Black-spotted Seacatfish
Arius maculatus
- Usual depth1–5 m
- Water temperature26–30 °C
- Best monthsJanuary
- How commonRare
Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
About this species
The spotted sea catfish, also known as the spotted catfish, the sea barbel or the marine catfish, is a species of sea catfish in the family Ariidae. It was described by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1792, originally under the genus Silurus. It inhabits tropical marine, brackish and freshwater in the Indo-western Pacific region, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It dwells at a depth range of 50 to 100 m. It reaches a maximum total length of 80 cm (31 in), more commonly reaching a TL of 30 cm (12 in).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Spotted sea catfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 48 records
- February: 0 records
- March: 5 records
- April: 3 records
- May: 4 records
- June: 3 records
- July: 3 records
- August: 6 records
- September: 1 records
- October: 5 records
- November: 10 records
- December: 2 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–5 m · Deepest record: 15 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 26–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Black-spotted Seacatfish, Marine Catfish, Sea Barbel, spotted catfish, Spotted Sea Catfish
Names in 7 more languages
- Spanish
- bagre manchado
- French
- mâchoiron tacheté
- Indonesian
- Manyung pidada
- Japanese
- Hamagigi, ハマギギ
- Korean
- 바다동자개
- Thai
- ปลากดหัวแข็ง, ปลาอุกจุดดำ
- Simplified Chinese
- 成仔丁, 成仔魚, 斑海鯰, 生仔魚, 白肉成, 臭臊成, 銀成, 鰻鯰
Other scientific names: Arius gagorides, Arius thunbergi, Bagrus gagorides, Hemipimelodus atripinnis, Hemipimelodus bicolor, Pimelodus thunberg, Silurus maculatus, Silurus thunbergi, Tachysurus maculatus
Similar species
Shovelnose sea catfishArius subrostratus
- sand catfish
Arius arenarius
- threadfin sea catfish
Arius arius
- Gagora catfish
Arius gagora
- Manila sea catfish
Arius manillensis
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 470 open-data records from 1792 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 31, 2026.
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