Pachyurus
Pachyurus is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. The ten recognised species in the genus are found in South America. Taxonomy Pachyurus was first proposed as a genus in 1831 by the Swiss born American naturalist Louis Agassiz when he described the new species Pachyurus squamipennis, with a type locality given as Januária on the São Francisco River, Minas Gerais, in Brazil. The genus Pachyurus is included in the subfamily Pachyurinae by some workers, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae, which it places in the order Acanthuriformes. In addition, Pachyurinae, is an invalid name as it is preoccupied by a tribe of cycad weevils, the Pachyurini Kuschel, 1959 . Etymology Pachyurus is a combination of pachy, meaning "thick", and oura, which means "tail". This is an allusion to the dense covering of scales on the caudal fin of the type species, P. squamipennis. Species Pachyurus contains ten described, recognised species: Pachyurus adspersus Steindachner, 1879 (Brazilian croaker) Pachyurus bonariensis Steindachner, 1879 (La Plata croaker) Pachyurus calhamazon Casatti, 2001 Pachyurus francisci (Cuvier 1830) (San Francisco croaker) Pachyurus gabrielensis Casatti, 2001 Pachyurus junki Soares