Life habits and morphological characteristics of long-rumped catfish (Pearl River bone fish)

Cranoglanis bouderius belongs to the order Cranoglanis, family Cranoglanis bouderius, and genus Cranoglanis bouderius. Commonly known as: bone fish, dead fish. English name: Helmet catfish.

Endangerment level: Vulnerable.

The body is long, flattened laterally, and the starting point of the dorsal fin is the highest point of the body. The head is flat and slightly triangular, with rough and exposed bones on the back. The muzzle is prominent and blunt. The mouth is proximal and arc-shaped, with the upper jaw slightly protruding. The maxillary denticles are arranged horizontally with a crack in the middle; the mandibular denticles are obvious and divided into left and right pieces; the teeth are velvety. The two nostrils are far apart; the anterior nostril is close to the snout and is short tube-shaped; the posterior nostril has a well-developed nasal barbel, which generally extends to the back edge of the eye, and in some cases slightly exceeds or only reaches the center of the eye. There is a pair of maxillary palps, which generally extend to 1/2-4/5 of the pectoral fin spines, and in smaller individuals, they can reach the end of the pectoral fin spines. There are 2 pairs of mandibular barbels, the outer barbels of the chin generally reach the starting point of the pectoral fin, and the inner barbels of the chin reach the isthmus concave part. The gill pores are large and the gill membranes are free. The back end of the key bone is pointed. The body has no scales. The lateral line is straight. The dorsal fin is very high, sharp and knife-shaped, located on the front of the body, and the upper part of the rear edge and front edge of the hard spines are weakly serrated; the adipose fin is short, and the rear end is free; the anal fin is very long, with 26-34 anal rays; the pectoral fin is low, The posterior extension does not reach the pelvic fin; the pelvic fin is located behind the base of the dorsal fin and extends to the anal fin; the caudal fin is pointed and forked, with olive color on the dorsal side of the body and milky white on the ventral side. Fins grayish white, base yellow.

It is a bottom fish in rivers and streams in subtropical foothills and likes clear flowing water environment. They are good at swimming and are gluttonous. Their main food is shrimps, small fish, benthic aquatic insects, small shellfish, etc.

The long-rumped catfish is a special species of the Pearl River system and is distributed in Zuojiang, Youjiang, Hongshuihe, Yijiang, Yujiang, Qianjiang, Xunjiang, Xijiang, and Guijiang rivers in Guangxi, Beijiang in Guangdong, and Nanpanjiang in Guizhou. There is another subspecies in Hainan Island and Yuanjiang, Yunnan.

The long-rumped crocodile is very common in the Pearl River system (especially in the rivers of Guangxi), and the maximum individual weight can reach 1 kilogram. Due to its delicious meat and high fat content, it was originally one of the most popular edible fish in the Pearl River. In recent decades, due to the sudden increase in population and overfishing, the amount of resources has been significantly reduced.

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