SCOTCAT.COM

your internet guide to all things catfish

Mystus leucophasis (Blyth, 1860)

Image contributors to this species:

Christian Hauzar (2) Julian Haffegee (1) Allan James (2) Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (3) Abhisek Mishra (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Other Sources:

Relevant Information:

Aquarium Care: Will need a large tank if keeping a few as they are territorial. Not to be trusted with smaller fish as they will undoubtedly be eaten. Provide hiding places large enough where they can rest upside down. May grow larger than the stated size of 30cm but this could take a few years to fulfill. Diet: Will eat most aquarium prepared foods such as flake, tablets, pellets, live and frozen. 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 leucophasis: leucos, white; phasis, appearance, referring to its “remarkable” colouring, “the head and fore-part of the body being bright silky-white above”. Remarks: Unusual to this family is the ability of this catfish to swim upside down, which it does for 90% of the time.

Common Name:

Asian Upside Down Catfish

Synonyms:

Bagrus leucophasis, Macrones leucophasis, Mystus (Aorichthys) leucophasis

Family:

Bagridae

Distribution:

Asia: Irrawaddy and Sittang River basins, Myanmar. Type locality: Sitang and other Burma rivers.

Size:

30.0cm (12ins)

Temp:

23-26°C (72-79°F)

p.H.

6.0-7.0.

IUCN Red List

Despite being targeted in artisanal fisheries and being sometimes harvested as an ornamental fish, the level of exploitation is not deemed high enough to be a threat to long-term survival of this species. This is especially since the main source of the fish for the ornamental fish trade is now captive-bred. Therefore, Mystus leucophasis is assessed as Least Concern here, but needs updating (IUCN 2010).

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. 2010. Mystus leucophasis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.

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

Mystus leucophasis

Mystus leucophasis

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.