Telchitta, Glyptothorax telchitta (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii  (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Family: Sisoridae (Sisorid catfishes)
Subfamily: Glyptosterninae
Genus: Glyptothorax
Species: G. telchitta

Synonyms
Glyptothorax telchitta telchitta (Hamilton, 1822)
Pimelodus telchitta Hamilton, 1822

Local/common name:
Bangladesh: Teli (তেলি) and Telchitta (তেলচিটা)

Distributions: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Found in rivers of northern and northeastern parts of Bangladesh (Siddique, 2007).

Conservation status: Data deficient in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Body elongated with almost flat ventral profile below head. Eye and mouth small. Eyes sub-cutaneous. Upper jaw langer. Barbels 4 pairs, maxillary pair larger than others. Skin rough. Dorsal spine smooth. Pectoral fins with strong spines. Caudal fin forked. Body color brownish or reddish with black markings. Fins yellowish with black marks.

Head 4-4.4 in SL, 5.1-5.6 in TL, Height 5-5.5 in SL, 6.6-6.7 in TL, Eye 8, Snout 3.5, interorbital 3.3 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fin formula:
D. 1/6; P1. 1/9; P2.1/5; A. 1/11 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D I 6-7; A ii 9-10; P I 7-9; V i 5 (Tawlar and Jhingran, 1991)

Maximum lengths: 8.4 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 10 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: They are benthopelagic and mainly lives on bottom (Siddique, 2007). Inhabits mainly hill-streams (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Inhibits streams of northern districts of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Recorded from Tangan river, Thakurgaon; Kangsha river, Netrokona (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and Chalan Beel (Galib, 2009 and 2010).

Fishery information: Sold in the market in small quantities and not much valued because of its limited flesh content (Tawlar and Jhingran, 1991).

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REFERENCES

Galib SM, Samad MA, Mohsin ABM, Flowra FA and Alam MT (2009) Present Status of Fishes in the Chalan Beel- the Largest Beel (Wetland) of Bangladesh, International Journal of Animal and Fisheries Science 2(3):214-218.

Galib SM, Samad MA, Hossain MA, Mohsin ABM and Haque SMM (2010) Small Indigenous Species of Fishes (SISF) in Chalan Beel with Reference to their Harvesting and Marketing, Bangladesh Journal of Progressive Science and Technology 8(2):251-254.

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. 211-212.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 233-234.

Siddique KU (ed.) (2007) Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh Freshwater fishes Vol. 23, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 300 pp.

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. 663-664.

 

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