Pabdah catfish, Ompok pabda (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Superfamily: Siluroidea
Family: Siluridae (Sheatfishes)
Genus: Ompok
Species: O. pabda

Common/ local names
English: Pabdah catfish
Bangladesh: Madhu pabda (মধু পাবদা) and Pabda (পাবদা)
India: Leothari, Pahboh (Assam); Pabda, Pabo, Pahboh and Pava (West Bengal); Tambulivapata (Bihar); and Pallu (Punjab) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Synonyms
Callichrous anastomus (Valenciennes, 1840)
Callichrous egertonii Day, 1872
Callichrous pabda (Hamilton, 1822)
Callichrous vittatus (Swainson, 1839)
Cryptopterus latovittatus Playfair, 1867
Silurus pabda Hamilton, 1822
Silurus vittatus Swainson, 1839
Silurichthys lamghur (Heckel, 1838)
Silurus anostomus Valenciennes, 1840
Silurus lamghur (Heckel, 1838)
Wallago pabda (Hamilton, 1822)

Distributions: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Myanmar (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Conservation status: Endangered in Bangladesh due to lack of awareness and loss of habitats (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Body elongated and laterally compressed with dorso-ventrally flattened head. Snout rounded. Superior mouth with longer lower jaw. Eyes sub-cutaneous and barbels two pairs, of which maxillary pair extends to end of pectoral or middle of anal fin. Dorsal fin situated above on last half of pectoral. Pectoral fin with smooth spine. Caudal forked with rounded lobes and downwards direction.

Body color generally silvery grey, darkest on the back and fading white on the belly. In some may have two longitudinal bands, one above and other below the lateral line.

Head (inclusive of lower jaw) 4.2-4.8; in SL, 4.8-5.5 in TL. Height 4.1-4.5 in SL, 4.6-5.0 in TL. Eye 5.0-7.0 in head; snout 2.0-2.2; interorbital 2.8-3.7 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fin formula:
D. 4-5; P. I/11-13; V. 8; A. 2/52-58; C. 18 (Bhuiyan, 1964)
D. 4; P1. 12-14 (1/11-13); P2. 8; A. 53-59 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; IUCN Bangladesh, 2000)
D 4-5; A ii 48-54; P I 11-13; V i 6-7 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. 4-5; P. I/1113; V. 8; A. 2/52-60; C. 18 (Shafi and Quddus, 2001)

Maximum lengths: 30 cm (Bhuiyan, 1964; Shafi and Quddus, 2001), 16 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 17 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: Inhibits rivers, tanks and ponds (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Found in beels, ponds, pools, river and streams of Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000) and inundated fields (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Recorded from the Bookbhara baor in Jessore (Mohsin et al., 2009);  Chalan beel (Galib et al., 2009 and 2010); Padma river in Rajshahi (Samad et al., 2010).

Food and feeding: Omnivore (Shafi and Quddus, 2001). Feeds on algae, roots of some higher plants, protozoa, crustaceans, a little quantity of mud and sand (Bhuiyan, 1964). Also takes small fish (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Body composition: Each 100 g contains- protein 19.2%, fat 2.0%, iron 0.2 g, calcium 402 mg, phosphorus 216 mg and water 79.3% (Siddique, 1996).

Spawning: Breeds during May to July (Siddique, 1996). Induced breeding is recorded in hatcheries of Jessore district, Bangladesh (Galib, 2011).

Fishery info: Esteemed as food fish. Physicians prescribe this fish for the invalids (Bhuiyan, 1964). Aquaculture of this species is practicing in some districts (e.g. Mymensingh, Jessore and some others) of Bangladesh.

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REFERENCES

Bhuiyan AL (1964) Fishes of Dacca, Asiat. Soc. Pakistan, Pub. 1, No. 13, Dacca, pp. 54-55.

Cuvier G and Valenciennes A (1840) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome quinzième. Suite du livre dix-septième. Siluroïdes. Histoire naturelle des poissons. 15: i-xxxi + 1-540, Pls. 421-455.

Day F (1872) On the freshwater siluroids of India and Burmah. Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London 1871 (pt 3): 703-721 [1-19].

Galib SM (2011) Non-traditional fish seeds for aquaculture, Bangladesh Fish. Info. Share Home, ISSN 2224-0608, retrieved on September 07, 2011.

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.

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, Int. J. Ani. Fish. Sci. 2(3):214-218.

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.

Heckel JJ (1838) Fische aus Caschmir gesammelt und herausgegeben von Carl Freiherrn von Hügel, beschrieben von J. J. Heckel. Wien. Fische aus Caschmir gesammelt und herausgegeben von Carl Freiherrn von Hügel, beschrieben von J. J. Heckel.: 1-112, Pls. 1-13.

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

Mohsin ABM, Hasan MM and Galib SM (2009) Fish Diversity of Community Based Fisheries Managed Oxbow Lake (Bookbhara Baor) in Jessore, Bangladesh, J. Sci. Foundation 7(1): 121-125.

Playfair RL and Günther A (1867) The fishes of Zanzibar, with a list of the fishes of the whole east coast of Africa. London. The fishes of Zanzibar, with a list of the fishes of the whole east coast of Africa.: i-xix + 1-153, Pls. 1-21.

Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 168-169.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 187-188.

Samad MA, Asaduzzaman M, Galib SM, Kamal MM and Haque MR (2010) Availability and Consumer Preference of Small Indigenous Species (SIS) of the River Padma at Rajshahi, Bangladesh, International Journal of BioResearch 1(5): 27-31.

Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2001) Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. pp. 200-204.

Siddiqui K and Choudhury SN (1996) A Manual on Pond Pisciculture, The National Institute of Local Government, Dhaka, Bangladesh, p. 114.

Swainson W (1839) The natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals. Spottiswoode & Co., London. Nat. Hist. & Class. i-vi + 1-448.

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. 584-585.

 

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