Three-barbeled Catfishes

The Heptapteridae, or three-barbeled catfishes, are a family of catfish that originate from the Americas. The name Heptapteridae is derived from Greek, hepta meaning seven and pteron meaning fin; this is thought to be an allusion to the short distance between the adipose and caudal fins of Heptapterus mustelinus, the type species of the family's type genus, which gives the appearance that it has 7 instead of 8 fins in total.

The skin of these fish is usually naked (scaleless). They exhibit three pairs of barbels. They have a large adipose fin, and their caudal fin is deeply forked. However, no external characteristics unique to this family allow it to be differentiated from the Pimelodidae.