Living habits and morphological characteristics of Kunming catfish (Dianchi catfish)

Kunming catfish (Silurus mento) belongs to the order Silurus mento, family Silurus, and genus Silurus. Common name: catfish. English name: Kunming-lake catfish, Kunming catfish.

Endangerment level: Endangered.

IUCN (1996) EN. CITES (1997) Appendix II.

The body is long, the dorsal edge is nearly straight, the forequarters are short, and the hindquarters are long and flat on the sides. The head is broad, blunt, and flat. The muzzle is short and blunt. The mouth is wide, the lower jaw is longer than the upper jaw, and the rear end reaches approximately below the edge of the eye. The upper and lower jaws are densely covered with villi and fine teeth; the vomerine tooth belt is discontinuous in the center. There are 2 pairs of barbels, the maxillary barbels extend up to the base of the pectoral fin; the mandibular barbels are short and thin, reaching the back edge of the eyes. The body has no scales. Lateral line side median. The dorsal fin is very small, starting at about the midpoint from the start of the pectoral fin to the start of the anal fin, with 4-6 dorsal fin rays; the anal fin base is very long, almost connected to the caudal fin, separated by only a notch, with 61-73 anal fin rays; the pectoral fin is blunt and rounded, with spines in front of it. The margin is rough; the pelvic fin is small, the left and right fin bases are close together, and the ends of the fins extend beyond the starting point of the anal fin; the caudal fin is obliquely sectioned or slightly concave, and the upper lobe is slightly longer than the lower lobe. The back of the head and body is blue-grey with cloud-like markings, and the abdomen is milky white.

It likes to live in places with lots of water and grass on the lakeshore. It hides at the bottom of the water during the day and is active in the morning and evening when it seeks food. It is a carnivorous fish.

The Kunming catfish is endemic to China and is only distributed in Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Yunnan Province.

Kunming catfish is originally a common fish in Dianchi Lake and one of the edible and economical fishes. Due to the rapid increase in population around Dianchi Lake, a large amount of domestic water was released into the lake, causing eutrophication of the lake water; secondly, industrial wastewater was injected into the lake, causing water quality deterioration; and thirdly, long-term overfishing; at the same time, some other fish species were introduced into the lake and other factors , causing the population of Kunming catfish to decrease sharply. It has been almost extinct since the 1970s.

animal tags： catfish