''Pangasius conchophilus'' is a species of
shark catfish
The shark catfishes form the family Pangasiidae. They are found in fresh and brackish waters across southern Asia, from Pakistan to Borneo. Among the 30-odd members of this family is the plant-eating, endangered Mekong giant catfish ''Pangasian ...
.
[Roberts, Tyson R., and Chavalit Vidthayanon. "Systematic revision of the Asian catfish family Pangasiidae, with biological observations and descriptions of three new species." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1991): 97-143.] It is a freshwater,
benthopelagic
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
,
potamodromous
Fish migration is animal migration, mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few ...
and tropical fish, measuring up to long. It is found in the
Mekong
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...
,
Bangpakong, and
Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
Et ...
basins.
Description
This species counts with 25 to 30
anal
Anal may refer to:
Related to the anus
*Related to the anus of animals:
** Anal fin, in fish anatomy
** Anal vein, in insect anatomy
** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy
*Related to the human anus:
** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...
soft rays. Its dorsum is a dull grey colour with a pale green
iridescence
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
. Its
maxilla
The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...
ry band of teeth forms a continuous row, and its
snout
A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...
protrudes with upper jaw tooth bands which are somewhat exposed when the animal's mouth is closed; it possesses a large median
vomer
The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...
ine tooth plate.
The fish habitates large rivers and enters flooded forests. It is also found in
rapid
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...
s and in deep slow reaches. Juveniles are found to feed on
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
s and insects, while adults on prawns, insects,
mollusk
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 e ...
s, and on plants. The species migrates into the middle Mekong along the
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
-
Lao border as water
turbidity
Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality.
Fluids can ...
increases. It is known to reproduce early in the
flood season, and juveniles of between are taken by the end of the month of June. It is a local edible specimen.
References
Further reading
*Hung, L. T., et al. "Comparing growth and protein requirements for fingerlings of three catfish of the Mekong River (Pangasius Bocourti, Pangagasius Hypothalmus and Pangasius Conchophilus)." Journal of Aquaculture in the Tropics 17.4 (2002): 325–335.
*Poulsen, Anders F., and John Valbo-Jorgensen. "Deep pools in the Mekong River." Catch and Culture 7.1 (2001): 1–8.
*Ngamsiri, T., et al. "Characterization of microsatellite DNA markers in a critically endangered species, Mekong giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas."Molecular Ecology Notes 6.2 (2006): 313–315.
External links
*
Pangasiidae
Catfish of Asia
Taxa named by Tyson R. Roberts
Taxa named by Chavalit Vidthayanon
Fish described in 1991
{{Siluriformes-stub