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Clarias meladerma Bleeker, 1846

Image contributors to this species:

Zhou Hang (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Other Sources:

Relevant Information:

Can walk and leave the water to migrate to other water bodies using its auxiliary breathing organs. Description: Dorsal spines (total): 0. Anterior edge of pectoral spine strongly serrated; head length (from tip of snout to extremity of occipital process) 4.0-4.3 times in SL; blackish body. Habitat: Lives in lowland wetlands, bogs and peats. Found in swamps with slightly acidic water. Occur in standing water habitats. Etymology: The specific name meladerma: mélas (Gr.), black; dérma (Gr.), skin, referring to its blackish or dark body colouration, sometimes variegated with irregular, deeply black spots.

Common Name:

Blackskin catfish

Synonyms:

Clarias melanosoma, Clarias melasoma, Clarias melanoderma

Family:

Clariidae

Distribution:

Asia: Mekong River basin, and Sumatra, Borneo and Java, also the Philippines. Type locality: Batavia.

Size:

30.0cm. (12ins)

Temp:

20-27°C (67-81°F)

p.H.

6.2-7.0.

Reference:

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. 2001 Fishes of Laos. WHT Publications Ltd., Colombo 5, Sri Lanka. 198 p.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.

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

Clarias meladerma

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