Kryptopterus vitreolus Ng & Kottelat, 2013
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Kryptopterus vitreolus, known commonly as the glass catfish, the glass cat, the ghost catfish or the phantom catfish, is a small species of translucent-bodied, social glass catfish in the family Siluridae. It is commonly seen in captivity and in the freshwater aquarium trade, although its official taxonomy is still debatable, and was only truly resolved in 2013. Glass catfish are endemic to Thailand, where they inhabit rivers and streams south of the Isthmus of Kra that drain into the Gulf of Thailand and river basins in the Cardamom Mountains. There are also unconfirmed reports from Penang, Malaysia.
Until 1989, K. vitreolus was considered to be the same as another "glass catfish", Kryptopterus bicirrhis, a larger species that is not commonly seen in captivity. Additionally, K. vitreolus was believed to be the same as K. minor until 2013, when it was established that captive specimens actually represented another species, which is now named as K. vitreolus. The true K. minor, which is restricted to Borneo, has rarely, if ever, entered the aquarium trade.
Wikipedia contributors, Kryptopterus vitreolus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:56:45.541693+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Kryptopterus vitreolus Ng & Kottelat, 2013
- Name authority
- Ng & Kottelat, 2013
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Siluriformes
- Family
- Siluridae
- Genus
- Kryptopterus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderSiluriformes
- familySiluridae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusKryptopterus Bleeker, 1857
- speciesKryptopterus vitreolus Ng & Kottelat, 2013
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Kryptopterus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Kryptopterus baramensis Ng, 2002 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus bicirrhis (Valenciennes, 1840) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus geminus Ng, 2003 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus hesperius Ng, 2002 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus lais (Bleeker, 1851) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus limpok (Bleeker, 1852) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus minor Roberts, 1989 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus mononema (Bleeker, 1846) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus palembangensis (Bleeker, 1852) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus paraschilbeides Ng, 2003 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus schilbeides (Bleeker, 1858) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kryptopterus cheveyi Durand, 1940 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- Ng, H. H., & Kottelat, M. (2013). After eighty years of misidentification, a name for the glass catfish (Teleostei: Siluridae). Zootaxa, 3630. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3630.2.6 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:3RF3V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.