Nothobranchius

Nothobranchius
Nothobranchius rachovii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Division: Teleostei
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Nothobranchiidae
Genus: Nothobranchius
Peters, 1868
Type species
Cyprinodon orthonotus
(Peters, 1844)
Synonyms

Adiniops Myers, 1924
Fundulosoma Ahl, 1924
Zononothobranchius Radda, 1969
Aphyobranchius Wildekamp, 1977
Paranothobranchius Seegers, 1985

Nothobranchius, known as nothobranchs or simply nothos, is a genus of small, freshwater killifish, classified in the family Nothobranchiidae in the order Cyprinodontiformes. There are about a hundred species in the genus, many with very small distributions. They are primarily native to East Africa from Sudan to northern South Africa, whereas a dozen species are found in the upper Congo River Basin, with the greatest species richness being in Tanzania.

Nothobranchius typically inhabit ephemeral pools that are filled only during the monsoon season, and show extreme life-history adaptations to survive the dry season. When their habitats dry up, the adult fish die and the eggs survive encased in the clay during the dry season. The embryos survive the dry season by entering diapause, facilitated by their specialized eggs that have a very hard chorion and are resistant to desiccation and hypoxia. These species reach maturity very quickly once diapause is broken and have a very short life span; one species, Nothobranchius furzeri, reaches maturity in 17 days and seldom lives beyond 6 months.

Etymology

The genus name Nothobranchius comes from Ancient Greek νόθος (nóthos), meaning 'crossbred', and βράγχιος (bránkhios), meaning 'with gills'.

Species

Nothobranchius flammicomantis, male
Nothobranchius kilomberoensis, male
Nothobranchius korthausae pair, female in foreground
Nothobranchius polli, male

There are 102 recognized species in this genus:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Nothobranchius". FishBase. September 2018 version.
  2. ↑ van der Laan, R., Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fricke, R. (2014): Family-group names of Recent fishes. Zootaxa, 3882 (2): 1–230.
  3. 1 2 Alexander Dorn, Zuzana Musilová, Matthias Platzer, Kathrin Reichwald and Alessandro Celler (2014) The strange case of East African annual fishes: aridification correlates with diversification for a savannah aquatic group? BMC Evolutionary Biology 14:210. DOI: 10.1186/s12862-014-0210-3
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 Valdesalici, S. (2014): Nothobranchius bellemansi and Nothobranchius occultus (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) two new annual killifish from Sudan. Killi-Data Series, 2014: 4-19.
  6. ↑ Watters, B.R., Wildekamp, R.H. & Shidlovskiy, K.M. (2015): Description and biogeography of Nothobranchius capriviensis, a new species of annual killifish from the Zambezi Region of Namibia (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Journal of the American Killifish Association, 47 (4-6): 97-133.
  7. ↑ Nagy, B. (2014): Nothobranchius chochamandai, a new species of annual killifish from the Luapula drainage, Democratic Republic of Congo (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 25 (2): 167-183.
  8. ↑ Nagy, B. (2018). "Nothobranchius ditte, a new species of annual killifish from the Lake Mweru basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae)". Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 28 (2): 115–134.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Nagy, B. (2025). Review of Cyprinodontiform Fishes in the Upper Congo Drainage with Descriptions of Four New Species of Seasonal Nothobranchius (Nothobranchiidae) and a New Species of ‘Lacustricola’ Lampeye (Procatopodidae) in South-Eastern DR Congo. Ecology and Diversity, 2 (10006): 1-43. ResearchGate 393188429
  10. ↑ Nagy, Béla (2021-01-20). "Nothobranchius elucens, a new species of seasonal killifish from the upper Nile drainage in Uganda (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae)". Zootaxa. 4915 (1): 133–147. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4915.1.10. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33756590.
  11. ↑ Nagy, B. (2014): Nothobranchius flagrans, a new species of annual killifish from the Lufira drainage, Democratic Republic of Congo (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 25 (3): 259-276.
  12. ↑ Costa, W.J.E.M. (2017): Redescription of Nothobranchius lucius and description of a new species from Mafia Island, eastern Tanzania (Cyprinodontiformes, Aplocheilidae). Zoosystematics and Evolution, 93 (1): 35-44.
  13. 1 2 Valdesalici, S. (2012): Nothobranchius kardashevi and Nothobranchius ivanovae (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae): two new annual killifishes from the Katuma River drainage, western Tanzania. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology, 18 (4): 191-198.
  14. ↑ Reichard, M. (2010). "Nothobranchius kadleci (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new species of annual killifish from central Mozambique" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2332: 49–60. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2332.1.4.
  15. ↑ Nagy, B. (2014): Nothobranchius milvertzi, a new species of killifish from the Lushiba Marsh in the Lake Mweru drainage, Zambia (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 24 (4): 347-360.
  16. ↑ Valdesalici, S., Bills, R., Dorn, A., Reichwald, K. & Cellerino, A. (2012): Nothobranchius niassa (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new species of annual killifish from northern Mozambique. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 23 (1): 19-28.
  17. ↑ Nagy, B., Chocha Mandala, A. & Vreven, E.J.W.M.N. (2016). Nothobranchius poppi, a new species of seasonal killifish (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) from ephemeral wetlands of the lower Luapula River floodplain (upper Congo drainage: DR Congo). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, IEF-1204: 1–12. ResearchGate 407129536
  18. 1 2 3 Wildekamp, R.H., Watters, B.R. & Shidlovskiy, K.M. (2014): Review of the Nothobranchius neumanni species group with descriptions of three new species from Tanzania (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Journal of the American Killifish Association, 47 (1): 2-30.
  19. ↑ Nagy, B., Cotterill, F.P.D. & Bellstedt, D.U. (2016): Nothobranchius sainthousei, a new species of annual killifish from the Luapula River drainage in northern Zambia (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 27 (3): 233-254.
  20. ↑ Valdesalici, S. (2016): Nothobranchius streltsovi, a new species of annual killifish with two male colour morphs from the Malagarasi drainage, central Tanzania (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 27 (2): 153-161.
  21. ↑ Bellstedt, D. U., B. Nagy, P. D. W. van der Merwe, F. P. D. Cotterill, Q. Luke & B. R. Watters. (2025). The description of a critically endangered new species of seasonal killifish, Nothobranchius sylvaticus (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a relict species from an East African forest refugium in south-eastern Kenya. Zootaxa, 5601 (1): 086–108. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5601.1.4 ResearchGate 389627266
  22. ↑ Valdesalici, S. (2015): Nothobranchius torgashevi (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) a new species of annual killifish with two male colour morphs from the Lake Eyasi Basin, Central Tanzania. Killi-Data Series, 2015: 17-30.
  23. ↑ Ng'oma, E., Valdesalici, S., Reichwald, K. & Cellerino, A. (2013): Genetic and morphological studies of Nothobranchius (Cyprinodontiformes) from Malawi with description of Nothobranchius wattersi sp. nov. Journal of Fish Biology, 82 (1): 165–188.