Schizothoracinae


Schizothoracinae, the snow barbels, is a subfamily of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cyprinidae, which includes the carps, barbs, minnows and related fishes. The fishes in this subfamily are found in Asia.

Genera

Schizopygopsinae contains the following genera:
Three fossil genera are also known, all from the Tibetan Plateau:
  • †Hsianwenia Chang et al, 2008
  • †Paleoschizothorax Yang et al., 2018
  • †Plesioschizothorax Wu & Chen, 1980
Fossils of Paleoschizothorax suggest that early schizothoracines originally inhabited the large, swampy river basins, such as the Qaidam Basin, that existed on the Tibetan Plateau prior to significant uplift of the Himalayas. Following the uplift of the mountain range, many schizothoracines became adapted to fast-flowing high altitude rivers. Others, such as Schizothorax species found in southern China, continued to inhabit a low-lying subtropical environment.