Gilded catfish
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Pimelodidae
Genus: Zungaro
Species:
Z. zungaro
Binomial name
Zungaro zungaro
(Humboldt in Humboldt and Valenciennes, 1821)
Subspecies
  • Z. z. mangurus
    (Valenciennes, 1835)
  • Z. z. zungaro
    (Humboldt, 1821)
Synonyms
  • Pimelodus zungaro
    Humboldt, 1821
  • Bagrus flavicans
    Castelnau, 1855
  • Zungaro humboldtii
    Bleeker, 1858
  • Paulicea luetkeni
    (Steindachner, 1877)

The gilded catfish or jau (Zungaro zungaro) is a South American catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Pimelodidae. It is also known as manguruyu or black manguruyu.[1]

Taxonomy

By some sources, it is the only species of the monotypic genus Zungaro.[2] However, some sources list other species as valid, such as Zungaro jahu.[3] This species may be referred to by one of its synonyms, Brachyplatystoma flavicans.[4] This species contains two subspecies, Z. z. mangurus and Z. z. zungaro.[5]

Distribution and habitat

They are sexually mature upon reaching 10 kg (22 lb) weight.[4] This fish native to the Orinoco and Amazon basins; in the Amazon, this fish is found quite upstream, in the main bed of the big tributaries with muddy bottoms.[4]

Description

This fish reaches 140 cm (55 in) in total length, and specimens measuring 130 cm (51 in) and weighing 50 kg (110 lb) are not rare.[4] These fish are mainly piscivorous, hunt at night, and sometimes go into flood-prone areas of rivers. Some migrations in pursuit of migrating Triportheus and Anodus have been reported. The nursery ground is at the mouths of rivers.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Common names of Zungaro zungaro". fishbase.se.
  2. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2007). Species of Zungaro in FishBase. May 2007 version.
  3. ↑ Ferraris, Carl J. Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–628. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2012). "Zungaro zungaro" in FishBase. February 2012 version.
  5. ↑ "Zungaro zungaro". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
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