The gilded catfish or ''jau'' (''Zungaro zungaro'') is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

(

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Siluriformes) of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pimelodidae The Pimelodidae, commonly known as the long-whiskered catfishes, are a family of catfishes ( order Siluriformes). Taxonomy The family Pimelodidae has undergone much revision. Currently, it contains about 30 genera and about 90 recognized and kno ...

. It is also known as ''manguruyu'' or black manguruyu.

Taxonomy

By some sources, it is the only

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 ...

of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Zungaro''. However, some sources list other species as valid, such as ''Zungaro jahu''. This species may be referred to by one of its

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

, ''Brachyplatystoma flavicans''. This species contains two subspecies, ''Z. z. mangurus'' and ''Z. z. zungaro''.

Distribution and habitat

They are sexually mature upon reaching weight. This fish native to the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

and

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

s; in the Amazon, this fish is found quite upstream, in the main bed of the big tributaries with muddy bottoms.

Description

This fish reaches in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

, and specimens measuring and weighing are not rare. These fish are mainly piscivorous, hunt at night, and sometimes go into flood-prone areas of rivers. Some migrations in pursuit of migrating ''

Triportheus ''Triportheus'' is a genus of characiform fishes from South America, including Trinidad, ranging from the Rio de la Plata basin to the basins of the Orinoco and Magdalena. Some are migratory. The largest species is up to in standard length ...

'' and ''

Anodus ''Anodus'' is a genus of halftooths from tropical South America. There are currently two species in this genus. Species * '' Anodus elongatus'' Agassiz, 1829 * '' Anodus orinocensis'' (Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vi ...

'' have been reported. The nursery ground is at the mouths of rivers.

References

External links

DOURADADourada 02The Gilded Catfish
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27173 Pimelodidae Catfish of South America

Catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

Magdalena River

Fish of French Guiana

Fish of Paraguay

Fish of Suriname Fish of Uruguay

Fish described in 1821 Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt