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There has now been a name change for the Lesser Salmon Catfish and for other members of the Ariidae family who reside from Southern New Guinea and Northern Auastralia. Arius to Neoarius. Inhabits freshwater rivers and lagoons, as well as brackish estuaries and coastal marine waters. Tolerates temperatures from 11°C to 38°C. Large groups of juveniles are often encountered. Aquarium Care: Only N. graeffei and Neoarius berneyi are deemed appropriate for housing in an aquarium as the rest get way too big for captivity. You would need a good sized tank of course as N. graeffei can grow to around 18" and if kept with other fish would need to be housed with larger Cichlids for instance, as they can be carnivorous, but as far as my enquiry's have thrown up they can be a good addition to a larger tank. Diet: Feeds on arthropods, insects, aquatic plants, mollusks, prawns, crayfish, fishes and bottom detritus. Reproduction: Takes place from September to February. Marine populations of N. graeffei appear to undertake extensive anadromous migrations associated with breeding, but no such movements were observed in the fluviatile population studied. Etymology: The genus name Neoarius: Neo means "new" in latin and Arius is Derived from the Greek word Apelos (pronounced Araios) which means "sanctified by the god of war", and refers to the bony structure extending from the skull covering to the powerful thorn of the first dorsal fin ray. The specific name graeffei: in honour of Swiss entomologist Eduard Heinrich Gräffe (1833-1916), who, while employed by Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy, a wealthy shipping magnate, curated a natural history collection that introduced several new species from the South Pacific to science, including this catfish.

Lesser Salmon Catfish, Blue Catfish, Salmon Catfish

Arius australis, Neoarius australis, Arius curtisii, Arius graeffei

Ariidae

Australia: Southern New Guinea and northern Australia, in rivers and along coast.

50.0cm. (20ins)

20-27°c (67-81°f)

6.5-8.0.

Ferraris, C.J.Jr. 2007 Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2008. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (03/2009).
ScotCat Factsheet no. 52 October 2000.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.