The Grey Bamboo Shark (Chiloscyllium griseum) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Hemiscyllidae family of carpet sharks. It is an elasmobranch cartilaginous fish — a fish that does not have a bony skeleton.
The Grey Bamboo Shark is brown with an elongated, cylindrical body. It has short barbels hanging from its mouth. It has a long tail.
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What is the difference between a barbel and a whisker on a fish?
Catfish and carp have barbels.
Some people call the barbels whiskers, but they are not whiskers.
A barbel is a structure at each edge of the mouth of a carp and catfish. It can be long or short.
A carp has two barbels – one on each side of its mouth.
A catfish has several pairs of barbels – on each side of its face.
Each barbel has taste buds on it, as well as smell sensors.
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The Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus) is a tropical freshwater fish in the botiid loach family.
The Clown Loach has a long body with a downward-facing mouth with thick lips. It has four pairs of barbels (string-like projections) near its mouth, but the barbels on the lower jaw are small and difficult to see. It is reddish-orange with three thick, black, triangular, vertical bands. It has a red tail.
The North African Catfish (Clarius gariepinus) is a freshwater air-breathing fish. It is also called the African Sharptooth Catfish or the Common Mudfish. It has gills (like fish) and a lung, which means that it needs to come to the surface of the water to breathe air. It is able to live in shallow mud for a long period of time.
The North African Catfish is eel-like, with a long, slender, dark-grey body and a white underbelly. It has a flat, bony head. Its mouth has four pairs of barbels (long string-like appendages).
What is a barbel?
A barbel is a whisker-like structure at the edges of the mouth of a fish.
Fish that have barbels include catfish and carp.