Indian glass catfish
| Indian glass catfish | ||||||||||||
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Indian glass catfish ( Kryptopterus vitreolus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Kryptopterus vitreolus | ||||||||||||
| Ng & Kottelat , 2013 |
The Indian glass catfish ( Kryptopterus vitreolus ) is a Southeast Asian representative of the real catfish (Siluridae). The species has been introduced for aquarium use since 1934 and has been identified as Kryptopterus bicirrhis or Kryptopterus minor . It was not until the beginning of 2013 that the Swiss ichthyologist Maurice Kottelat and his Singaporean colleague Ng Heok Hee recognized that it was a previously undescribed species and described the fish in the journal Zootaxa under the name Kryptopterus vitreolus . The specific epithet vitreolus is derived from the Latin "vitreus", which means glass or glass.
distribution
Kryptopterus vitreolus occurs in rivers and streams in a relatively small area in southeastern Thailand and on the Thai part of the Malay Peninsula , which flow into the Gulf of Thailand . The type locality is in the district of Amphoe Khao Saming in the province of Trat .
features
Kryptopterus vitreolus is 5.5 to 6.5 cm long and differs from its relatives mainly in its almost completely transparent body. The body is slim and heavily flattened on the sides. At the level of the anus , the body height is 16 to 20% of the standard length . The tail stalk has a height of 4 to 7% of the standard length. The profile of the top of the body shows a pronounced curvature of the neck. The muzzle has a length of 29 to 35% of the head length, the eye diameter is 28 to 34% of the head length. The maxillary barbels extend beyond the beginning of the anal fin. On the first gill arch there are 14 to 18 gill rays . The long anal fin is supported by 48 to 55 fin rays. The animals feed on zooplankton and other small invertebrates.
Danger
Since the species was never bred commercially, wild catches for aquarium use are relatively high, and the range is relatively small, the species may be endangered.
literature
- Heok He Ng & Maurice Kottelat : After eighty years of misidentification, a name for the glass catfish (Teleostei: Siluridae). Copyright © 2013 Magnolia Press, Zootaxa 3630 (2): 308–316, DOI: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3630.2.6 , ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition), ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition)
Web links
- Indian glass catfish on Fishbase.org (English)