Characidae

Characidae
Charax stenopterus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Suborder: Characoidei
Family: Characidae
Latreille, 1825
Subfamilies

Aphyocharacinae
Characinae
Cheirodontinae
Exodontinae
Tetragonopterinae

Characidae, the characids, is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish belonging to the order Characiformes. They are found throughout much of Central and South America, including such major waterways as the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers.[1] These fish vary in length; many are less than 3 cm (1.2 in).[2]

The name "characins" is a historical one,[3] but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a, by and large, monophyletic group (at family rank). This family includes some of the first characiforms to be described to science, such as Charax and Tetragonopterus, and thus lend their name to the order, as well as to common names such as "characin" and "tetra".[4]

Past taxonomic treatments had a much more expansive definition of the family, including numerous South American fish families such as the piranhas and dorados, as well as the African alestids. Following multiple taxonomic revisions, this was eventually restricted to just the American "tetra" type characins by the 2010s. However, even this definition of Characidae was found to obscure much of the evolutionary diversity within the group, and in 2024 the "tetra" families Acestrorhamphidae and Stevardiidae were split out of the Characidae, leaving it with just five subfamilies.[5][6]

Classification

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Aphyocharax anisitsi (Aphyocharacinae)

Taxonomy

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The following classification is based on Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (2025):[6][7]

Family Characidae

Former members

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Phylogeny of Characidae from Melo et al. 2015[10] with clade names from van der Laan 2017.[11]
Characidae

This family has undergone a large amount of systematic and taxonomic change. More recent revision has moved many former members of the family into their own related but distinct families – the pencilfishes of the genus Nannostomus are a typical example, having now been moved into the Lebiasinidae, the assorted predatory species belonging to Hoplias and Hoplerythrinus have now been moved into the Erythrinidae, and the sabre-toothed fishes of the genus Hydrolycus have been moved into the Cynodontidae. The former subfamily Alestiinae was promoted to family level (Alestiidae) and the subfamilies Crenuchinae and Characidiinae were moved to the family Crenuchidae.[1]

Other fish families that were formerly classified as members of the Characidae, but which were moved into separate families of their own during recent taxonomic revisions (after 1994) include Acestrorhynchidae, Anostomidae, Chilodidae, Citharinidae, Ctenoluciidae, Curimatidae, Distichodontidae, Gasteropelecidae, Hemiodontidae, Hepsetidae, Parodontidae, Prochilodontidae,[12] Serrasalmidae, and Triportheidae.[13] In 2024, the families Stevardiidae and Acestrorhamphidae, containing a high proportion of the famous ornamental aquarium tetras, were also split out of the family, in addition to the small family Spintherobolidae.[5]

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Characidae.
  1. ^ a b Nelson (2006)
  2. ^ "Hyphessobrycon roseus (GÉRY, 1960) Yellow Phantom Tetra". Seriously Fish. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  3. ^ Characinae, recently narrowly defined, covers only twelve genera and 79 species closely related to Charax (George M.T. Mattox, Monica Toledo-Piza, "Phylogenetic study of the Characinae (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae)" Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 165.4:809–915, August 2012).
  4. ^ "Tetra | Freshwater, Care & Breeding | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  5. ^ a b Melo, Bruno F; Ota, Rafaela P; Benine, Ricardo C; Carvalho, Fernando R; Lima, Flavio C T; Mattox, George M T; Souza, Camila S; Faria, Tiago C; Reia, Lais; Roxo, Fabio F; Valdez-Moreno, Martha; Near, Thomas J; Oliveira, Claudio (2024-09-01). "Phylogenomics of Characidae, a hyper-diverse Neotropical freshwater fish lineage, with a phylogenetic classification including four families (Teleostei: Characiformes)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 202 (1): zlae101. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae101. ISSN 0024-4082.
  6. ^ a b Fricke, R.; Eschmeyer, W. N.; Van der Laan, R. (2025). "ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  7. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Characidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
  8. ^ Malabarba, L.R. & Jerep, F.C. (2012): A New Genus and Species of Cheirodontine Fish from South America (Teleostei: Characidae). Copeia, 2012 (2): 243–250.
  9. ^ Vari, R.P., Melo, B.F. & Oliveira, C. (2016): Protocheirodon, a new genus of Characidae (Teleostei: Characiformes) with the redescription of the poorly known Protocheirodon pi. Neotropical Ichthyology, 14 (2): e150154.
  10. ^ Bruno F. Melo, Ricardo C. Benine, Gabriel S.C. Silva, Gleisy S. Avelino, Claudio Oliveira: Molecular phylogeny of the Neotropical fish genus Tetragonopterus (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, November 2015, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.022
  11. ^ van der Laan, Richard (December 2017). Freshwater fish list (PDF) (23rd ed.). p. 997. ISSN 2468-9157.
  12. ^ "Characidae". shadowraven.net. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  13. ^ Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011): Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275
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