English: Minnow, Carp, Loach)
Genera: 400; 11 to 12, to 23 families; more than 4250 species.
Clades: Ostariophysi;
Actinopterygii;
Hemichordata;
Deuterostomia;
Animals.
Region: most diverse in southeastern Asia, entirely absent from Australia and South America.
CypriniformesMembers: 23 families; 400 genera; more than 4250 species.
ZoologyRay-finned fish, including the carps, minnows, loaches; they possess a Weberian apparatus, for hearing; they have a unique kinethmoid, a small median bone in the snout, and the lack of teeth in the mouth; they have convergent structures called pharyngeal teeth in the throat, the teeth grind against a chewing pad on the base of the skull.
Fins: only a dorsal fin on their backs.
Habitat: freshwater, some in brackish water, one species is found in saltwater.
Reproduction: anadromous, swimming upstream into rivers to spawn.
TaxonomyCypriniformes fromerly included all the orders now placed in the superorder Ostariophysi, except the catfish, which were placed in the order
Siluriformes. Recently the orders Gonorhynchiformes,
Characiformes, and
Gymnotiformes have been place din their own monophyletic orders.
Their closest living relatives are the
Characiformes (characins and allies), the
Gymnotiformes (electric eel and American knifefishes), and the
Siluriformes (catfishes).
Families • Suborder Cyprinioidea
Cyprinidae: Carps and Minnows, 2/3 of all
Cypriniformes.
Psilorhynchidae: Mountain carps.
• Suborder Cobitoidei
Acheilognathidae
Balitoridae: Hillstream loaches; mountain-stream fishes, feeding on algae and small invertebrates; tropical and subtropical Asia.
Barbuccidae
Botiidae: Loaches
Catostomidae: Suckers; temperate North America and eastern Asia; large fishes are similar to carps in appearance and ecology.
Cobitidae: Loaches; similar to catfish in appearance and behaviour; Eurasia, parts of North Africa.
Danionidae
Ellopostomatidae
Gastromyzontidae
Gobionidae
Gyrinocheilidae: Sucking loaches; mountain-stream fishes, feeding on algae and small invertebrates; tropical and subtropical Asia.
Leptobarbidae
Leuciscidae
Nemacheilidae: Stone loaches
Paedocyprididae
Serpenticobitidae
Sundadanionidae
Tanichthyidae
Tincidae
Vaillantellidae: Long-finned loaches.
Xenocyprididae