Indian gagata, Gagata cenia (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Superfamily: Sisoroidea
Family: Sisoridae (Bagariidae; Sisorid catfishes)
Subfamily: Sisorinae
Genus: Gagata
Species: G. cenia

Synonym: Pimelodus cenia Hamilton, 1822

Common/local names
English: Indian gagata
Bangladesh: Cenia (ছেনিয়া), Jungla (জংলা), Kauwa (কাউয়া) and Tengra (টেংরা)
India: Ngarang and Keyakatta (Assam); Jungla (West Bengal); Tinkatiya and Baghi (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) and Musri (Orissa) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Distributions: Bangladesh, India (Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa), Myanmar (Chindwin drainage), Nepal and Pakistan (Indus plain) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Body elongate, small and slender with compressed head. Head length 3.6-4.5 times in SL (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Mouth small; barbels 4 pairs, maxillary barbels with stiff basal portions. Dorsal fin with short and strong spine. Pelvic fins reach vent.

Body color grayish; young with 4 dark dorsal blotches on back extending to flanks below lateral line. Adipose with black edge. Black stripe on each lobe of caudal and its base.

Fin formula:
D1. I/6; D2. 0; P. I/9; V. 6; A. (14-16/11-12); C. 19 (Bhuiyan, 1964)
D. II/8; P1. I/8; P2. I/5; A. 3-4/10-11; C. 18 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D I 6; A ii-iii 10-14; P I 7-9; V i 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)

Maximum lengths: 14 cm TL (Bhuiyan, 1964), 9.6 cm TL (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 15 cm SL (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: Inhibits freshwater and tidal rivers (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Available in rivers of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Recorded from Meghna river (Chadpur) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and Padma river (Rajshahi).

Fishery info: Wholesome food fish (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

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REFERENCES

Bhuiyan AL (1964) Fishes of Dacca, Asiat. Soc. Pakistan, Pub. 1, No. 13, Dacca, pp. ??-??.

Hamilton F (1822) An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.

Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 220-221.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 243-244.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG (1991) Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 2, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 637-638.

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