Soft-spined catfish (Neosilurus mollespiculum)

Scientific name: Neosilurus mollespiculum Allen & Feinberg, 1998

The Soft-spined catfish (Neosilurus mollespiculum) is a freshwater fish of the family Plotosidae. Native range: Oceania, Burdekin River system, northeastern Queensland, Australia.

Biology

Inhabits rocky pools in main river channels and larger creeks. Omnivorous. Stomach contents of fish less than 10 cm SL were mainly insects and their larvae, primarily chironomid larvae, ephemeropterans, and trichopterans; small amounts of odonates, unidentified dipterans, ostracods, and filamentous algae. Fish larger than 10 cm mainly ingested trichopterans, ostracods, and chironomids with some amounts of dipterans, odonates, aquatic coleopterans, corixids, Macrobrachium, bivalves, filamentous algae, and detritus. Collection of specimens with ripe and recently spent gonads in November suggests that breeding occurs at the commencement of the wet season.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Neosilurus mollespiculum
Family
Plotosidae (Eeltail catfishes)
Order
Siluriformes (Catfish)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
44.0
Environment
Freshwater; demersal
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Oceania: Burdekin River system, northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
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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