Helicophagus typus
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| Bleeker , 1858 |
Helicophagus typus is a species of fish belonging to the genus Helicophagus within the shark catfish family. The species occurs in Sumatra and south-east Borneo . The current population is unknown as the last clearly identified animal was caught in 1908.
features
Helicophagus typus has an elongated, laterally slightly flattened physique. The body is pearly colored with a darker back. The fins are reddish. The top and edge of the caudal fin are dark. There is a whitish spot on the top of the head. The species reaches a length of over 46 cm. The mouth is below. The barbels on the upper jaw almost reach the dorsal fin, those on the lower jaw are about a third longer. The dorsal fin has two hard and six to seven soft rays, the pectoral fins have one hard and 11 to 13 soft rays, the ventral fins have six soft rays and the anal fin 29 to 30 soft rays. The adipose fin is small, the caudal fin is large. Helicophagus typus is the only species of shark catfish that has short rays on the front side of the first arch of the gill trap . The teeth on the intermaxillary bone sit in an uninterrupted, curved band.
The species feeds mainly on small snails.
swell
- TR Roberts, C. Vidthayanon: Systematic revision of the Asian catfish family Pangasiidae, with biological observations and descriptions of three new species. In: Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . tape 143 , 1991, pp. 97-144 (English).
- M. Weber, LF de Beaufort: The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago . Leiden, Brill, 1911.