Indostomus

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Indostomus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Gasterosteiformes Family: Indostomidae Genus: Indostomus
Species
Indostomus crocodilus Indostomus paradoxus Indostomus spinosus

Indostomus is sole genus in the family of fishes Indostomidae and contains only three species. The indostomids are small, tropical fish in the stickleback order Gasterosteiformes, and are closely related to seahorses and pipefishes.

The first member of Family Indostomidae, Indostomus paradoxus, was discovered in the 1920's in a lake in Burma. It was named the armoured stickleback, but is also called paradox fish and Burma stichling. The fish was morphologically unique, so the new family Indostomidae was created for it. It is 3 to 4 centimeters in length and much smaller in width and height, similar to the pipefish. The body is extremely thin and cylindrical, especially caudally as it tapers to its thinnest point and ends in a fan-shaped tail fin. It is twiglike and covered in hard scutes, and it bears five spines on its back and six on its operculum. It is a slow-moving, bottom-feeding fish that picks for food in the mud of swamps and rivers.

In the 1990s two other species were discovered and placed into the genus Indostomus. I. crocodilus lives in Thailand and has habits similar to I. paradoxus. Indostomus spinosus was found in the Mekong River, its tributaries, and adjoining swamps. In 2001 I.Tiliosi was listed as a possible new species, but as of yet has not been officially described.

[edit] Further reading

• Britz, R. and M. Kottelat. (1999). Two new species of gasterosteiform fishes of the genus Indostomus (Teleostei: Indostomidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 10(4):327-336.
• Berra, Tim M. (2001). Freshwater Fish Distribution. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-093156-7