Phractura

Phractura is a genus of loach catfishes (order Siluriformes) that occur in Africa.

Phractura species are elongated fish with a long caudal peduncle and bony scutes on the sides, back, and belly.^[1] Phractura species are often associated with vegetation.^[1] Phractura species, like other genera in Doumeinae, have a mouth modified into a suckermouth that allows it to clean to the objects and scrape the surface of the substrate.^[2]

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus:^[3]

• Phractura ansorgii Boulenger, 1902 (African whiptailed catfish)
• Phractura bovei (Perugia, 1892)
• Phractura brevicauda Boulenger, 1911
• Phractura clauseni Daget & Stauch, 1963
• Phractura fasciata Boulenger, 1920
• Phractura gladysae Pellegrin, 1931
• Phractura intermedia Boulenger, 1911
• Phractura lindica Boulenger, 1902
• Phractura longicauda Boulenger, 1903
• Phractura macrura Poll, 1967
• Phractura scaphyrhynchura (Vaillant, 1886)
• Phractura stiassny P. H. Skelton, 2007^[4]
• Phractura tenuicauda (Boulenger, 1902)

References

1. 1 2 Skelton, Paul H. (1992). "Amphiliidae (French)" (PDF). Faune des poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Tome 2. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgique and O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris, France, 902. pp. 450–467. 
2. ↑ Diogo, Rui; Oliveira, Claudia; Chardon, Michel (January 2000). "On the anatomy and function of the cephalic structures in Phractura (Siluriformes: Amphiliidae), with comments on some striking homoplasies occurring between the Doumeinae and some loricaroid catfishes" (PDF). Belg. J. Zool. 130 (1): 117–130. 
3. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). Species of Phractura in FishBase. December 2011 version.
4. ↑ Skelton, Paul H. (2007). "New species of the amphiliid catfish genera Amphilius, Doumea and Phractura and the taxonomy of Paramphilius from West Central Africa (Siluriformes, Amphiliidae)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1578: 41–68.