The
most popular and best known catfishes from the
South American continent. Very peaceful and mostly
undemanding.
Bodies
covered with two rows of overlapping bony plates
on each side; swim bladder encased in bone; mouth
small and ventral; one or two pairs of well developed
barbels present, and shorter processes usually
on upper jaw and on lower jaw; dorsal and pectoral
fins with strong spine; spine at anterior border
of adipose fin. Family at present (2019) includes
Corydoras, Aspidoras, Brochis, Scleromystax,
Callichthys, Hoplosternum,
Lepthoplosternum, Megalechis and Dianema. To
find out the meaning of the code number systems,
i.e C and CW numbers click
here.
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