Corydoras is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Callichthyidae, commonly referred to as the armoured catfishes, and the subfamily Corydoradinae, the corys. The species usually have more restricted areas of endemism than other callichthyids, but the area of distribution of the entire genus almost equals the area of distribution of the family, except for Panama where Corydoras is not present. Corydoras species are distributed in South America where they can be found from the east of the Andes to the Atlantic coast, from Trinidad to the Río de la Plata drainage in northern Argentina.