Bagarius bagarius

The Latin name of the fish is Bagarius bagarius, which is one of the species of the genus Bagarius in the family Siluridae of the order Siluriformes of the class Actinopterygii. It is commonly known as the melon fish.

The fish is a carnivorous fish, fierce and predatory. It feeds on mollusks and small fish by smell. It also feeds on carrion and frogs and shrimps. It breeds in May and June. The number of its wild state is not well known. But it is often seen. In recent decades, due to the rapid increase in population in the production area, the use of harmful fishing methods such as electrocution, poisoning, and blasting has become more common, resulting in a sharp decrease in its resources and shrinking in size year by year. Most of the juveniles can reproduce.

Listed in the second level of China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List".

Protect wild animals and eliminate game.

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It is mainly distributed in tropical rivers such as Lancang River (Mekong River), Red River, Yuan River, Gasa River, Nu River, etc. in China. It is also distributed in South Asia, such as rivers in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, etc.
Those who like to live in the main river channels of large rivers are bottom-dwelling fish.

The head and the front part of the body are particularly thick and flat. The dorsal margin is the highest at the starting point of the dorsal fin, and gradually decreases to the front and back. The caudal peduncle is round and the ventral surface is flat. The head is wide and the front end is wedge-shaped. The snout is blunt and round. The mouth is large, inferior, and arc-shaped; the tips of the teeth are conical and of varying sizes. The teeth in the mandible are sparser than those in the premaxillary teeth, and the outer teeth are larger and arranged in about one row. The eyes are small and located on the dorsal side of the head. There is one pair of maxillary whiskers and three pairs of chin whiskers. The maxillary whiskers are well-developed, broad and flat, with slender ends, extending to the rear end of the pectoral fin base. The maxillary whiskers are connected to the snout with skin folds; the chin whiskers are slender. The skin on the back of the head and the body is rough an