Rita (fish)

Rita
Temporal range: Lower Pliocene to Recent
Rita rita
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Superfamily: Bagroidea
Family: Ritidae
Bleeker, 1858
Genus: Rita
Bleeker, 1853
Type species
Pimelodus rita
Hamilton, 1822

Rita (from the Bengali name of Rita rita), commonly known as velvet catfishes, is a genus of catfish found in South Asia. It is the only member of the family Ritidae. These species have a single pair of mandibular barbels, an elongated Weberian apparatus firmly sutured to the basioccipital and the sensory canal on the posttemporal enclosed with bone.