The Mystus ID Thread

[Shane]

I wish I knew why the Indian and wild Far East shipments have dried up around here. Five months of haunting the local shops and I have come across only a single

Mystus mysticetus

which was sold back to a shop by an aquarist. Where have all the bagrids gone?
-Shane

[Shovelnose]

Where have all the bagrids gone?

I think this is in the hands of the importers at the moment. I know for a fact that there are many bagrid catfish (in addition to others) waiting to be shipped out of here but not many interested in importing the same.

[Silurus]

Where have all the bagrids gone?

Aren't there some in Aquabid?

[Shane]

Yes, but next day air shipping from Oregon to Virginia is not cheap (over $400 per the UPS site). I may eventually have to give it a try.
-Shane

[Shovelnose]

Pics : Ashwin

Specimen (around 6" TL) from Karnataka. I initially thought

Mystus seengtee

looking at the spot at the base of the dorsal fin and size of the adipose. I received this specimen yesterday and I am not too sure now. It has turned completely black. My friend who kept this specimen briefly also experienced the same. It is still under a great deal of stress from the travel. I will take some pictures in a few days time. I have received

Mystus

from north India on a few occassions but I have never seen specimens turn black due to stress. They only lose their patterns temporarily.

[Shovelnose]

A very poor picture to show colouration. It seems to be quite jumpy at the moment.

[Shovelnose]

The specimen.



Dorsal,adipose and caudal fins.



Head shot.


I am beginnning to think this is an aberrant

Mystus seengtee

. What do you think HH???

The specimen still bears the scars of collecting. Keeping it in quarantne until they heal completely. Hasn't eaten anything in 4 days. This is the first time I am seeing a

Mystus

specimen in so much stress.

[Shovelnose]

A more 'regular'

Mystus seengtee

from Karnataka.

[Shovelnose]

Mystus cf. gulio from Tranquebar (east coast), Tamil Nadu,south India. This specimen was ca. 2" TL when the picture was taken.








Mystus gulio from the type locality, Ganges Estuary (east coast), north India.

At this size, there doesn't seem to be any significant difference externally. I will keep a tab on these fish to see how they grow/change. I am also trying to source some specimens from the west coast at the moment.

[Shovelnose]

Some interesting Mystus as well as other catfish from Upper Assam this time.



Mystus dibrugarensis





Is this also Mystus dibrugarensis ???





Mystus cf.cavasius???

Two OT fish :



Hemibagrus menoda???




What is this???


All pictures : Bikramaditya Bakalial

[Silurus]

Hemibagrus menoda???

Yes.

What is this???

I think this is

Batasio spilurus

[Shovelnose]

Thanks HH. Any thoughts on the cavasius type specimen???

[Silurus]

Looks like a regular cavasius to me.

[Shovelnose]

Alright. Thanks HH.

[Shovelnose]

From Upper Assam again.



Any thoughts on this specimen???



Since this specimen was from the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin, I guess it is M.bleekeri and not any other similar looking species.




Mystus cavasius I think. The adipose is not seen unfortunately.


All pictures : Bikramaditya Bakalial

[The.Dark.One]

Hard to tell with the first one but potentially another dibrugarensis?

The second one has the long adipose of bleekeri, the 'angled off' adipose, and from what I can see of the fontanel it seems to match.

[Shovelnose]

Hard to tell with the first one but potentially another dibrugarensis?.

The adipose seemed off to me, because of the angle perhaps.







I am still under doubt as to what these are.

[The.Dark.One]

The pic showing the dead/preserved specimen - the anterior edge of the adipiose fin does look different but this could be due to death/preservation. It looks a little bit shrunk/folded in the image.

[Shovelnose]

True, it does look folded. I will try to source better pictures of that specimen sometime soon.

[Shovelnose]

Specimen from the Halali River,Madhya Pradesh,India. Just a coloured up M.bleekeri I think????

[Shovelnose]

Finally managed to take some decent pictures to compare M.bleekeri from north and south India.





West Bengal





Madras

The two specimens.




West Bengal specimen.



Madras specimen.

The indentation on the fontanel is present on both specimens but the supraoccipital seems different???



I could count 13-14 pectoral serrations and 9 pectoral fin rays.



The count seems to be the same here.

What do you think???

I will also try to obtain some specimens from the Krishna Drainage soon.

[The.Dark.One]

They are not both bleekeri IMO. The one from West Bengal fits better with bleekeri in terms of locality but also the fontanel etc. The one from Madras is unlikely to be bleekeri. Doesnt match keletius either.

[Shovelnose]

What differences do you see between the 'true' M.bleekeri and the West Bengal specimen I have posted here???


I did have a weird theory about M.keletius. Pondycherry, as a Union Territory, is actually made up of small territories in Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. I was thinking when Pondycherry was mentioned as the type locality of M.keletius, it could be the territory in Kerala (Mahe) thereby meaning M.keletius is a west coast fish. But these territories were merged together as Pondycherry long after M.keletius was described.

[The.Dark.One]

I'm not saying the West Bengal isn't the true bleekeri, just that the Madras one certainly isn't IMO. The West Bengal one has the correct fontanel etc when compared with the Lectotype.

I don't think the Madras one is keletius. It does not match the lectotype:
http://www.scotcat.com/articles/m_keletius9011_2.htm

[Silurus]

I thought it would be plainly obvious that one has a dark tympanic region and the other does not.

[The.Dark.One]

Isn't the Madras one showing some signs of a tympanic spot and the body lines and caudal spot? Sometimes the intensity of the spot/lines in living individuals fades depending on mood, conditions etc? Is the Madras one closer to montanus anyway?

[Shovelnose]

I'm not saying the West Bengal isn't the true bleekeri, just that the Madras one certainly isn't IMO. The West Bengal one has the correct fontanel etc when compared with the Lectotype.

Ah, ok. I misunderstood your statement.




Picture Credit : Marcus Knight

A Madras specimen showing the tympanic spot. My specimen lost it because of stress. Are there any differences I missed out???

[The.Dark.One]

As I thought, it was there, just faded, and I bet the body bars and possibly a peduncular spot will appear at some point too.

Nearer to montanus I think. Have you any pics of what you think are montanus?

[Shovelnose]

More details here : http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 90#p259384


Looks too different I think???

[The.Dark.One]

Yes, definitely different.