Schizopygopsis | |
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Schizopygopsis stoliczkai | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cypriniformes |
Family: | Cyprinidae |
Genus: | Schizopygopsis Steindachner, 1866 |
Type species | |
Schizopygopsis stoliczkai Steindachner, 1866
| |
Species | |
See text. |
Schizopygopsis is a genus of cyprinid fish. Most species are endemic to river basins in the Himalayas and Qinghai–Tibet Plateau of China, but S. stoliczkai extends into the highlands of Afghanistan, Iran, northern India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.[1][2]
S. younghusbandi is up to almost 50 cm (1.6 ft) in total length, but the remaining species generally only reach about two-thirds of that size.[1] Similar to Platypharodon, Schizopygopsis have a horny sheath on the lower jaw and spoon-shaped teeth that they use to scrape off periphyton and algae from stones, but they will also eat benthic invertebrates.[3][4]
Schizopygopsis is a part of the schizothoracines (snowtrout and allies), which also includes the genera Aspiorhynchus, Chuanchia, Diptychus, Gymnodiptychus, Gymnocypris, Oxygymnocypris, Platypharodon, Ptychobarbus, Schizopyge and Schizothorax.[5]
There are currently nine recognized species in this genus:[1]