Estuarine sea catfish (Cathorops aguadulce)

Scientific name: Cathorops aguadulce Meek, 1904

The Estuarine sea catfish (Cathorops aguadulce) is a freshwater fish of the family Ariidae.

Biology

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal soft rays: 21. Differs from all other species of Cathorops by having the following features: fleshy papillae intercalated with gill rakers on first two gill arches; posterior margin of pectoral-fin spine with long and conspicuous serrations (except in Cathorops kailolae, Cathorops melanopus, Cathorops multiradiatus, and Cathorops tuyra); gill rakers on first arch 14-16; and snout length 9.3-11.6% SL. Can be further separated from Cathorops belizensis by its longer supraoccipital process 11.5-16.3% SL (vs. 8.8-10.5% SL), larger orbital diameter 4.6-6.9 % SL (vs. 3.6-4.4% SL), and shorter interorbital distance 9.9-12.3 (vs. 12.9-15.1% SL); from Cathorops higuchii by its gill rakers on second arch 13-16 (vs. 17-21), and larger orbital diameter 4.6-6.9 (vs. 3.3-4.4% SL); from Cathorops kailolae by its longer distance from tip of snout to dorsal-fin origin 39.0-40.7 (vs. 33.1- 38.0% SL); from Cathorops mapale species gr

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Cathorops aguadulce
Family
Ariidae (Sea catfishes)
Order
Siluriformes (Catfish)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
22.7
Environment
Freshwater; brackish; demersal
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Central America: Atlantic draining rivers from Panuco River basin in Mexico to Izabal Lake in Guatemala. Materials examined from r?o Usumacinta and lago Izabal basins, formerly treated as Cathorops aguadulce (e.g. Castro-Aguirre et al., 1999; Miller et al., 2005; Betancur-R. and Willink, 2007), are treated as Cathorops kailolae. Examination of more materials is needed to determine whether the population reported from other localities reported by Miller et al., 2005 from other localities (i.e. r?o Panuco, r?o Tecolutla, r?o Coatzacoalcos, and Gulf of Mexico) should be separated.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Traumatogenic
Resilience
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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