SCOTCAT.COM

your internet guide to all things catfish

Ompok urbaini (Fang & Chaux, 1949)

Image contributors to this species:

Fishes of Mainland Southeast Asia (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Other Sources:

Relevant Information:

Description: Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 4; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 65 - 71; Vertebrae: 47 - 52. Head width 11.7-13.6% SL; caudal peduncle depth 5.2-5.9% SL; anal fin rays 65-71; and vertebrae 47-52. Elongated and compressed body. Mouth large and oblique. Teeth in villiform bands on the jaws. Maxillary barbels extends slightly below the posterior border of the eyes. Mandibular pair very short, almost equal to one eye diameter. Anal long, inserted well behind the dorsal fin with 66-71 branched rays. Pectoral spine serrated on its inner edge. Caudal deeply forked. Habitat: Occurs most frequently in large slow-flowing rivers and lakes. Migrates into inundated forest during periods of high water, where it can be found around submerged woody vegetation. Diet: Feeds on fishes and crustaceans. Colouration: Dorsal surface and sides of head pale brown, fading to a lighter colour on flanks and thickened integument over anal fin. Lateral line with a thin black stripe. Another faint black midlateral line below lateral line variably present, usually as series of scattered melanophores broadening both at humeral region and base of caudal peduncle to form dark roughly elliptical spots. Maxillary and mandibular barbels pale brown, gradually fading in colour distally. Anal fin with hyaline ventral margin. All other fins hyaline, with small dark-brown spots present in some sp. Remarks: This species was described from the Mekong River drainage in Cambodia (Fang and Chaux in Chaux and Fang 1949), and has often been considered a junior synonym of O. hypophthalmus (e.g. Rainboth 1996), until Ng (2003) demonstrated it to be a valid species.

Common Name:

None

Synonyms:

Cryptopterus urbaini

Family:

Siluridae

Distribution:

Asia: Known from the Mekong, Chao Phraya and Pasak River drainages in IndoChina. Type locality: Cambodge.

Size:

18.0cm. (7ins)

Temp:

21-27°C (69-81F)

p.H.

6.0-7.0.

Reference:

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Ng, H.H., 2003. A review of the Ompok hypophthalmus group of silurid catfishes with the description of a new species from South-East Asia. J. Fish Biol. 62:1296-1311.
Ng, H.H. 2012. Ompok urbaini. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012:

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

Ompok urbaini

If you would like to contribute to the monthly factsheets with an article, information or photos, please e-mail me. You will of course be credited for your work.

If you would like to donate any denomination of monies to the site just click the above link button. All proceeds will go to running the site and hopefully to keep it going for a few years yet.