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Heteropneustidae

Known as Airsac catfishes they used to belong to the Clariidae family before being put into there own family, Heteropneustidae Hora, 1936.

At the time of writing (2021) there are only four species in this family all with the genus name of Heteropneustes. H. fossillis (Bloch, 1794), H. kemratensis (Fowler, 1937), H. longipectoralis Rema Devi & Raghunathan, 1999 and H. nani Hossain, Sarker, Sharifuzzaman & Chowdhury, 2013. H. microps has proven to be a synonym of H. fossillis.

They are known as Asian Stinging Catfishes due to concerns that poison that can emanate from a gland on the pectoral fin spine and has been known to be fatal to some humans. They do very well in a larger aquarium, and you can either keep it alone with other inhabitants that are too big for its mouth (large Barbs, Cichlids etc.) or in a group situation if you would like the challenge of breeding them.

IMAGE CONTRIBUTORS
Scientific Names > Common Names > Synonyms > Image Contributors

Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library

Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis

Thomas Kobe

Heteropneustes fossilis

Cheilinus Aquarium Photography

Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis

Andrew Rao

Heteropneustes fossilis

Reinhold Wawrzynski

Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis, Heteropneustes fossilis

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