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Distichodontidae
	Distichodus maculatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Suborder:	Citharinoidei
Family:	Distichodontidae; Günther, 1864
Genera
	17, see text

The Distichodontidae are a family of African freshwater fishes of the order Characiformes.^[1]

Two evolutionary grades are found in this family; micropredators (predators of very small organisms like aquatic insect larvae) and herbivores have a nonprotractile upper jaw and a deep to shallow body, while carnivores have a movable upper jaw and an elongated body.^[1] Although the herbivores primarily feed on plant material, these species often have omnivorous tendencies. The carnivores include specialized fish-eaters (genus Mesoborus), fin-eaters (Belonophago, Eugnathichthys and Phago) and species that will feed on both whole fish and fins (Ichthyborus). The fin-eaters attack other fish, even ones that are much larger, where they bite off pieces of fins with their sharp teeth.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The fish in Distichodontidae vary greatly in size among species, with the smallest micropredators being less than 8 cm (3.1 in) in length, and the largest herbivores can reach up to 83 cm (33 in).^[5]

Genera

The 17 genera include about 90 species:^[6]

Genus Belonophago (two species)
Genus Congocharax (two species)
Genus Distichodus (23 species)
Genus Dundocharax (one species)
Genus Eugnathichthys (three species)
Genus Hemigrammocharax (10 species)
Genus Ichthyborus (four species)
Genus Mesoborus (one species)
Genus Microstomatichthyoborus (two species)
Genus Monostichodus (three species) ^[7]
Genus Nannaethiops (two species)
Genus Nannocharax (28 species)
Genus Neolebias (11 species)
Genus Paradistichodus (one species)
Genus Paraphago (one species)
Genus Phago (three species)
Genus Xenocharax (two species)

References

^ ^a ^b Nelson, Joseph, S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Lavoué, S.; M.E.Arnegard; D.L. Rabosky; P.B. McIntyre; D. Arcila; R.P. Vari; M. Nishida (2017). Trophic evolution in African citharinoid fishes (Teleostei: Characiformes) and the origin of intraordinal pterygophagy. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 113: 23-32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.05.001
^ Matthes, H. (1961). Feeding Habit of Some Central African Freshwater Fishes. Nature 192: 78–80.
^ Arroyave, J.; M.L.J. Stiassny (2014). DNA barcoding reveals novel insights into pterygophagy and prey selection in distichodontid fishes (Characiformes: Distichodontidae). Ecology and evolution 4(23): 4534–4542. doi:10.1002/ece3.1321
^ Weitzman, S.H.; Vari, R.P. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 101. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Distichodontidae". FishBase. October 2011 version.
^ Musschoot, T. & Snoeks, J. (2016): Re-establishment of the genus Monostichodus Vaillant 1886 (Characiformes, Distichodontidae). Journal of Fish Biology, 90 (3): 1080-1082.