Cheilobarbus is a genus of barbs (family Cyprinidae) endemic to the Cape region of South Africa, one of the few cyprinid genera confined to that biodiversity hotspot's river systems. The atlas covers 2 species, 17.5–19.5 in - notably large-bodied compared with the small barbs most aquarists know, closer in scale to the region's indigenous yellowfishes. C. capensis (Cape whitefish) and C. serra (sawfin) both belong to the Cape's distinctive, geographically isolated freshwater fish fauna.
This genus has essentially no aquarium hobby presence; it is a fish of regional scientific and conservation interest rather than the trade. South Africa's Cape freshwater fish are broadly recognized as one of the world's most threatened indigenous fish faunas, under sustained pressure from invasive alien fish and altered river flows, and the atlas's tally of one Near Threatened species alongside one Not Evaluated fits that wider pattern of a fauna still catching up on conservation assessment.