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Mystus falcarius Chakrabarty & Ng, 2005

Image contributors to this species:

Allan James (2) Kamphol Udomrittiruj (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Other Sources:

Relevant Information:

Description: Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal soft rays: 10 - 13; Vertebrae: 40 - 44. Distinguished from other congeners with a long-based adipose fin (except Mystus cavasius and M. seengtee) in having a combination of a black spot in front of the dorsal-spine base, a dark humeral mark, a body without distinct midlateral stripes, very long maxillary barbels reaching to caudal-fin base, dorsal spine short and feebly serrate, tall dorsal fin, and 22-29 rakers on the first gill arch. Differs from M. cavasius and M. seengtee in possessing a very prominent dark spot at the base of the dorsal spine, a crescentic dark humeral mark, and a dorsal fin with very elongate first and second rays and a markedly concave dorsoposterior margin. The black spot in front of dorsal-spine base is also more prominent in the preserved material of M. falcarius than in either M. cavasius and M. seengtee. Differs further from M. cavasius in having more gill rakers, 22-29 vs. 13-22. Pelvic fin with i,5 rays; anal fin with iv,6, iv,7, iv,8 or iv,9 rays. Reproduction: Oviparous, distinct pairing possibly like other members of the same family. Etymology: The genus name Mystus: "Mystax" meaning whiskered (hair on the upper lip) Mystus was first used by Belon in 1553 to describe all fish with whiskers. The specific name falcarius: –ius, adjectival suffix: falk, sickle, referring to both markedly concave dorsoposterior margin of dorsal fin and crescent-shaped humeral mark.

Common Name:

None

Synonyms:

None

Family:

Bagridae

Distribution:

Asia: Irrawaddy and Salween river drainages as well as the shorter drainages in Myanmar. Type locality: Myanmar: Kachin State, Myitkyina market.

Size:

19.0cm (7½ins)

Temp:

22-27°C (71-81°F)

p.H.

6.5-7.5.

Reference:

Chakrabarty, P. and H.H. Ng. 2005 The identity of catfishes identified as Mystus cavasius (Hamilton, 1822) (Teleostei: Bagridae), with a description of a new species from Myanmar. Zootaxa 1093:1-24.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2019. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2019 ).
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.

Family: Bagridae Back to Ident-A-Cat Click on Thumbnails

Mystus falcarius

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