). "Conta pectinata, a new erethistid catfish (Teleostei: Erethistidae) from northeast India" (PDF). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters. 16 (1): 23–28.