Chalceus

{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Bueng chawag Aquarium - panoramio.jpg | image_caption = ''Chalceus macrolepidotus'' | parent_authority = Fowler, 1958<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref> | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Chalceus | authority = Cuvier, 1818<ref name="CofFF"/> | type_species = Chalceus macrolepidotus | type_species_authority = Cuvier, 1818<ref name="CofFF"/>

| synonyms = {{species list |Pellegrinina |Fowler, 1907 |Plethodectes |Cope, 1870}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name="CofFF"/> }}

'''''Chalceus''''' is a genus of fish that inhabits freshwater habitats in South America. Members can be found in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, as well as in the Guianas and various tributaries of the former.<ref>{{Cite web|title=COPEPEDIA summary for Chalceidae : T5006059 : Family|url=https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/nauplius/media/copepedia/taxa/T5006059/|access-date=2021-12-26|website=www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov}}</ref> It is the sole representative of the family '''Chalceidae''', the '''tucanfishes'''.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Fricke |first=R. |last2=Eschmeyer |first2=W. N. |last3=Van der Laan |first3=R. |date=2025 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Academy of Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CofFF">{{Cof family|family=Chalceidae|access-date=29 April 2025}}</ref>

== Description == Members of the genus ''Chalceus'' typically reach a length of {{cvt|15|–|25|cm}}, but may reach about {{cvt|30|cm}}.<ref name="FishBase Chalceus">{{FishBase genus|genus=Chalceus|access-date=11 August 2025}}</ref> They have an elongated shape, and relatively large scales. Their fins are a variety of colors, most commonly red, yellow, or hyaline, with a red or pink tail being the most common.<ref name="Plazi TreatmentBank">{{cite web|title=Chalceus, Cuvier, 1817|url=https://treatment.plazi.org/id/623087C7FF9FFFD8FC487AF1FB48FD87|access-date=26 December 2021|website=Plazi TreatmentBank}}</ref>

== Classification == ''Chalceus'' was previously classified as a member of the family Characidae, and is still listed there by some authorities (like GBIF and ITIS).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chalceus names - Encyclopedia of Life|url=https://eol.org/pages/25386/names|access-date=2021-12-26|website=eol.org}}</ref> However, recent phylogenetic and morphological analysis has prompted a move into the family Chalceidae, which is currently home only to the genus ''Chalceus'' (making it monotypic).<ref name="Phylogenetics">Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011): [https://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-11-275.pdf Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling.] ''BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275''</ref><ref>Cástor Guisande, Patricia Pelayo-Villamil, Manuel Vera, Ana Manjarrés-Hernández, Mónica R. Carvalho, Richard P. Vari, Luz Fernanda Jiménez, Carlos Fernández, Paulino Martínez, Edgar Prieto-Piraquive, Carlos Granado-Lorencio, Santiago R. Duque, "Ecological Factors and Diversification among Neotropical Characiforms", International Journal of Ecology, vol. 2012, Article ID 610419, 20 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/610419 </ref> This move was also done in order to keep the family Charadicae monophyletic.<ref name="Phylogenetics" />

==Species== ''Chalceus'' contains the following valid species:<ref name = "Cof genus">{{Cof genus|genus=Chalceus|access-date=11 August 2025}}</ref>

* ''Chalceus epakros'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004 * ''Chalceus erythrurus'' (Cope, 1870) (tucan fish) * ''Chalceus guaporensis'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004 * ''Chalceus macrolepidotus'' Cuvier, 1818 (pinktail chalceus) * ''Chalceus spilogyros'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004

NB: Two species described by Jardine, ''C. latus'' and ''C. taeniatus'', are currently species inquirenda. A third species which was described by Jardine, ''C. fasciatus'', is regarded as a synonym but also considered to be ''incertae sedis''.<ref name = "Cof genus"/>

== History == The genus ''Chalceus'' was established by Georges Cuvier in 1818, when he described the pinktail chalceus (''C. marcolepidotus'') as a new species in a new genus.<ref name="Original">{{cite journal|last1=Cuvier|first1=Georges|date=1818|title=Sur les Poissons du sous-genre Myletes|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34812546#page/506/mode/1up|journal=Mémoires du Muséum d'histoire naturelle|volume=4|page=454|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref> By way of monotypy, the pinktail became the type species therein.<ref name="Catalog">{{cite web|last1=Fricke|first1=Ron|last2=Eschmeyer|first2=William N.|last3=Fong|first3=Jon D.|date=2020|title=Genera/Species of Fishes by Family/Subfamily|url=https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp#Chalceidae|access-date=26 December 2021|website=Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes|publisher=California Academy of Sciences}}</ref> The next established species was the tucan fish, ''C. erythrurus'', which was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1870, though he first classified it in the genus ''Plethodectes'' with the full name ''Plethodectes erythrurus''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cope|first1=Edward Drinker|date=1870|title=Contribution to the Ichthyology of the Maranon|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31205438|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=11|issue=81|pages=563–564|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref> In 1872, he moved it to ''Chalceus''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cope|first1=Edward Drinker|date=1872|title=On the fishes of the Ambyiacu River|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5512196|journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia|volume=23|page=262|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref>

A full redescription of the genus occurred in 2004, undertaken by Brazilian biologists Angela M. Zanata and Mônica Toledo-Piza, which resulted in the nomination of the other three species.<ref name="ChalceusRevision">{{cite journal|author1=Zanata, A.M. |author2=M. Toledo-Piza |year=2004|title=Taxonomic revision of the South American fish genus Chalceus Cuvier (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) with the description of three new species|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=140|issue=11|pages=103–135|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00090.x|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Etymology == The name ''Chalceus'' is Greek in origin and comes from the word ''chalkos'', which means "copper".<ref>{{cite web|title=Glosbe|url=https://glosbe.com/en/grc/copper|access-date=26 December 2021|website=Copper in Ancient Greek (to 1453)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hackh|first1=Ingo W. D.|date=1918|title=The Romance of the Chemical Elements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bk4-AQAAMAAJ&dq=chalceus+greek+meaning&pg=PA490|journal=American Journal of Pharmacy and the Sciences Supporting Public Health|volume=90|page=490|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref> This was given by Cuvier because he observed that the original specimen's scales were "sometimes golden" when preserved in alcohol.<ref name="Original" /><ref name="ETYFish">{{cite web|last1=Scharpf|first1=Christopher|last2=Lazara|first2=Kenneth J.|date=15 September 2020|title=Order CHARACIFORMES: Families IGUANODECTIDAE, TRIPORTHEIDAE, BRYCONIDAE, CHALCEIDAE and GASTEROPELECIDAE|url=https://etyfish.org/characiformes8/|access-date=26 December 2021|website=The ETYFish Project}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Chalceus Category:Characoidei Category:Fish of South America Category:Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Category:Actinopterygii genera