Clarias angolensis, Angolian walking catfish : fisheries, aquarium

You can sponsor this page

Clarias angolensis Steindachner, 1866

Angolian walking catfish
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Google image
Image of Clarias angolensis (Angolian walking catfish)
Clarias angolensis
Picture by Shandikov, G.A.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Clariidae (Airbreathing catfishes)
Etymology: Clarias: Greek, chlaros = lively, in reference to the ability of the fish to live for a long time out of water.
More on author: Steindachner.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 7.0 - 9.0; dH range: 15 - 40. Tropical; 23°C - 28°C (Ref. 2060); 3°N - 5°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: lower and middle Congo River basin including Ubangi and Kasai drainages (Ref. 248); also reported from the Maiko-Loboya in lower Lualaba (Ref. 106245). Also present in lower Ogooué in Gabon, Kouilou and Chiloango in Republic of Congo (Ref. 81644) and Cuanza and Chiloango in Angola (Ref 120641).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 35.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3820)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 67-84; Anal soft rays: 55 - 69. Diagnosis: head length 22.3-27.1% SL (Ref. 101841). Head pointed in dorsal outline; snout slightly rounded; eyes dorsally located (Ref. 248). Interorbital distance 41.4-48.6% HL (Ref. 81644, 101841). Tooth plates relatively small (Ref. 248), width of premaxillary tooth plate 24.3-30.7% HL, and of vomerine tooth plate 20.9-27.5% HL (Ref. 81644, 101841). Maxillary barbel length 105.1-195.3% HL; outer mandibular barbel length 95.0-134.5% HL (Ref. 81644, 101841). Nasal barbel length 72.1-130.2% HL; inner mandibular barbel length 72.4-108.9% HL (Ref. 81644). Frontal fontanelle long and narrow (`knife-shaped'); occipital fontanelle oval- shaped and relatively large; supraorbital and the `dermosphenotic' joined by a common suture in specimens over 70 mm SL; dorsal and anal fin nearly reaching caudal fin, but not confluent; gill rakers long and slender, increasing with age (Ref. 248). Openings of secondary canals along lateral line visible as irregularly placed white spots on the body (Ref. 248, 81644). Pectoral spine strongly serrated on outside and inside (Ref. 81644, 101841). Surface of cleithrum exposed through skin is intermediate; inner angle formed by both paired bones sharp; cleithrum length 13.0-18.6% HL; dorsal fin length 65.1-73.8% SL; distance from dorsal to caudal fin 0.9-2.7% SL (Ref. 101841). 10-23 gill rakers on first arch (Ref. 81644). Colouration: preserved specimens with uniform colouration; dorsum, flanks and dorsal parts of paired fins dark brown, ventrum and ventral parts of paired fins pale brown to grey (Ref. 248, 81644, 101841). Some specimens may show irregular pattern of small white spots on body (Ref. 101841).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Facultative air-breathing (Ref. 126274); Inhabits rivers, lakes and swamps. Feeds on a variety of food like algae, plants, Hydracarina, larvae of Ephemeroptera, Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae, remains of remains (Coleoptera) and fish remains (Cichlidae, Anabantidae) (Ref. 248). Maximum size reported in Lower Guinea is 317mm TL (Ref. 81644).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Teugels, G.G., 1986. A systematic revision of the African species of the genus Clarias (Pisces; Clariidae). Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Centr., Sci. Zool., 247:199 p. (Ref. 248)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 February 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: ; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00851 (0.00465 - 0.01558), b=2.97 (2.81 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.46 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (25 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.