his is a brief look into how Arius proops, one of
the many sea catfishes in this genus, received the
common name of the "Crucifix Catfish".
First
of all we need to familiarise ourselves with the family
and the genus concerned. Arius proops from the family
Ariidae is as far as I know a synonym, and the correct
scientific name for this fish is Hexanematichthys proops.
I have still to find a source for the name change as
I know that Hexanematichthys is a synonym of some
Arius species and there is a few discrepancies as far
as this genus is concerned. Ariidae is the only family
that is found worldwide from the Australasian continent
to the South American continent and they can be found in
marine, brackish or freshwater. Our subject resides on the
North Eastern tip of South America from Colombia round the
coast to Venezuela and the Caribbean and down the Atlantic
side of South America bordering Brazil, Surinam, Guyana
and French Guiana. For our in-depth look at proops
we will stick to the "old" name of Arius.
The scientific name of 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 underside of the skull covering has a bony structure
which can be seen when all the flesh and soft parts are
removed. It then looks like a crucifix or like a painting
of Christ crucified, and is surrounded by a Weberian bone
in form of a halo. The upper rough part of the skull roof
which is also visible on the living fish, looks like a Monk
with a cowl and hood and his arms outstretched in prayer.
Others see this as a Roman soldier with armour on his chest
and the dorsal fin spine is the lance which he opened up
Christs side.
The
Crucifix catfish was first reported in a travel report in
1789 and today you can see in the Market places in the ports
of these South American countries with the bony structure
laid out with Christian symbols painted on them.
The pictures depicted in this article are from Ann &
Danny Blundells trip to the Margarita Islands just of the
North Coast of Venezuela and a popular destination for tourists
from the United Kingdom. I am indebted to Danny who took
these pictures and who is himself a very accomplished photographer,
and treasurer of the Catfish
Study Group (U.K), along with Ann who carries out her
duties as Secretary of the group.
Below are the rest of the images in this article. I have
arranged them in thumbnail fashion and you can click on
them for a larger image. They are all the Copyright of D.Blundell
except for the map of Venezuela.
Island of Margarita of the coast of Venezuela
Specimen showing the bony structure in
the Museum on the Island of Margarita
The same specimen showing the full skeletal
body
Showing the spiny first dorsal ray and
vertabrae
References: Grzmeck's
Animal Life Encyclopedia Volume 4 Fishes 1,
1963
First
of all we need to familiarise ourselves with the family
and the genus concerned. Arius proops from the family
Ariidae is as far as I know a synonym, and the correct
scientific name for this fish is Hexanematichthys proops.
I have still to find a source for the name change as
I know that Hexanematichthys is a synonym of some
Arius species and there is a few discrepancies as far
as this genus is concerned. Ariidae is the only family
that is found worldwide from the Australasian continent
to the South American continent and they can be found in
marine, brackish or freshwater. Our subject resides on the
North Eastern tip of South America from Colombia round the
coast to Venezuela and the Caribbean and down the Atlantic
side of South America bordering Brazil, Surinam, Guyana
and French Guiana. For our in-depth look at proops
we will stick to the "old" name of Arius.
The
Crucifix catfish was first reported in a travel report in
1789 and today you can see in the Market places in the ports
of these South American countries with the bony structure
laid out with Christian symbols painted on them.
