Erethistes is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

es (order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Siluriformes) of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Erethistidae

Erethistidae

Erethistidae are a family of catfishes that originate from southern Asia.-Taxonomy:This family includes species previously placed in Sisoridae. They were removed because they were thought to be more closely related to the neotropical Aspredinidae than to the remaining sisorids due to a number of...

. With the inclusion of the synonyms

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

 Hara and Laguvia, this genus includes seven species, E. filamentosus, E. hara, E. horai, E. jerdoni, E. maesotensis, E. pusillus, and E. serratus.

Distribution

This genus is distributed in the Ganges

Ganges River

The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...

 and Brahmaputra

Brahmaputra River

The Brahmaputra , also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It is the only Indian river that is attributed the masculine gender and thus referred to as a in Indo-Aryan languages and languages with Indo-Aryan influence...

 drainages in northern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, and east and south to the Salween

Salween River

The Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the...

 drainage on the border of Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

 and Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

. E. filamentosus is from the Irrawaddy

Ayeyarwady River

The Irrawaddy River or Ayeyarwady River is a river that flows from north to south through Burma . It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Originating from the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers, it flows relatively straight North-South before emptying through...

, Sittang

Sittang River

The Sittaung is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago Division. The Pegu Range separates its basin from that of the Irrawaddy. The river originates at the edge of the Shan Plateau southeast of Mandalay, and flows southward to the Gulf of Martaban...

, and Salween drainages, Myanmar as well as from the Rangoon River drainage in Myanmar. E. hara inhabits the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Irrawaddy drainages, northeast India, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Nepal, and Myanmar. E. horai originates from the Brahmaputra drainage, northeast India. E. jerdoni is found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra drainages, northeast India and Bangladesh. E. pusillus inhabits the Ganges and Brahmaputra drainages of Northeast India. H. serratus originates from the Barak

Barak River

The Barak River is one of the major rivers of southern Assam and is a part of the Surma-Meghna River System. It is the biggest and the most important of all the rivers in the Manipur hill territory, from where it originates....

 and Jiri Rivers of the Brahmaputra drainage, Manipur

Manipur

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...

, India. E. maesotensis is known from Moei River

Moei River

The Moei River is a tributary of the Salween River. It originates in Phop Phra district, Tak Province. Unlike most rivers in Thailand, it flows north. The river forms the natural border line between Thailand and Burma...

, a tributary of the Salween River near Mae Sot

Mae Sot

- External links :* * : an audio documentary.* *...

 on the Thai-Burmese border.

Description

Erethistes species lack a thoracic

Thorax

The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...

 adhesive apparatus, a smooth to granulate anterior margin on a strong dorsal fin

Dorsal fin

A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...

 spine, a papilla

Papilla (fish mouth structure)

The papilla, in certain kinds of fish, particularly rays, sharks, and catfish, are small lumps of dermal tissue found in the mouth, where they are "distributed uniformly on the tongue, palate, and pharynx"...

te upper lip, and 8–12 anal fin rays. The pectoral fin spine is serrated

Serrated Edge

Serrated Edge is the second album by Tempest. It was their first with a fiddler, and was released in 1992.-Tracks:#Hal-an Tow #Raggle Taggle Gypsy #A Kiss in the Morning Early...

 anteriorly and posteriorly. The anterior margin of the pectoral fin spine either has serrations all pointing toward tip of spine; arranged in divergent pairs; or outwardly directed and not divergent. The head is large and broad with a conical snout. The body is robust rather than slender as in some other erethistid genera, and is moderately short and flattened. All barbels

Barbel (anatomy)

A barbel on a fish is a slender, whiskerlike tactile organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, sturgeon, the zebrafish and some species of shark...

 are annulated with black rings.

Species range from in length from about 2–13 centimetres (.8–5 in) SL

Fish measurement

Fish measurement refers to the measuring of the length of individual fish and of various parts of their anatomy. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.-Overall length:...

.

Ecology

E. maesotensis has been observed to inhabit fast-moving waters; during the rainy season, the water depth can increase by at least 3 metres (10 ft). The substrate mainly consists of small stones and sand with numerous empty gastropod shells.

E. pusillus occurs mainly in hill streams. This species is found in muddy parts of rivers overgrown with vegetation. E. horai is found in rivers and streams. E. hara is found in slow-moving rivers and streams.