PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all,

Just got back from our trip to India. Saw (and ate) a lot of interesting fish. There were a few real oddballs in the bunch, and some not so odd ones.

Some sort of Arius sp. Quite common. I'm in orange.


Very small Bagarius bagarius?



This thing was easily 60 pounds and 5 feet long. B. yarelli? I wonder if it's a vegetarian...




Hara horai?


This one's a real head scratcher. I can't place a genus on it.



Some sort of Olyra. Beautiful fish.



Ompok padba. These things were all over the place...



Pseudutropius sp. of some sort?


Me thinks Rita rita with a mangled tail.


Sperata aor? This became dinner.



Something the exporter called an "urchin cat".



Wallago attu? Very common in the market.



Rusty

Love the Bagarius teeth shot. Bringing any thing back with you?

Jools

â??This one's a real head scratcher. I can't place a genus on it.â?

Jools wrote:Love the Bagarius teeth shot. Bringing any thing back with you?

As in limbs? Nope, once that dead Bagarius got to me, I was finished.

Yes, I brought back some dry plant bulbs and driftwood, if that counts

DeLBoD wrote:â??This one's a real head scratcher. I can't place a genus on it.â?

http://www.akwafoto.pl/fotoreport/ostrava2002/inne2.php
Some young Pangasius pangasius there.
Or its a lost Pangasius sutchi.

Those Olyras`s look just like i did have. I think they are Olyra longicaudata.

Rusty wrote:That's the only thing I could think of, and the distribution makes sense. Only thing is, I can't find any pictures of small ones to compare it against.

Try the Burgess atlas, it also has pictures of <I>Clupisoma</I>...

Jools

Dinyar, Rusty,

I ID'ed the cats when you showed me the pics at your place.
Urchin cat=Amblyceps mangois
Striped "schilbeid"=Neotropius atherinoides
Silvery schilbeid=Clupisoma garua (apparently juvenile)
The Rita is R. chrysea and the Arius appears to be A. thalassinus.

How do you differentiate Clupisoma from Pangasius?

Jools

The head shape, eye size and placement don't seem very Pangasius like.

What differentiates C. garua from C. montana, C. naziri or C. bastari, which have similar distributions ?

Rusty

How do you differentiate Clupisoma from Pangasius?

Nasal barbels. Clupisoma has 'em and Pangasius don't.

The different species of Clupisoma are distinguished by the size of their keels, barbel length, and number of anal-fin rays.

I can confirm that the Sperata is S. seenghala.

More of these pictures will be availabel in the cat-elog this month.

Jools

Pangasiids species maybe genus Selonia?

I think Ompok species is not Ompok pabda. Long body and eye position refer Ompok bimaculatus.

Pangasiids species maybe genus Selonia?

Darn right. Silonia silondia, and not Clupisoma garua as I earlier surmised.

What is an accurate maximum size for Silonia silondia. FB claims 183 cm, while a knowledgeable Indian exporter insists that they max out at <60 cm.

And what's the largest freshwater catfish from India?

Dinyar

While I am not sure if Silonia does reach 183 cm TL, I do know that it will reach at least 130 cm TL or so.
The largest freshwater catfish is either Wallago attuor Bagarius yarrelli (the literature does not seem very clear on which is actually bigger).

The first of these will be creeping into the cat-elog tonight and maybe more tomorrow...

Jools