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Characidae, the characids or characins is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one,〔Characinae, recently narrowly defined, covers only twelve genera and 79 species closely related to ''Charax'' (George M.T. Mattox, Monica Toledo-Piza, "Phylogenetic study of the Characinae (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae)" ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'', 165.4:809–915, August 2012).〕 but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a by and large monophyletic group at family rank. To arrive there, this family has undergone much systematic and taxonomic change. Among those fishes that remain in the Characidae for the time being are the tetras, comprising the very similar genera ''Hemigrammus'' and ''Hyphessobrycon'', as well as a few related forms such as the cave and neon tetras. Fish of this family are important as food and also include popular aquarium fish species.〔 These fish vary in length, though many are less than . The smallest species grows to a maximum length of .〔FishBase (2011)〕 These fish inhabit a wide range and a variety of habitats. They originate in the Americas, ranging from southwestern Texas and Mexico through Central and South America.〔Nelson (2006)〕 Many of these fish come from rivers, but, for example, the blind cave tetra even inhabits caves. ==Systematics== This family has undergone a large amount of systematic and taxonomic change. More recent revision has moved many former members of the family into their own related but distinct families - the pencilfishes of the genus ''Nannostomus'' are a typical example, having now been moved into the Lebiasinidae, the assorted predatory species belonging to ''Hoplias'' and ''Hoplerythrinus'' have now been moved into the Erythrinidae, and the sabre-toothed fishes of the genus ''Hydrolycus'' have been moved into the Cynodontidae. The former subfamily Alestiinae was promoted to family level (Alestiidae) and the subfamilies Crenuchinae and Characidiinae were moved to the family Crenuchidae.〔 Other fish families that were formerly classified as members of the Characidae, but which were moved into separate families of their own during recent taxonomic revisions (after 1994) include Acestrorhynchidae, Anostomidae, Chilodontidae, Citharinidae, Ctenoluciidae, Curimatidae, Distichodontidae, Gasteropelecidae, Hemiodontidae, Hepsetidae, Parodontidae, Prochilodontidae, Serrasalmidae, and Triporthidae.〔Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011): (Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling. ) ''BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275''〕 The larger piranhas were originally classified as belonging to the Characidae, but various revisions place them in their own related family, the Serrasalmidae. This reassignment has yet to enjoy universal acceptance, but is gaining in popularity among taxonomists working with these fishes. Given the current state of flux of the Characidae, a number of other changes will doubtless take place, reassigning once-familiar species to other families. Indeed, the entire phylogeny of the Ostariophysi - fishes possessing a Weberian apparatus - has yet to be settled conclusively. Until that phylogeny is settled, the opportunity for yet more upheavals within the taxonomy of the characoid fishes is considerable. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Characidae」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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