Nandidae
Encyclopedia
Asian leaffishes are small freshwater fishes of the Nandidae family
, from Southern Asia. There are only four genera
in this group.
These fish usually have small heads, coloration that appears to have evolved to resemble leaves and very large protractile mouths. Those features, along with their peculiar movements (seemingly intended to resemble a leaf innocently moving through the water) help them to catch fairly large prey compared to their body size, including small fish, aquatic insects and other invertebrates. They tend to stay in one place and wait for prey--they are "lie-in-wait-predators."
Their odd leaf-like appearance and unusual behavior make them interesting to aquarium hobbyists.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, from Southern Asia. There are only four genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
in this group.
These fish usually have small heads, coloration that appears to have evolved to resemble leaves and very large protractile mouths. Those features, along with their peculiar movements (seemingly intended to resemble a leaf innocently moving through the water) help them to catch fairly large prey compared to their body size, including small fish, aquatic insects and other invertebrates. They tend to stay in one place and wait for prey--they are "lie-in-wait-predators."
Their odd leaf-like appearance and unusual behavior make them interesting to aquarium hobbyists.