Bagridae are a family of catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

 that originate from Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 to Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

. These fish are commonly known as naked catfishes or bagrid catfishes.

Large Bagrids are important as food fish. Some species are kept as aquarium fishes.

Physical Characteristics

The dorsal fin is preceded by a spine (except in Olyra

Olyra (fish)

Olyra is a genus of catfishes of the family Bagridae. It includes five species, O. burmanica, O. colletti, O. horae, O. kempi, and O. longicaudata.-Taxonomy:...

). The adipose fin is present and can have a relatively long base in some species. The pectoral fin spine can be serrated. The body is completely naked (they have no scales). The maximum length is about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft). Fishes of the Bagridae family have four pairs of well-developed barbels

Barbel (anatomy)

A barbel on a fish is a slender, whiskerlike tactile organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, sturgeon, the zebrafish and some species of shark...

 covered by a layer of taste bud

Taste bud

Taste buds contain the receptors for taste. They are located around the small structures on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus and epiglottis, which are called papillae. These structures are involved in detecting the five elements of taste perception: salty, sour,...

-enriched epithelium

Epithelium

Epithelium is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. Epithelial tissues line the cavities and surfaces of structures throughout the body, and also form many glands. Functions of epithelial cells include secretion, selective...

.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of this family has changed rapidly. Nelson (2006) comments how "the family is very different from that recognized in Nelson (1994)". Claroteidae

Claroteidae

The Claroteidae are a family of catfish found in Africa. This family was separated from Bagridae. However, the monophyly of the family is sometimes contested....

 and Austroglanididae contain species that were previously Bagrids. Auchenoglanididae is considered by some sources to be a subfamily of Claroteidae and by others to be its own family, sister to Heptapteridae

Heptapteridae

Heptapteridae is a family of catfish that originate from Mexico to South America. Heptapteridae is derived from Greek, hepta meaning seven and pteron meaning fin....

. The taxonomy of the genus Olyra has been debated.

It is unclear whether or not the family is monophyletic, and what its relationship to other catfishes might be.