| Brycinus | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Brycinus longipinnis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Characiformes |
| Family: | Alestidae |
| Genus: | Brycinus Valenciennes, 1850 |
| Type species | |
| Brycinus macrolepidotus Valenciennes, 1850 | |
Brycinus is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Alestiidae. Like other "African characids", they were formerly included in the Characidae but are actually somewhat more distantly related Characiformes.[1]
Like some other Alestiidae, they are called robber tetras due to their bold and rather carnivorous habits. They are not infrequently kept as aquarium fishes and in their requirements resemble the South American tetras of the Characidae. Unlike these, Brycinus are not well-suited to accompany delicate fishes however and are better kept with dwarf cichlids and similar small but robust companions.
Species
There are currently 36 recognized species in this genus:
- Brycinus abeli (Fowler, 1936)
- Brycinus affinis (Günther, 1894) (Red-fin robber)
- Brycinus bartoni (Nichols & La Monte, 1953)
- Brycinus batesii (Boulenger, 1903)
- Brycinus bimaculatus (Boulenger, 1899)
- Brycinus brevis (Boulenger, 1903)
- Brycinus carmesinus (Nichols & Griscom, 1917)
- Brycinus carolinae (Paugy & Lévêque, 1981)
- Brycinus comptus (T. R. Roberts & D. J. Stewart, 1976)
- Brycinus derhami Géry & Mahnert, 1977
- Brycinus epuluensis Decru, Vreven, Sadio & Snoeks, 2016 [2]
- Brycinus ferox (A. J. Hopson & J. Hopson, 1982) (Large-toothed Lake Turkana robber)
- Brycinus fwaensis Géry, 1995
- Brycinus grandisquamis (Boulenger, 1899) (Pink-fin robber)
- Brycinus humilis (Boulenger, 1905)
- Brycinus imberi (W. K. H. Peters, 1852)
- Brycinus intermedius (Boulenger, 1903)
- Brycinus jacksonii (Boulenger, 1912) (Victoria robber)
- Brycinus kingsleyae (Günther, 1896)
- Brycinus lateralis (Boulenger, 1900) (Striped robber)
- Brycinus leuciscus (Günther, 1867)
- Brycinus longipinnis (Günther, 1864) (Long-fin tetra)
- Brycinus luteus (Román, 1966)
- Brycinus macrolepidotus Valenciennes, 1850 (True big-scale tetra)
- Brycinus minutus (A. J. Hopson & J. Hopson, 1982) (Dwarf Lake Turkana robber)
- Brycinus nigricauda (Thys van den Audenaerde, 1974)
- Brycinus nurse (Rüppell, 1832) (Nurse tetra)
- Brycinus opisthotaenia (Boulenger, 1903)
- Brycinus peringueyi (Boulenger, 1923)
- Brycinus poptae (Pellegrin, 1906)
- Brycinus rhodopleura (Boulenger, 1906)
- Brycinus sadleri (Boulenger, 1906) (Sadler's robber)
- Brycinus schoutedeni (Boulenger, 1912)
- Brycinus taeniurus (Günther, 1867)
- Brycinus tessmanni (Pappenheim, 1911)
- Brycinus tholloni (Pellegrin, 1901)
References
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2016). Species of Brycinus in FishBase. January 2016 version.
- ^ Decru, E., Vreven, E., Sadio, O. & Snoeks, J. (2016): Brycinus epuluensis, a new species from the Epulu River (Congo basin), Africa (Teleostei: Alestidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 27 (1): 49-60.