Carassius
The Naga-buna, a close relative of the Goldfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Cyprinidae
Genus:	Carassius Nilsson, 1832

Carassius is a genus in the ray-finned fish family Cyprinidae. The species in this genus are commonly known as Crucian carps, though this term often specifically refers to C. carassius. The most well known is the Goldfish (C. auratus) which was bred from the Prussian Carp (C. gibelio). They have an Eurasian distribution, apparently originating further to the west than the typical carps (Cyprinus), which include the Common Carp (C. carpio).

They are not particularly close relatives of the typical carps, but rather form a more basal lineage of the subfamily Cyprininae.^[1]

[edit] Species

The following species are placed in Carassius (some subspecies are also listed):^[2]

• Carassius auratus – Goldfish
  • Carassius auratus argenteaphthalmus Nguyen, 2001
  • Carassius (auratus) buergeri Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 – Naga-buna, Okin-buna
  • Carassius auratus grandoculis Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 – Nigoro-buna
  • Carassius auratus langsdorfii Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 – Gin-buna
• Carassius gibelio Prussian Carp
• Carassius carassius – Crucian Carp
• Carassius cuiveri Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 – Japanese Crucian Carp, White Crucian Carp

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carassius

• de Graaf, Martin; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Samallo, Johannis & Sibbing, Ferdinand A. (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small Barbus species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. Anim. Biol. 57(1): 39-48. doi:10.1163/157075607780002069 (HTML abstract)
• FishBase [2009]: Carassius species. Retrieved 2009-SEP-21.

This Cypriniformes-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e