Akysidae a group of Asian catfish that Contains five genera; these are: - Acrochordonichthys, Akysis, Breitensteinia ,Parakysis and Pseudobagarius.
Acrochordonichthys and Breitensteinia are commonly referred to as ‘Asian Banjo catfish’ and on occasion are referred to as ‘Stonecats’.
Akysis, Parakysis and Pseudobagarius are commonly referred to as ‘Wasp’, ‘Stream’ or ‘Bee’ cats.
IN 1998 it was recognised that the genus ‘Akysis’ included two groups of species, with one group being ‘Akysis variegatus’ and the other group being ‘Akysis pseudobagarius’ and since then it has been decided that the Akysis variegatus group should represent the genera ‘Akysis’ and a new genera ‘Pseudobagarius’ be allocated to the Akysis pseudobagarius group. The basic difference between ‘Akysis’ species and ‘Pseudobagarius’ species is that in Pseudobagarius the caudal fin is deeply bifurcated with the upper jaw protruding over the lower jaw.
It is mainly Akysis species that are imported for the aquarium hobby in Europe, with the other four species being spasmodically imported in small numbers.
The “banjo” cats are the largest in size, growing up to 220mm SL as in the case of Breitensteinia insignis; with the “wasp” cats ranging in size from 60mm SL as in the case of Akysis prashadi down to 30mm SL as in the case of Akysis recavus.
SPECIES DATA SHEETS AVAILABLE:-
Acrochordonichthys rugosus
Akysis longifilis
Akysis maculipinnis
Akysis prashadi
Akysis vespa
Parakysis verrucosus
