Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 21, 2026

Amblyceps

Amblyceps is a genus of fish in the family Amblycipitidae. The genera Amblyceps and Liobagrus are sister group pair that is, in turn, sister to Xiurenbagrus. These species are easily distinguished by the presence of pinnate processes along with the median caudal-fin rays, a prominent cup-like skin flap above the base of the pectoral spine, and the adipose fin largely separate from the caudal fin. In most species the caudal fin is deeply forked; A. apangi and A. murraystuarti differ in having their caudal fin truncate. Amblyceps species may reach about 100 millimetres (3.9 in) SL.

Last revised
Jul 21, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
704 w
Citations
17
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Amblyceps source ↗
Amblyceps
Amblyceps mangois
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Amblycipitidae
Genus: Amblyceps
Blyth, 1858
Type species
Amblyceps caecutiens
Blyth, 1858
Synonyms
  • Branchiosteus Gill, 1861

Amblyceps is a genus of fish in the family Amblycipitidae.1 The genera Amblyceps and Liobagrus are sister group pair that is, in turn, sister to Xiurenbagrus.2 These species are easily distinguished by the presence of pinnate processes along with the median caudal-fin rays (although these processes may be poorly developed in some species), a prominent cup-like skin flap above the base of the pectoral spine, and the adipose fin largely separate from the caudal fin.3 In most species the caudal fin is deeply forked; A. apangi and A. murraystuarti differ in having their caudal fin truncate.3 Amblyceps species may reach about 100 millimetres (3.9 in) SL.2

Distribution and habitat

These species are distributed throughout south and southeast Asia. They typically inhabit fast flowing hill streams or fast-flowing stretches of larger rivers.3 This genus is mainly distributed in India and the Malay Peninsula.4 Three species are known from Myanmar: A. caecutiens, A. murraystuarti and A. carinatum.3

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:5

  • Amblyceps accari Dahanukar, Raghavan, A. Ali & Britz, 2016 6
  • Amblyceps apangi Nath & S. C. Dey, 1989
  • Amblyceps arunachalensis Nath & S. C. Dey, 1989
  • Amblyceps caecutiens Blyth, 1858
  • Amblyceps carinatum H. H. Ng, 2005 3
  • Amblyceps cerinum H. H. Ng & J. J. Wright, 2010 7
  • Amblyceps crassioris Vijayakrishnan & Praveenraj, 2024
  • Amblyceps foratum H. H. Ng & Kottelat, 2000
  • Amblyceps hmolaii Singh, Lalronunga & Ramliana, 2022
  • Amblyceps improcerum Ng & Kottelat, 2018
  • Amblyceps kurzii (F. Day, 1872)
  • Amblyceps laticeps (McClelland, 1842)
  • Amblyceps macropterus H. H. Ng, 2001
  • Amblyceps mangois (F. Hamilton, 1822) (Indian torrent catfish)
  • Amblyceps murraystuarti B. L. Chaudhuri, 1919
  • Amblyceps platycephalus H. H. Ng & Kottelat, 2000
  • Amblyceps protentum H. H. Ng & J. J. Wright, 2009
  • Amblyceps serratum H. H. Ng & Kottelat, 2000
  • Amblyceps tenuispinis Blyth, 1860
  • Amblyceps torrentis Linthoingambi & Vishwanath, 2008 8
  • Amblyceps tuberculatum Linthoingambi & Vishwanath, 2008 8
  • Amblyceps variegatum H. H. Ng & Kottelat, 2000
  • Amblyceps vayavy Vijayakrishnan, B., Thackeray, T. & Shirke, A., 2026 9
  • Amblyceps waikhomi Darshan, Kachari, Dutta, Ganguly & D. N. Das, 2016 10
  • Amblyceps yunnanensis X. Y. Zhang, Y. Long, H. Xiao & Z. M. Chen, 2016 11
References

References

  1. Ferraris, C.J.Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–628. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1.
  2. Chen, X.; Lundberg, J.G. (1995). "Xiurenbagrus, a New Genus of Amblycipitid Catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes), and Phylogenetic Relationships among the Genera of Amblycipitidae". Copeia. 1995 (4): 780–800. doi:10.2307/1447027. JSTOR 1447027.
  3. Ng, H.H. (2005). "Amblyceps carinatum, a new species of hillstream catfish from Myanmar (Teleostei: Amblycipitidae)" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 53 (2): 243–249. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-11.
  4. Zhao, Y.; Lan, J.; Zhang, C. (2004). "A new species of amblycipitid catfish, Xiurenbagrus gigas (Teleostei: Siluriformes), from Guangxi, China". Ichthyological Research. 51 (3): 228–232. Bibcode:2004IchtR..51..228Z. doi:10.1007/s10228-004-0220-z.
  5. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Amblyceps". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  6. Dahanukar, N.; Raghavan, R.; Ali, A.; Britz, R. (2016). "Amblyceps accari, a new species of torrent catfish (Teleostei: Amblycipitidae) from the Western Ghats of India". Zootaxa. 4109 (2): 218–226. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4109.2.6. PMID 27394861.
  7. Ng, H.H.; Wright, J.J. (2010). "Amblyceps cerinum, a new catfish (Teleostei: Amblycipitidae) from northeastern India" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2672: 50–60. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2672.1.3.
  8. Linthoingambi, I.; Vishwanath, W. (2008). "Two new catfish species of the genus Amblyceps from Manipur, India (Teleostei: Amblycipitidae". Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 19 (2): 167–174.
  9. Vijayakrishnan, B.; Thackeray, T.; Shirke, A. (2026). "Amblyceps vayavy, a new catfish from the northern part of the Western Ghats, India (Teleostei: Amblycipitidae)". Zootaxa. 5768 (3): 401–409. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5768.3.6.
  10. Darshan, A.; Kachari, A.; Dutta, R.; Ganguly, A.; Das, D.N. (2016). "Amblyceps waikhomi, a New Species of Catfish (Siluriformes: Amblycipitidae) from the Brahmaputra Drainage of Arunachal Pradesh, India". PLOS ONE. 11 (2) e0147283. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1147283D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147283. PMC 4740403. PMID 26840400.
  11. Zhang, X.; Long, Y.; Xiao, H.; Chen, Z. (2016). "First record of the catfish genus Amblyceps Blyth, 1858 from China with the description of a new species (Osteichthyes: Amblycipitidae)". Folia Zoologica. 65 (2): 81–86. doi:10.25225/fozo.v65.i2.a1.2016.