Genus of fishes
Sinocyclocheilus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae that is endemic to Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan in China. 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 (some are completely blind). Several species have an unusual hunchbacked appearance and some of the cave-dwellers have a "horn" on the back (above the forehead), 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:
References.
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