Ameiurus serracanthus photos actually A. nebulosus?
Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 18:16
Hi all,
I was looking through some of the photos of the species of Ictalurids listed here and I am pretty sure that at least most of the photos on the page are actually just the southern mottled variety of .
I recalled that when Dr. Brooks Burr spoke at the 2016 All-Aquarium Catfish Convention, he said that they could be distinguished by a dark blotch on the dorsal in A. serracanthus. I don't see that blotch present on any of the pictures in the CLOG. It can be seen in the image and described in the notes on the Florida Museum of Natural History page here.
None of the pictures are really clear enough to get a look at pectoral spine serrations, which would be the better diagnostic feature. Without serration counts, I'm not certain that the less clear pictures are definitively not A. serracanthus, but I feel pretty confident that pictures 4 - 12 are A. nebulosus. I've kept this color morph of A. nebulosus before and these fish are identical to the one I had, and all lack the dark dorsal blotch.
Looking at the images of live specimens in my copy of Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida, the pictures for A. serracanthus and the mottled A. nebulosus look distinctly different in head shape (especially eye size and placement) and spot pattern. If these traits are consistent across the species, I don't think any but the first image could possibly be A. serracanthus, and that one I am only uncertain of due to the condition of the specimen. Going by the images in this book, it would more closely resemble than either of these species, but the specimen in question looks potentially stunted and has very ragged fins so its hard to say without being able to look at pectoral spines, which would again be the clear diagnostic feature.
The CLOG currently has no mention on the A. nebulosus page of the southern mottled color morph, so I think moving some images to that page and including a note about it might help with misidentifications.
I was looking through some of the photos of the species of Ictalurids listed here and I am pretty sure that at least most of the photos on the page are actually just the southern mottled variety of .
I recalled that when Dr. Brooks Burr spoke at the 2016 All-Aquarium Catfish Convention, he said that they could be distinguished by a dark blotch on the dorsal in A. serracanthus. I don't see that blotch present on any of the pictures in the CLOG. It can be seen in the image and described in the notes on the Florida Museum of Natural History page here.
None of the pictures are really clear enough to get a look at pectoral spine serrations, which would be the better diagnostic feature. Without serration counts, I'm not certain that the less clear pictures are definitively not A. serracanthus, but I feel pretty confident that pictures 4 - 12 are A. nebulosus. I've kept this color morph of A. nebulosus before and these fish are identical to the one I had, and all lack the dark dorsal blotch.
Looking at the images of live specimens in my copy of Fishes in the Fresh Waters of Florida, the pictures for A. serracanthus and the mottled A. nebulosus look distinctly different in head shape (especially eye size and placement) and spot pattern. If these traits are consistent across the species, I don't think any but the first image could possibly be A. serracanthus, and that one I am only uncertain of due to the condition of the specimen. Going by the images in this book, it would more closely resemble than either of these species, but the specimen in question looks potentially stunted and has very ragged fins so its hard to say without being able to look at pectoral spines, which would again be the clear diagnostic feature.
The CLOG currently has no mention on the A. nebulosus page of the southern mottled color morph, so I think moving some images to that page and including a note about it might help with misidentifications.
