Erethistidae are a family 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 that originate from southern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

Taxonomy

This family includes species previously placed in Sisoridae

Sisoridae

Sisoridae is a family of catfishes . These Asian catfish live in fast-moving waters and often have adaptations that allow them to adhere to objects in their habitat.-Taxonomy:...

. They were removed because they were thought to be more closely related to the neotropical Aspredinidae

Aspredinidae

The Aspredinidae are a small South American family of catfishes also known as the banjo catfishes.-Distribution:Aspredinids are found throughout the major tropical rivers of South America...

 than to the remaining sisorids due to a number of morphological characters. However, it has been suggested that the erethistid catfishes be included back into Sisoridae.

Distribution

Erethistids are found on the 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...

n subcontinent eastwards to western 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...

 and northern Malay Peninsula

Malay Peninsula

The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...

.

Description

Many of the members of this family are small, cryptically colored fishes with tuberculate

Tubercle

A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection, but it has slightly different meaning depending on which family of plants or animals it is used to refer to....

 skin. Erethistids are distinguished from sisorids by having a pectoral girdle with a long coracoid process that extends well beyond the base of the pectoral fin; this structure can be felt through the skin in all genera and is visible externally in all genera except Pseudolaguvia

Pseudolaguvia

Pseudolaguvia is a genus of catfishes in the family Erethistidae.-Biodiversity & distribution:Currently 13 accepted species, see Pseudolaguvia, with a compact distribution in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar-Description:...

. Erethistids differ from amblicipitids

Amblycipitidae

Amblycipitidae is a family of catfishes, commonly known as torrent catfishes. It includes three genera, Amblyceps, Liobagrus, and Xiurenbagrus.-Taxonomy:...

 in that they lack a cuplike fold of skin in front of the pectoral fin (vs. possessing the cuplike fold), and have a dorsal fin with a strong spine and no thick covering of skin (vs. a weak spine with a thick covering of skin). Erethistids have nostrils close together, separated by a nasal barbel

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...

, which differs from akysids which have widely separated nostrils on each side of the head, with a barbel on the posterior nostril. Some erethistids possess a thoracic

Thorax

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

 adhesive

Adhesive

An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

 apparatus formed by longitudinal skin folds densely covered with unculi that appears to be an adaptation to life in fast flowing waters; this closely resembles a similar structure in the sisorid Glyptothorax

Glyptothorax

Glyptothorax is a genus of catfishes of the family Sisoridae. It is the most species-rich and widely distributed genus in the family with some 73 described species and new forms being discovered on a regular basis.-Distribution:...

.