Parambassis, is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 in the Asiatic glassfish family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 (Ambassidae

Ambassidae

The Asiatic glassfishes are a family, Ambassidae, of freshwater and marine fishes in the order Perciformes. The species in the family are native to the waters of Asia and Oceania and the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The family includes eight genera and about fifty species.The family was...

) of order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Perciformes

Perciformes

The Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, is one of the largest orders of vertebrates, containing about 40% of all bony fish. Perciformes means perch-like. They belong to the class of ray-finned fish and comprise over 7,000 species found in almost all aquatic environments...

. The type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is the iridescent glassy perchlet (P. apogonoides).

These fishes originate mostly from Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, but the species range across the Indomalaya

Indomalaya

The Indomalaya ecozone is one of the eight ecozones that cover the planet's land surface. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia....

 and Australasia

Australasia ecozone

The Australasian zone is an ecological region that is coincident, but not synonymous , with the geographic region of Australasia...

 ecozone

Ecozone

An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from...

s, from Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 down through Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The Parambassis species range in maximum size from 3 - 20 cm (1.2 - 7.9 in), but they are similar in appearance, with a lozenge-shaped form, typical perciform fins, and semi-transparent or transparent body.

Several of the species are common food fish in local markets, and some (most notably the Indian glassy fish

Indian glassy fish

The Indian glassy fish, Parambassis ranga, is a species of freshwater fish in the Asiatic glassfish family of order Perciformes. It is native to an area of south Asia from Pakistan to Malaysia....

, Parambassis ranga) are kept as aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

 fish.

Species

• High-finned glass perchlet
  High-finned glass perchlet
  The high-finned glass perchlet, Parambassis altipinnis, is a species of fish in the Ambassidae family. It is endemic to West Papua in Indonesia.-References:* Allen, G. 1996. . Downloaded on 4 August 2007....
  
  , Parambassis altipinnis Allen, 1982
• Iridescent glassy perchlet, Parambassis apogonoides (Bleeker, 1851)
• Sepik glassy perchlet, Parambassis confinis (Weber, 1913)
• Day's glassy perchlet, Parambassis dayi (Bleeker, 1874)
• Giant glassfish, Parambassis gulliveri (Castelnau, 1878)
• Highfin glassy perchlet, Parambassis lala (Hamilton
  Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
  Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India.The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to...
  
  , 1822)
• Parambassis macrolepis (Bleeker, 1857)
• Parambassis pulcinella Kottelat, 2003
• Indian glassy fish
  Indian glassy fish
  The Indian glassy fish, Parambassis ranga, is a species of freshwater fish in the Asiatic glassfish family of order Perciformes. It is native to an area of south Asia from Pakistan to Malaysia....
  
  , Parambassis ranga (Hamilton, 1822)
• Parambassis siamensis (Fowler, 1937)
• Parambassis tenasserimensis Roberts, 1994
• Western Ghat glassy perchlet, Parambassis thomasi (Day, 1870)
• Parambassis vollmeri Roberts, 1994
• Duskyfin glassy perchlet, Parambassis wolffii (Bleeker, 1851)