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FAO (1) Rob Palmer (1) SAIAB (1)

Description: Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 67-79; Anal soft rays: 53 - 67; Vertebrae: 55 - 58. Pectoral fin spine with serrations on the inner and upward directed on the outer side. Head oval to rectangular dorsally; snout broadly rounded; eyes more laterally located. Frontal fontanelle intermediate between `knife-shaped' and `sole-shaped'; occipital fontanelle long and oval-shaped. Supraorbital and `dermosphenotic' bones generally joined above 150 mm SL and more dorsally placed. Tooth plates relatively broad. Pectoral spine relatively short; its outer side strongly serrated over entire length. Gill rakers short and far apart. Openings of secondary sensory canals regularly arranged on flanks. Habitat: Occurs in marginal water-lily and papyrus swamps as well as in marginal weed beds; abundant in high mountain streams and torrents and on the bottom among stones; not found in any situation lower than about 915 m above sea level nor in water of a higher temperature than 18 °C. In the Rukwa and Malawi drainage they are sometimes found in very cold upland streams. Diet: Omnivores, feeding on insect larvae and sometimes also fishes. Etymology: The specific name liocephalus: Smooth-headed, from lei´os (Gr.), smooth, and kephal (Gr.), head, referring to smooth head, covered with soft skin. Remarks: Clarias liocephalus is widely distributed. It occurs in rivers, lakes and marshes from the Congo River and Lake Victoria systems in the north to the Cunene, Okavango and Zambezi systems in the south. Local threats may affect certain subpopulations, but no major, widespread threats have been identified. This species is, therefore, listed as Least Concern (IUCN 2018).

Smoothhead catfish

Clarias carsonii, Clarias neumanni, Clarias phillipsi, Clarias ornatus, Clarias youngicus

Clariidae

Africa: Lakes Victoria, Edward, George, Kivu, Tanganyika, Malawi and small lakes of Uganda and Rwanda; Kagera system, Malagarazi System, Ruzizi River, Tana River, Bangweulu-Moero system; Lake Rukwa basin. Type locality: Lake Tanganyika.

32.0cm. (13ins) T.L.

18-24°c (63-75°f)

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. 2023. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (07/2023).
Müller, J.: et al., 2022. Air breathing among fishes: an updated and annotated checklist. To be published. Currently, data entered from a draft, with original source references.
Seegers, L. 2008 The catfishes of Africa. A handbook for identification and maintenance. Aqualog Verlag A.C.S. GmbH, Germany. 604 p.
Teugels, G.G., 1986. A systematic revision of the African species of the genus Clarias (Pisces; Clariidae). Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Centr., Sci. Zool., 247:199 p.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.
Tweddle, D., FishBase team RMCA & Geelhand, D. 2018. Clarias liocephalus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018.
van Oijen, M.J.P., 1995. Appendix I. Key to Lake Victoria fishes other than haplochromine cichlids. p. 209-300. In F. Witte and W.L.T. van Densen (eds.) Fish stocks and fisheries of Lake Victoria. A handbook for field observations. Samara Publishing Limited, Dyfed, Great Britain.