Gangetic mystus (Mystus cavasius)

Scientific name: Mystus cavasius Hamilton, 1822

Gangetic mystus (Mystus cavasius)

The Gangetic mystus (Mystus cavasius) is a freshwater fish of the family Bagridae.

Biology

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 10 - 11. Body elongate and compressed; head conical; occipital process narrow. Maxillary barbels, in adults, extend posteriorly beyond the caudal fin base, but in young specimen, do not extend beyond the anal fin. Dorsal spine weak, often feebly serrated. Color is grayish with a more or less well-defined midlateral longitudinal stripe. A dark spot emphasized by a white or pale area along its ventral margin is just anterior to the first dorsal spine. Dorsal, adipose and caudal fins shaded with melanophores.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Mystus cavasius
Family
Bagridae (Bagrid catfishes)
Order
Siluriformes (Catfish)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
40.0
Environment
Freshwater; brackish; demersal; amphidromous
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Asia: lowland rivers in most major basins of the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar), including but not limited to the Indus, Brahmaputra-Ganges, Krishna, Cauvery, Irrawaddy, Salween and Tenasserim. Reports of this species from the Chao Phraya and Mekong basins, Malaysia, and Indonesia are based on misidentifications of Mystus albolineatus or Mystus singaringan. Occurs in Thailand, but only in the Salween basin.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Least Concern (LC)
Threat to humans
Venomous
Uses
Fisheries: commercial
Resilience
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Fec = 3,314)

Sources

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

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