Heterobranchus
Heterobranchus is a genus of airbreathing catfishes native to Africa.
Depending on the exact species involved, fish of this genus reach from with the giant vundu being the largest completely freshwater fish in southern Africa, reaching SL and weighing up to.
This genus had a wider distribution in the past. The extinct species H. palaeindicus is known from the Early Pliocene of India. The extinct species H. austriacus was widely distributed throughout central, western, and eastern Europe during the late Miocene. H. austriacus likely immigrated from Africa to Europe, potentially in repeated waves, when land connections formed between both continents around this time.
Species
This genus contains four recent and two fossil species:Recent species
- Heterobranchus bidorsalis É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809
- Heterobranchus boulengeri
- Heterobranchus isopterus —found in West Africa—
- Heterobranchus longifilis Valenciennes, 1840
Fossil species
- †Heterobranchus austriacus
- †''Heterobranchus palaeindicus''