Notopteridae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohort: Osteoglossocephala
Cohort/Superordo: Osteoglossomorpha
Ordo: Osteoglossiformes

Familia: Notopteridae
Genera (4): Chitala - Notopterus – Papyrocranus – Xenomystus
Name

Notopteridae Bleeker, 1851
References
Links

Notopteridae and its species in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Genera of Notopteridae (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.

The family Notopteridae contains 10 species of osteoglossiform (bony-tongued) fishes, commonly known as featherbacks and knifefishes. These fishes live in freshwater or brackish environments in Africa and West South East and Southeast Asia.

With the denotation of "knifefish", the notopterids should not be confused with Gymnotiformes, the electric knifefishes from South and Central America. Although their manner of swimming is similar and they are superficially similar in appearance, the two groups are not closely related.

A few of the larger species, especially Chitala ornata, are food fish and occasionally aquarium pets. The name is from Greek noton meaning "back" and pteron meaning "fin".
Fossils

The earliest fossil of this family is otolith of Notopteridarum from the Late Cretaceous of India, about 70.6 to 66 million years ago.[1]
Description

Featherbacks have slender, elongated, bodies, giving them a knife-like appearance. The caudal fin is small and fused with the anal fin, which runs most of the length of the body. Where present, the dorsal fin is small and narrow, giving rise to the common name of "featherback". The fish swims by holding its body rigid and rippling the anal fin to propel itself forward or backwards.[2]

Notopterids have specialized swim bladders. The organ extends throughout the body and even into the fins in some cases. Although the swim bladder is not highly vascularised, it can absorb oxygen from air and also functions to produce sound by squeezing air through a narrow passage into the pharynx.[2]

At least some species prepare nests and guard the eggs until they hatch.[2]
Species

The 10 species in four genera are:[3]

Subfamily Xenomystinae Greenwood 1963
Genus Papyrocranus Greenwood, 1963
Papyrocranus afer (Günther, 1868) (reticulated knifefish)
Papyrocranus congoensis (Nichols & La Monte, 1932)
Genus Xenomystus Günther, 1868
Xenomystus nigri (Günther, 1868) (African knifefish)
Subfamily Notopterinae Bleeker 1851 (Asian knifefishes, featherbacks)
Genus Chitala Fowler, 1934
Chitala blanci (d'Aubenton, 1965) (royal knifefish or Indochina featherback)
Chitala borneensis (Bleeker, 1851) (Indonesian featherback)
Chitala chitala (F. Hamilton, 1822) (Indian featherback)
Chitala hypselonotus (Bleeker, 1852)
†Chitala lopis (Bleeker, 1851)
Chitala ornata (J. E. Gray, 1831) (clown featherback or clown knifefish)
Genus Notopterus Lacépède, 1800
Notopterus notopterus (Pallas, 1769) (bronze featherback)

References

Nolf, Dirk; Rana, R. S.; Prasad, G. V. R. (2008). "Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian fish otoliths from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds, India: a revision". Bulletin de l'Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre. 78: 239–259.
Greenwood, P. H. & Wilson, M. V. (1998). Paxton, J. R. & Eschmeyer, W. N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.

Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Notopteridae". FishBase. July 2021 version.