The Chili sea catfish (''Notarius troschelii'') 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 ...

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, ...

in the family Ariidae. It was described by

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural histor ...

in 1863, originally under the genus ''

Sciades ''Sciades'' is a genus of sea catfishes mostly found along the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea coasts of Central and South America. One species, ''S. dowii'', occurs on the Pacific side from Panama to Ecuador, another, ''S. paucus'', is a freshw ...

''. It inhabits marine and

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 estuari ...

waters in

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, and

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. It dwells at a depth range of .''Notarius troschelii''
at the IUCN redlist. It reaches a maximum

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 ...

of , more commonly reaching a TL of . The chili sea catfish feeds on fish scales.Food items reported for ''Notarius troschelii''
at www.fishbase.org. It is currently ranked as Least Concern by the IUCN redlist, although its importance to commercial fisheries is cited as a possible threat to its population. Its meat is marketed fresh.

References

Ariidae Fish described in 1863 {{Ariidae-stub