Giant Sea Catfish

Netuma thalassina

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth31–132 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsSeptember, October, and November
How commonOccasional

About this species

The giant catfish, also known as the giant sea catfish, giant salmon catfish, giant marine-catfish, or the khagga, is a species of catfish in the family Ariidae. It was described by Eduard Rüppell in 1837, originally under the genus Bagrus. It inhabits estuaries and occasionally freshwater bodies, in Japan, Australia, Polynesia, southern Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, the Red Sea and the northwestern Indian Ocean. It dwells at a depth range of 10 to 195 m. It reaches a maximum total length of 185 cm (73 in), but usually reaches a TL of 70 cm (28 in).

Text from the Wikipedia article “Giant catfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 15 records
February: 18 records
March: 24 records
April: 12 records
May: 21 records
June: 37 records
July: 23 records
August: 50 records
September: 62 records
October: 93 records
November: 96 records
December: 36 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 31–132 m · Deepest record: 175 m

0–10 m: 15 records
10–20 m: 10 records
20–30 m: 14 records
30–40 m: 30 records
40–50 m: 24 records
50–60 m: 33 records
60–70 m: 23 records
70–80 m: 39 records
80–90 m: 53 records
90–100 m: 13 records
100–110 m: 21 records
110+ m: 126 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 15 records
26–28 °C: 169 records
28–30 °C: 62 records

Names and classification

English: Giant Sea Catfish

Names in 3 more languages

Spanish: bagre titan
French: mâchoiron titan
Japanese: オオサカハマギギ

Other scientific names: Ariodes aeneus, Arius nasutus, Arius serratus, Arius thalassinus, Bagrus carchariorhijnchos, Bagrus carchariorhynchos, Bagrus laevigatus, Bagrus netuma, Bagrus thalassinus, Netuma thalassinus, Netuna thalassina, Tachysurus serratus, Tachysurus thalassinus

Similar species

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).
835 open-data records from 1837 to 2022.

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