Clarias nigricans is a species of clariid catfish. It is only known from the Mahakam River in eastern Borneo. The eel-like catfish of this region were long assumed to belong to the widespread species Clarias nieuhofii but examination of 6 specimens purchased from a fish market in Samarinda in 1999 and preserved specimens from the same location revealed consistent and distinctive differences indicating a separate species.
Clarias nigricans | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Siluriformes |
Family: | Clariidae |
Genus: | Clarias |
Species: | C. nigricans
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Binomial name | |
Clarias nigricans H. H. Ng, 2003
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This is an elongated catfish up to 30.8 cm (12.1 inches) standard length. Compared to C. nieuhofii it has a "neck" distinctly narrower than the head, giving the head an egg-shaped appearance when viewed from above or below and the overall colour is much darker: purplish grey with much fainter white spots arranged in one row below the lateral line instead of two. It is a omnivore.
References
edit- ^ Ng, H.H. (2019). "Clarias nigricans". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T91226566A91226573. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T91226566A91226573.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- Ng, H. H. (2003). Clarias nigricans, a new species of clariid catfish (Teleostei: Siluriformes) from eastern Borneo. Archived 2009-02-19 at the Wayback Machine The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 51: 393–398.
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Clarias nigricans". FishBase. December 2011 version.