Characidae Latreille 1825

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 22

Family Characidae Latreille 1825 ( Fig. 3B ). Characins, Tetras; Sardinas, Sardinitas de Río, Sabaletes

Description: Body fusiform to slightly elongate, compressed to strongly compressed; usually less than 15 cm in length; upper jaw usually not projecting well beyond the tip of the lower jaw, upper jaw usually with 1–2 rows of multicuspid teeth; fins spine-less; adipose fin present; caudal fin forked; generally silvery in color ( Angulo et al. 2021). Distribution: Freshwater; southwestern Texas, USA, Mexico and Central and South America (Nelson et al. 2016). Five genera and eleven species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 2; Bryconidae (A), Characidae (B), Gymnotidae (C), Loricariidae (D), Heptapteridae (E), Ariidae (F), Batrachoididae (G), Syngnathidae (H), Eleotridae (I), Gobiidae (J), Synbranchidae (K), Centropomidae (L), Polynemidae (M) and Paralichthyidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).