Huge electric catfish

[Industrial]

I saw this on youtube a while ago.



I remember I tried to look on the site and translate it to find the page on the elecric catfish. I thought I did and it came out to be 6-7 feet long, but now that I tried to confirm this, I couldn't find the information page.

Anyways, is this like an abnormally giant electric cat, or is this really how big they normally grow to in the wild?

[Mod edit: Fix youtube tags --Mats]

[MatsP]

The youtube site says that it's

Malapterurus electricus

, which is the second largest size in the Cat-eLog - I don't know if there are larger species that aren't listed in the Cat-eLog. The largest in the Cat-eLog is a good 40 inches - not quite 6-7 feet, but a good half of it.

--
Mats

[mod edit: Jools: fixed incorrect clog tag]

[Mike_Noren]

Fishbase lists 122 cm & 20 kilos for Malapterurus electricus, and I can well believe that fish is about that size.

As an aside, I hope he's not permanently held in that aquarium, it's way too small for that fish.

[Jools]

The youtube site says that it's

Malapterurus electricus

, which is the second largest size in the Cat-eLog - I don't know if there are larger species that aren't listed in the Cat-eLog. The largest in the Cat-eLog is a good 40 inches - not quite 6-7 feet, but a good half of it.

The problem with

Malapterurus

is that, until the many and various new species appeared in the last few years, a whole bunch of what we now see as different species were just all lumped together. Some big and some smaller.

Jools

[Birger]

In Norris(2002) the largest Malapterurus encountered "during the study" was Malapterurus melanochir which is widely distributed in the central Congo River basin, many of the fish reported in this study get larger than what was reported and it would not surprise me to see lengths on these fish even beyond the length of a M. ninjiriya taking into account the river system involved.The largest reported M.melanochir during this study was 980 mmSL.

The largest M.ninjiriya reported during the study was only 320mm SL with Sagua(1987) reporting sizes up to 510mm SL at that time. The Cat-eLog now has these at 1020MM SL.

What I am getting at is these have the potential to get much larger than reported sizes as during these studies they can only use fish that are at hand. 6-7 feet may be pushing it though.

The mentioned study had 19 species in 2 genera, 16 in Malapterus and 3 in the very interesting Paradoxoglanis (mature adults as small as 6 cm SL).

Birger

[Jools]

The mentioned study had 19 species in 2 genera, 16 in Malapterus and 3 in the very interesting Paradoxoglanis(mature adults as small as 6 cmSL).

Yes, this is pretty much top of my list in terms of a new genus I'd like to get into the catelog. Really very interesting as you say.

Jools

[Birger]

The mentioned study had 19 species in 2 genera, 16 in Malapterus and 3 in the very interesting Paradoxoglanis(mature adults as small as 6 cmSL).

Yes, this is pretty much top of my list in terms of a new genus I'd like to get into the catelog. Really very interesting as you say.

Jools

I have been kind of hoping one of these(Paradoxoglanis) will slip in with all these photo's from Mark Smith.

[MatsP]

The mentioned study had 19 species in 2 genera, 16 in Malapterus and 3 in the very interesting Paradoxoglanis(mature adults as small as 6 cmSL).

Yes, this is pretty much top of my list in terms of a new genus I'd like to get into the catelog. Really very interesting as you say.

Jools

I have been kind of hoping one of these(Paradoxoglanis) will slip in with all these photo's from Mark Smith.

In the pictures I've got coming, there is no fish listed as that. There is a Malapterus cf electricus, but I don't think it's the Paradoxoglanis genus (not that I know what they look like).

--
Mats

[Birger]

In the pictures I've got coming, there is no fish listed as that. There is a Malapterus cf electricus, but I don't think it's the Paradoxoglanis genus (not that I know what they look like).

--
Mats

If you have Seeger's Catfishes of Africa on page 293 there are drawings of the three species, look like mini Malapterurus

[Richard B]

tiny little eyes & the 'face' appears droopy for want of a better description - otherwise they are extremely similar

[Yellowpieslinger]

I know this a little late but I just joined this forum. I recently bought an electric catfish myself and came across this as I was looking for more info. I contacted the guy and the tank size in the video is 150cm x 60cm x 45cm. Roughly, it's a 4ft x 2ft x 1 1/2ft, 107 gallon. He also said that this fish was a long-nosed type and was a meter long or about 3 feet. His use of the past tense seems to infer that his fish is no longer with us.

[Jools]

I know this a little late but I just joined this forum.

Welcome aboard and thanks for the info.

Jools

[kipper]

Chester zoo had huge one back in the late 80's, I recon pushing 4 foot. No idea what type. Back then there was only one type? I do have some old photos of the beast, It was very impressive.

They had a good aquarium for the time, (paddlefish were the big attraction when I was there) think they were breeding freshwater rays too, I know the ones they had on display were like 3ft+ diamiter.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Yeah, I realize too this is late, but wanna say "nice find, Industrial"! What a beautiful specimen. BTW, "Pets Plus" in Lockport, NY has had about a footer trade-in for over a year now for $70. Nobody wants it, I guess. It is not nearly as pretty as the one in the video - looks like a puffy pug. I think elongated snout makes for a more balanced, pleasing look, especially since an average person would say these are ugly. There are pug enthusiasts out there, I know, I am just talking in general - you know, Lassy was not a pug.

Mine went from 4" to 6" in 10 months. Peculiar cat but hard to house - she is ok with all but can find one or two fish in community that she would regularly zap. Nothing mortal, just to get them out of the way and let them know who is in charge, both literally and figuratively speaking.

[Industrial]

Yeah, I realize too this is late, but wanna say "nice find, Industrial"! What a beautiful specimen. BTW, "Pets Plus" in Lockport, NY has had about a footer trade-in for over a year now for $70. Nobody wants it, I guess. It is not nearly as pretty as the one in the video - looks like a puffy pug. I think elongated snout makes for a more balanced, pleasing look, especially since an average person would say these are ugly. There are pug enthusiasts out there, I know, I am just talking in general - you know, Lassy was not a pug.

Mine went from 4" to 6" in 10 months. Peculiar cat but hard to house - she is ok with all but can find one or two fish in community that she would regularly zap. Nothing mortal, just to get them out of the way and let them know who is in charge, both literally and figuratively speaking.

I see this thread had a few bumps, so I don't feel bad doing it one more time lol.

Anyways, that one to me looks like a m. microstoma. I debated getting it a couple times, but I always decide not to since I want a juvi. M. electricus is fairly common in WNY, but that is a larger species.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I: Anyways, that one to me looks like a m. microstoma.
V: I am not sure. To me, it looks like none of the photos of M. microstoma in Cat-eLog but a dead-on match to photo #6 for M. electricus (see below). Granted it appears quite different from the rest. Why??

I: I debated getting it a couple times, but I always decide not to since I want a juvi.
V: Poor thing. Nobody wants it. Why juvi?

I: M. electricus is fairly common in WNY, but that is a larger species.
V: yeah, 12" is a big difference but it's all relative; in general both are big, 2' and 3'.

[Industrial]

I think you are right. I was thinking of juvi electricus coloring vs juvi microstoma coloring. I guess they both lose the red and spots when they get older lol.

I was hoping for a little guy, so I could upgrade him down the road rather than right away. Not to mention the little guys are cute. It's kind of like getting a kitten or a puppy rather than an 8 year old adult.