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

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

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 of the monotypic genus ''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, 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'' 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 Catfish Catfish Magdalena River Catfish Fish of French Guiana Catfish Fish of Paraguay Catfish Fish of Suriname Fish of Uruguay Catfish Catfish Fish described in 1821 Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt