Soldier Catfish

About this species

Osteogeneiosus militaris, the soldier catfish, is a species of sea catfish found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans from Pakistan to the Malay Archipelago. It is found in marine, brackish and fresh waters along the coasts. It grows to a length of 35 cm (14 in) and is commercially caught for human consumption. It has a single pair of stiff, sharp, maxillary barbels.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Osteogeneiosus”, 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: 50 records
February: 3 records
March: 5 records
April: 3 records
May: 3 records
June: 0 records
July: 1 records
August: 2 records
September: 2 records
October: 4 records
November: 10 records
December: 4 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–33 m · Deepest record: 90.5 m

0–10 m: 2 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 7 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 27–30 °C

26–28 °C: 61 records
28–30 °C: 18 records

Photos

(c) Abu Hamas, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Abu Hamas · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Abu Hamas, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Abu Hamas · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ashwit Shetty, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Abu Hamas, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Abu Hamas, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Soldier Catfish

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: bagre soldado
Indonesian: Manyung kerbau
Japanese: ウミツワモノ
Thai: ปลากดหัวอ่อน
Simplified Chinese: 骨舌海鯰

Other scientific names: Osteogeneiosus blochii, Osteogeneiosus cantoris, Osteogeneiosus gracilis, Osteogeneiosus ingluvies, Osteogeneiosus longiceps, Osteogeneiosus macrocephalus, Osteogeneiosus miliataris, Osteogeneiosus sthenocephalus, Osteogeneiosus valenciennesi, Osteogeniosus sthenocephalus, Silurus militaris

Similar species

Sea Barbel
Galeichthys feliceps
Blue Catfish
Neoarius graeffei
Giant Sea Catfish
Netuma thalassina
Black-spotted Seacatfish
Arius maculatus
Shovelnose sea catfish
Arius subrostratus
Sagor catfish
Hexanematichthys sagor

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).
153 open-data records from 1758 to 2023.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.