The spotted sea catfish (''Arius maculatus''), also known as the spotted catfish, the sea barbel or the marine catfish, is a species of

sea catfish The Ariidae or ariid catfish are a family of catfish that mainly live in marine waters with many freshwater and brackish water species. They are found worldwide in tropical to warm temperate zones. The family includes about 143 species. Taxon ...

in the family Ariidae. It was described by

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Swedish naturalist and an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus. After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala Un ...

in 1792, originally under the genus '' Silurus''. It inhabits tropical marine, brackish and freshwater in the Indo-western Pacific region, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It dwells at a depth range of . It reaches a maximum total length of , more commonly reaching a TL of . The diet of the spotted sea catfish includes

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

, polychaete worms,

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

, various crustaceans, and milkfish larvae. It has been recorded spawning between the months of January–April on the coast of Mumbai, India, and in the months of September–October on the coast of Karnataka.Spawning for ''Arius maculatus''
at fishbase.org. The eggs are incubated in the mouths of the males, which are known to consume a minute quantity of the eggs to combat starvation during the period of incubation. The spotted sea catfish is of commercial interest to

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

. It is primarily marketed fresh, and the

air bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth ...

s are used in the wine industry as isinglass.

References

Arius (fish) Catfish of Asia Marine fish of Asia Fish of Bangladesh Fish of India Fish of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Carl Peter Thunberg Fish described in 1792 {{Ariidae-stub