Nutritional Freshwater Life
214
FaMiLy: BaGridae (BaGrid CatFiSheS)
Sperata seenghala Sykes 1839
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Bagridae
Common name: Giant river catfish.
Distribution: Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh,
Thailand, China (Torres, 1991t).
Habitat: Freshwater, brackish water;
rivers, canals, beels, ditches, inundated
fields, and other freshwater areas.
Description: Body of this species is
elongated and compressed. Snout is
broad and spatulate. Barbels extend
posteriorly to pelvic fins or beyond
to anal fin. Dorsal spine is weakly
serrated on its posterior edge. Adipose
fin base is short, about as long as the
rayed dorsal fin base. Color is brownish gray on back and silvery on flanks
and belly. A dark well-defined spot is
seen on the adipose dorsal fin. This species grows to a maximum size of 150 cm
(Torres, 1991t).
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition (% WW)
Moisture Protein
Fat
Ash
79.40
20.06
1.40
0.90
Source: Data from Mohanty et al. (2012).
Bagrus bayad Forsskål 1775
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Bagridae
Common name: Bayad.
Distribution: Africa.
Habitat: Lakes and rivers.
Description: Body of bayad is more or
less elongated. Dorsal fin has a smooth
spine, and pectoral fins have spines
with serrations on the inside. There
are four pairs of barbels. Maxillary
barbels may reach to the ventral fin or
pelvic fins. This fish is yellow greenish or blackish with a white belly. Fins
are darker, sometimes reddish purple.
Juveniles have little black spots on the
sides. This species has a maximum
size of 112 cm and weight of 100 kg.