Akysis is a genus of small stream catfish in the family Akysidae, native to fast-flowing rivers and hill streams across South and Southeast Asia, spanning the atlas's coverage of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and India. These are diminutive, bottom-hugging fish, most under 3 in, with a flattened head, whisker-like barbels, and rough, tubercle-studded skin that helps them cling to stones in current; nearly all species are nocturnal and hide by day under rocks or debris. The atlas covers 25 species.
The genus is best known in the aquarium world for the wasp catfish (Akysis vespa), whose bold black-and-yellow banding gives it the look of a stinging insect and has made it a sought-after oddball among catfish specialists, alongside species like the pictus stream catfish (A. pictus) and Kra stream catfish (A. pulvinatus). Akysis are demanding rather than beginner fish, needing cool, well-oxygenated, current-swept water to thrive. Conservation data for the genus are thin, most species are listed as data deficient, reflecting how little survey work has reached these small, secretive hill-stream fish rather than any confirmed safety.