Kryptopterus
Kryptopterus is a genus of catfishes belonging to the family Siluridae. They are found in freshwater throughout Southeast Asia. The scientific name comes from Ancient Greek kryptós + ptéryx. It refers to the reduced or even entirely absent dorsal fin of these catfishes.
These small- to medium-sized catfishes have opaque, transparent or translucent bodies, hence their common name Asian glass catfishes. Despite this name, only three described species have clearly transparent bodies: K. minor, K. piperatus and K. vitreolus. Most significant among these is the ghost catfish, which is the "glass catfish" most often seen in the aquarium fish trade. This species was initially confused with the larger glass catfish and subsequently with K. minor. This matter was only fully resolved in 2013.
Species
While 17 species have been described as of 2025, the genus Kryptopterus is notoriously rich in cryptic species. A number of these have been recognized in recent years, and more are likely to follow:Kryptopterus baramensis H. H. Ng, 2002Kryptopterus bicirrhis Kryptopterus cryptopterus Kryptopterus dissitus H. H. Ng, 2001 Kryptopterus geminus H. H. Ng, 2003Kryptopterus hesperius H. H. Ng, 2002 Kryptopterus lais Kryptopterus limpok Kryptopterus lumholtzi Rendahl, 1922Kryptopterus macrocephalus Kryptopterus minor Roberts, 1989 Kryptopterus mononema Kryptopterus palembangensis Kryptopterus paraschilbeides H. H. Ng, 2003Kryptopterus piperatus H. H. Ng, Wirjoatmodjo & Hadiaty, 2004Kryptopterus schilbeides Kryptopterus vitreolus H. H. Ng & Kottelat, 2013Some species formerly placed in Kryptopterus are nowadays in other Siluridae genera, in particular Phalacronotus but also Micronema and Pterocryptis.