Elopichthys bambusa (Richardson, 1845)

Open encyclopedia reference

Elopichthys is a monospecific genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Xenocyprididae, the East Asian minnows or sharpbellies. The only species in the genus is Elopichthys bambusa, the yellowcheek or kanyu (Chinese: 鱤魚; pinyin: gǎnyú), a large fish that is found in freshwater habitats in eastern Asia. It ranges from the Amur River in Russia, through China to the Red and Lam Rivers in Vietnam. It prefers relatively warm waters, entirely avoiding colder highlands. It is considered an important food fish where it occurs, reaching up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in total length and 52.2 kg (115 lb) in weight. This fish spawns in the summer, mainly in streams in places like the mid-Amur, Songhua and Ussuri basins. In the Amur, young are found in the lower sections. They mature after 6 years, and after this time they tend to live in floodplains and winter in the main rivers. This is a fast and agile predator. They mainly consume smaller fish.

Wikipedia contributors, Elopichthys; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:35:04.043714+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Elopichthys bambusa (Richardson, 1845)

Name authority

(Richardson, 1845)

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Cypriniformes

Family

Cyprinidae

Genus

Elopichthys

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderCypriniformes
11. familyCyprinidae Rafinesque, 1815
12. genusElopichthys Bleeker, 1860
13. speciesElopichthys bambusa (Richardson, 1845)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 2,547 records assigned to Cyprinidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1022039 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:39CHK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.