Heteropneustes

Heteropneustes is a genus of catfishes, the airsac catfishes, native to Asia. This genus is monotypic in the family Heteropneustidae.

Heteropneustes
Heteropneustes fossilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Superfamily:	Siluroidea
Family:	Heteropneustidae Hora, 1936
Genus:	Heteropneustes J. P. Müller, 1840
Type species
Silurus fossilis Bloch, 1794
Synonyms
Saccobranchus Valenciennes, 1840 Clarisilurus Fowler, 1937

Their bodies are elongated and compressed with greatly depressed heads. They have long air sacs that serve as lungs that extend from the gill chamber. Their dorsal fins are short and have no spine. Their pectoral fins have an associated venom gland, so the fish are considered dangerous.^[1] They are oviparous; distinct pairing is possible.

Species

Up to six species in this genus are recognized:^[2][3]

• Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794) (stinging catfish)
• Heteropneustes fuscus Plamoottil, 2021^[4] (Travancore black stinging catfish)
• Heteropneustes kemratensis (Fowler, 1937)
• Heteropneustes longipectoralis Rema Devi & Raghunathan, 1999
• Heteropneustes nani Hossain, Sarker, Sharifuzzaman & Chowdhury, 2013^[5]
• Heteropneustes microps (Günther, 1864)

FishBase does not list H. fuscus^[2] while the Catalog of Fishes considers H. microps a synonym of H. fossilis.^[3]