Systematic position
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fish)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Family: Bagridae (Bagrid catfishes)
Genus: Mystus
species: M. bleekeri
Synonyms
Aoria bleekeri (Day, 1877)
Macrones bleekeri Day, 1877
Common/local names
English name: Day’s mystus
Bangladesh: Tengra (টেংরা) and Golsha- tengra (গুলশা টেংরা)
India: Singorah, Singarah, Ngacep, Tengra, Palwa, Keongar, Kander and Singhala (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Distribution: Bangladesh, India (northern India, the southernmost limit being the Mahanadi headwaters, fairly common in West Bengal), Nepal, Myanmar and Sumatra (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).
Morphology: Body elongated and compressed. Head depressed. mouth terminal. It has four pairs barbel. Its maxillary barbels long upto anal fin sometimes larger than anal fin. Dorsal spine smooth. Adipose fin present. Caudal fin forked. The least height of Caudal peduncle about 2 times its height (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Dorsal side brownish, lighter at below. On above and below lateral line there is two longitudinal bands. A dark shoulders spot behind head. Fins greyish-white.at edges side dark (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Its head 3.5 to 4 in standard length, 5.3 to 5.5 in total length (Rahman, 1989). Eye- diameter 4.5 to 5, 4 to 4.5 times in head (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Height 3.8 to 4.3 in standard, 5.5 to 5.8 in total length (Rahman 1989 and 2005).
Fin formula:
D. I 7-8; A.iii 6-7; P.I 9-10; V. i 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. I/7; P1-1/9-10; P2. 6; A.9-10 (Rahman, 1989)
Maximum lengths: 13.5 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 15 cm from the Dakatia river near Hajiganj (Bangladesh) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Habitats: Freshwater; rivers, canals, khals, beels and other freshwater bodies in Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Inhibits lakes, tanks and rivers (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Economic importance: Used as food fish in Bangladesh.
Fishery information: Not so common as Mystus cavasius (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). There is no major fishery exists for this fish and it is harvested in the fishing operations along with other fishes. (Talwar and Jhingran, 1989).
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REFERENCES
Day F. 1877. The fishes of India; being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon. The fishes of India; being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon. Part 3: 369-552, Pls. 79-138.
Rahman AKA. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 201.
Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 223.
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. 558-559.
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