Chaetobranchini

Chaetobranchini is a tribe of the subfamily Cichlinae, the American cichlids. They are distributed from the river basin of the Orinoco and the Guianas south to the basins of the Río Paraná and Río Paraguay . The two recognised genera of the Chaetobranchini have been classified together with Astronotus in the subfamily Astronotinae but the consensus is that this genus forms the monogeneric tribe, the Astronotini, these two each being one of the seven tribes in Cichlinae.^[1]

Chaetobranchini
Chaetobranchus flavescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cichliformes
Family:	Cichlidae
Subfamily:	Cichlinae
Tribe:	Chaetobranchini Fernández Yépez, 1951
Type genus
Chaetobranchus Heckel, 1840

Characteristics

The species in Chaetobranchini grow to lengths of 12–24 centimetres (4.7–9.4 in) in length and have an oval, laterally compressed body with a pointed head. They have small mouths and teeth, feed on plankton using filaments on their gill arches as a filter.^[2] The chaetobranchins possess a very reduced lower pharyngeal jaw which has elongated lateral processes, a keel and conical teeth.^[3] Chaetobranchines are also characterised by their long pointed pectoral fins, which extend almost to the end of the base of the anal fin and the three or four long posterior lateral lines which reach to the caudal fin.^[4]

Genera

The two genera included in the Chaetobranchini are:^[1]

• Chaetobranchopsis Steindachner, 1875
• Chaetobranchus Heckel, 1840