Sinocyclocheilus


Sinocyclocheilus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae endemic to China, where only found in Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. Almost all of its species live in or around caves and most of these have adaptions typical of cavefish such as a lack of scales, lack of pigmentation and reduced eyes. Several species have an unusual hunchbacked appearance and some of the cave-dwellers have a "horn" on the back, the function of which is unclear. In contrast, the Sinocyclocheilus species that live aboveground, as well as a few found underground, show no clear cavefish adaptions. They are relatively small fish reaching up to in length. The individual species have small ranges and populations, leading to the status of most of the evaluated species as threatened. Many species populations in the genus have yet to be evaluated by the IUCN.
The type species is S. tingi. The name is derived from the Latin word sino, meaning "from China", and the Greek word kyklos, meaning "circle", and the Greek word cheilos, meaning "lip".

Species

These are the recognized species in this genus. Several others are now considered synonyms. Some taxonomists place the species Sinocyclocheilus jinxiensis to the monotypic genus Pseudosinocyclocheilus, while others continue its placement here.