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Dr. Mathews Plamoottil (1) Original source (1) Ashwin Viswanathan (2)

Description: The original description states “Colour greenish above and on the fins; yellow on the cheeks and beneath” and this was the colour and pattern at about 6 inches. Habitat: Mystus montanus is found in streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs (Devi et al. 2005, 2007). It is also found in estuaries (Bijukumar and Sushama 2000). Jerdon stated that he “only found it in the river at Manantoddy in Wynaad” which I think is now called Mananthavady, and the river the Kabini (or Kabbani), but Jayaram & Sanyal found it in other localities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. At first glance it is also similar to M. pulcher but that species has a much more distinctly round tympanic spot, as well as morphometric differences and zoogeography (Grant, S. 2016). Aquarium Care: Can only be kept with the same or larger species as this bagrid, common with many from this family, can eat smaller fish. Keep either 3-5 specimens in a large tank with plants to the background. Substrate should be sand and provide hiding places with good filtration. Diet: Tablet and pellet foods. Earthworms, live and frozen foods. 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 montanus: mountain, allusion not explained, probably referring to its occurrence in hill or mountain streams. Remarks: It attains a total length of 15 cm (Menon 1999). It is found in deep pools in higher altitudes with sandy or muddy substrate (Kurup et al. 2004). No information is available about habitat changes and its effects on this species (IUCN)

Wynaad mystus

Bagrus montanus, Macrones montanus dibrugarensis

Bagridae

Asia: Peninsular India, especially in the western Ghats. Type locality: River at Manantoddy in Wynaad, southern India.

12.0cm (4¾ins)

22-25°C (71-77°F)

6.5-7.5.

Dahanukar, N. 2011. Mystus montanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2017. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2017 ).
Grant, Steven. ScotCat Article:  The striped catfishes of the genus Mystus Scopoli, 1777 (Siluriformes: Bagridae)
Talwar, P.K. and A.G. Jhingran, 1991. Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. Volume 2. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.