Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Pimelodidae (Long-whiskered catfishes)
Etymology: Brachyplatystoma: Greek, brachys, eia = short + Greek, platys = flat + Greek, stoma = mouth (Ref. 45335).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Subtropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South America: Amazon and Orinoco River basins and major rivers of the Guianas and northeastern Brazil. Reported from Argentina (Ref. 9086).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 360 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 36506); common length : 120 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5217); max. published weight: 200.0 kg (Ref. 27188)

Juveniles and subadults may be found in brackish water of river mouths. Found on soft bottoms (Ref. 5217). Feeds on fish (Ref. 27188). Stomach contents are said to include parts of monkeys. In parts of the Amazon, this catfish occasionally makes prey of a man (Ref. 6868). Flesh considered excellent quality (Ref. 5217). Captured using nets and longlines (Ref. 35381). Threatened due to over harvesting (Ref. 58490).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Lundberg, J.G. and M.W. Littmann, 2003. Pimelodidae (Long-whiskered catfishes). p. 432-446. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil. (Ref. 36506)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 14 December 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators

Ecology
Ecology

Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics

Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos

Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith

Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)

Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability

Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.

Outreach
Collaborators

Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures

References
References

Tools

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5078 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00912 (0.00521 - 0.01596), b=3.11 (2.96 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.5 ±0.79 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Brachyplatystoma filamentosum (Lichtenstein, 1819)