Chilodontidae (fish)


The Chilodontidae, or headstanders, are a small family of freshwater characiform fishes found in northern and central South America. This family is closely related to the family Anostomidae and is sometimes treated as a subfamily, Chilodontinae, within Anostomidae. Due to issues of homonymy with the gastropod family Chilodontidae, one of the families must be changed, possibly by having the fish family revert to Eigenmann's original name of Chilodidae. See for a discussion regarding this issue.
Chilodontids have colourful markings, making them popular in aquariums. They are small fish, all less than in adult length, and are distinguished by their habitual head-down postures.

Genera

This family currently contains two genera: