Giant sea catfish

Giant sea catfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Siluriformes
Family:Ariidae
Genus:Arius
Species: A. gigas
Binomial name
Arius gigas
Boulenger, 1911
Synonyms[1]
  • Tachysurus gigas (Boulenger, 1911)
  • Carlarius gigas (Boulenger, 1911)

The giant sea catfish (Arius gigas), also called the ewe or the marine catfish,[2] is a species of sea catfish in the family Ariidae.[3] It was described by George Albert Boulenger in 1911, originally under the genus Tachysurus.[4] It is known from brackish and freshwater in the Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Benin, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria.[5] It reaches a maximum total length of 165 cm (65 in), and a maximum weight of 50 kg (110 lb). Males incubate eggs in their mouths.[3]

The giant sea catfish is of commercial significance as a food fish; however, its populations have declined due to over-fishing, and possibly chemical pollution. Due to these factors the IUCN redlist currently lists the species as Near Threatened.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Synonyms of Arius gigas at fishbase.org.
  2. ↑ Common names of Arius gigas at fishbase.org.
  3. 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2016). "Arius gigas" in FishBase. April 2016 version.
  4. ↑ Boulenger, G. A., 1911 (24 Feb.) [ref. 579] Catalogue of the fresh-water fishes of Africa in the British Museum (Natural History). London. v. 2: i-xii + 1-529
  5. 1 2 Arius gigas at the IUCN redlist.


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