Bagarius rutilus

The front part of the body is wide and flat, with the dorsal margin being the highest at the starting point of the dorsal fin and gradually decreasing to the front and back. The caudal peduncle is round and the ventral surface is flat. The head is large and flat, nearly wedge-shaped. The snout is slightly rounded. The mouth is large, inferior and arc-shaped. The eyes are small and located on the dorsal side of the head, with a wide space between the eyes. There is one pair of maxillary barbels and three pairs of chin barbels. The maxillary barbels are connected to the snout with skin folds, with a wide base and a slender end that exceeds the starting point of the pectoral fin. The skin on the back of the head and the body is rough and covered with longitudinal ridges, and the ventral surface is smooth. The rear edge of the dorsal fin spine is smooth, the end is soft, and it extends to the rear end of the pelvic fin base; the pectoral fin is flat, with weak serrations on the rear edge o

Outside China, it is distributed in the Red River Basin and the Nam Xam and Nam Ma Basins in Laos.
It is only distributed in Yunnan, China. It mainly lives in the main river channels of large rivers and is a bottom-dwelling fish.

The name of the red mullet comes from the orange color on its pectoral fins, not because it is produced in the Red River.

The red mullet is ferocious and predatory. It mainly feeds on small fish, frogs and shrimps. It breeds around May to June.

The biggest difference between the red catfish and the giant catfish is the eye diameter. The red catfish has an eye diameter ratio of 4.1~8.1%HL, while the giant catfish has 10.9~11.4%HL. The red catfish has more pectoral fin rays, 12~13, while the giant catfish has only 9~12. In addition, the red catfish is larger, with a maximum body length of 100cm, while the largest individual catfish caught in the wild is only about 20cm.

The difference between the red catfish and the giant catfish is relatively simple. The red catfish has an oval eye, while the giant catfish has a round eye. At the same time, the giant catfish is much larger than the red catfish (I don't need to say how much larger). Another auxiliary identification basis is body color. The trunk color of adult giant bream is generally the same as the pectoral fin color (ranging from orange-red to brown-green), and the trunk color of adult red bream is generally yellow-brown, and the pectoral fins are orange-yellow, which can be seen from the two pictures above.

On October 20, 2020, the bred red bream seedlings were released into the Red River.

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

Protect wild animals and eliminate game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!