Systematic position
Class: Actinopterigii
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Family: Bagridae (Bagrid catfishes)
Genus: Hemibargus
Species: H. menoda
Common/Local names: Menoda catfish (Fishbase), Golsa-tengra, Arwari, koune, koune magur, Gagor, Gang magur (Bangladesh), Gagol, Ghagla, Arr-tengra, Belaunda, Belauna, Belauli, Pungah-guggah (India).(Talwar and Jhingrun, 1991; Rahman, 1989)
Synonyms
Bagrus corsula (Day, 1869)
Macrones menoda (Hamilton, 1822)
Mystus menoda (Hamilton, 1822)
Mystus menoda menoda (Hamilton, 1822)
Pimelodus menoda (Hamilton, 1822)
Mystus minoda tracacanthus (Valenciennes, 1840)
Macrones corsula Day, 1869
Distribution: Bangladesdh, India, Nepal and Myanmar (Talwar and Jhingrun, 1991).
Conservation status: Not-threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN 2000).
Morphology: Body elongated and anterior part cylindrical and compressed posteriorly. Head dorso-ventrally flattened with terminal mouth. Vertically arranged punctuate makes along sides.
Barbels 3 pairs, maxillary pair reaches at the end of pelvic to origin of anal fin. Dorsal spine serrated and about half as long as head. Pectoral spine excluding snout. Adipose fin well developed and caudal fin forked. Body color grayish brown on back and yellowish or dull white beneath. Head 29.6% SL and 23.4% TL. Height 21.7% SL and 17.2% TL. Eye 8.8% HL (Galib, 2008).
Fin formula: D. I/7; P1. I/7-8; P2. 6; A. 11 (Rahman, 1989).
Maximum length: Maximum length reported 15.7 cm (Hussain, 1999) and 45 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Habitat and niche: Commonly found in freshwater bodies, some common habitats are- ponds, ditch, canals, beels, floodplains, river etc. Reported to be dug out from the bottom of ponds where they lie buried in soft, wet clay. Recorded from Chalan Beel (Galib et al., 2009).
Breeding: Breeds during rainy season in Bangladesh (Galib, 2008).
Economic importance: Used as food fish in Bangladesh.
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REFERENCES
Cuvier G and Valenciennes A. 1840. Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome quatorzième. Suite du livre seizième. Labroïdes. Livre dix-septième. Des Malacoptérygiens. Histoire naturelle des poissons. v. 14: i-xxii + 2 pp. + 1-464 + 4 pp., Pls. 389-420.
Day F. 1869. On the fishes of Orissa – Part I. Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London 1869 ( 2): 296-310.
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.
Galib SM. 2008. A Study on Fish Diversity and Fishing Gears of Chalan Beel with Reference to Preservation of Catches, Honors dissertation submitted to the Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 172 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. [Often seen as Hamilton-Buchanan or Buchanan-Hamilton; in work as Hamilton [formerly Buchanan]..
Hussain MM. 1999. Fishes and Fisheries of the River Atrai in Rajshahi with Reference to its Limnology, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, pp. 5-200.
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, p. 199.
Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. xviii -263.
Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. II, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, p. 566.
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