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Allan James (1) Keith Jackson (1) Steven Grant (1) Zierfisch Zentrum Austria (1) Keith Liddell (1)

Description: The dorsal fin spine is short, the teeth on the posterior margin pointing downward; inner mandibular barbels never branched; labial teeth absent. The adipose fin is long and moderately high and has the posterior end free or occasionally adnate. Anal fin, 13-18 rays. Caudal fin forked. Pectoral fin has a strong spine and is toothed on the posterior margin. Ventral fins inserted below the last ray of the dorsal fin. Lateral line is straight and may have a row of white fibrils. Aquarium Care: Some individuals can be mildly aggressive in the aquarium so other tankmates should be chosen carefully, but all in all a good candidate for a large aquarium. Diet: Will eat most aquarium prepared foods. Etymology: The genus name Bagroides: with the appearance of Bagrus. The specific name melapterus: mela[no]-, black; pterus, fin, referring to “violet-black” (translation) colouration on rayed dorsal, pectoral, ventral and anal fins, and “black-violet” (translation) border on caudal fin.

Harlequin Lancer

Bagroides melanopterus

Bagridae

Asia: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Type locality: Bandjarmassing, in fluviis.

23.5cm (9¼ins)

24-27°C (75-81°F)

6.0-7.0.

Burgess, W.E. 1989 An atlas of freshwater and marine catfishes. A preliminary survey of the Siluriformes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey (USA). 784 p.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Kottelat, M., A.J. Whitten, S.N. Kartikasari and S. Wirjoatmodjo, 1993. Freshwater fishes of Western Indonesia and Sulawesi. Periplus Editions, Hong Kong. 221 p.
Ng, H.H. 2019. Bagroides melapterus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.