Climbing gourami

Climbing gourami
Temporal range: 26–0 Ma Late Oligocene to Recent
Anabas testudineus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anabantiformes
Family: Anabantidae
Bonaparte, 1831[1]
Genera

see text

The Anabantidae are a family of ray-finned fish within the order Anabantiformes commonly called the climbing gouramies or climbing perches.[2] The family includes about 34 species. As labyrinth fishes, they possess a labyrinth organ, a structure in the fish's head which allows it to breathe atmospheric oxygen. Fish of this family are commonly seen gulping at air at the surface of the water. The air is held in a structure called the suprabranchial chamber, where oxygen diffuses into the bloodstream via the respiratory epithelium covering the labyrinth organ. This therefore allows the fish to move small distances across land.

Climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) on land
  1. ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Anabantidae". FishBase. August 2019 version.