page_title: Whiskers
section_title: In fish
hierarchical_section_title: Whiskers / In non-mammalian animals / In fish
caption_attribution_description: English: Corydoras aeneus barbels Deutsch: Corydoras aeneus Barteln Français&#160;: Corydoras aeneus barbillons
context_page_description: Whiskers or vibrissae are a type of mammalian hair that are typically characterised, anatomically, by their long length, large and well-innervated hair follicle, and by having an identifiable representation in the somatosensory cortex of the brain.
  They are specialised for tactile sensing. Vibrissae grow in various places on most mammals, including all primates except humans. Vibrissae are analogous to antennae found on insects and other arthropods.
  In medicine, the term vibrissae also refers to the thick hairs found inside human nostrils.
context_section_description: Some fish have slender, pendulous tactile organs near the mouth.  These are often referred to as "whiskers", although they are more correctly termed barbels. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, carp, goatfish, hagfish, sturgeon, zebrafish and some species of shark.
  The Pimelodidae are a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes) commonly known as the long-whiskered catfishes.
caption: "Whiskers" on a catfish
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