The flatmouth sea catfish (Plicofollis platystomus), also known as the flat-mouthed catfish or the flatmouth catfish,[2] is a species of catfish in the family Ariidae.[3] It was described by Francis Day in 1877, originally under the genus Arius.[1] It inhabits estuaries and coastal marine waters in India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. It dwells at a maximum depth of 50 m (160 ft).[4] It reaches a maximum total length of 31 cm (12 in).[3]

Flatmouth sea catfish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Ariidae
Genus: Plicofollis
Species:
P. platystomus
Binomial name
Plicofollis platystomus
(Day, 1877)
Synonyms[1]
  • Arius platystomus Day, 1877
  • Tachysurus platystomus (Day, 1877)

The diet of the flatmouth sea catfish consists of benthic invertebrates.[5] It is considered an important foodfish, and its meat is marketed fresh. Due to a lack of known significant threats to its population, it is currently ranked as Least Concern by the IUCN redlist.[4]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Synonyms of Plicofollis platystomus at www.fishbase.org.
  2. ^ Common names of Plicofollis platystomus at www.fishbase.org.
  3. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Plicofollis platystomus". FishBase. July 2019 version.
  4. ^ a b Plicofollis platystomus at the IUCN redlist.
  5. ^ Food items reported for Plicofollis platystomus at www.fishbase.org.