The Mapale sea catfish (''Cathorops mapale''), is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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. Taxono ...

in the family

Ariidae 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. Taxonomy ...

. It is a tropical fish which is known from Colombia to west

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, where it typically inhabits freshwaters,

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

, in coastal lagoons and near-shore marine waters. It reaches a maximum standard length of .Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales (2015)
Especie: Cathorops mapale, Chivo mapalé
; ''Peces Costeros del Gran Caribe, Sistema de Información en línea: Reporte de Datos de Especie''. Retrieved 20 March 2017.

References

Ariidae Fish described in 2005 {{Ariidae-stub