Amur catfish

Amur catfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Siluridae
Genus:	Silurus
Species:	S. asotus
Binomial name
	Silurus asotus; Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
	Parasilurus asotus (Linnaeus, 1758);

The Amur catfish, or Japanese common catfish, Silurus asotus,^[1] is a species of catfish (sheatfish), family Siluridae. It is a large freshwater fish found in continental East Asia and in Japan. It prefers slow-flowing rivers, lakes, and irrigation canals. Its appearance is typical of a large silurid catfish. Larval S. asotus specimens have three pairs of barbels (one maxillary, two mandibular), while adult fish have only two pairs (one maxillary, one mandibular); second pair of mandibular barbels degenerates.^[2] This species grows to 130 cm (51 in) in total length.

A picture of a fountain or sculpture of an Amur catfish, in Japan: The catfish is about 4 m long atop the fountain.

A fountain dedicated to the Amur catfish

References

Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2012). "Silurus asotus" in FishBase. February 2012 version.

^ ITIS (gov)
^ "Relationship between external and internal morphological changes and feeding habits in the fry state of Japanese Catfish Silurius Asotus", 1999, Osamu Yada and Atsushi Furukawa, UJNR Aquaculture 28th Panel Proceedings

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[1] ITIS (gov)

[2] "Relationship between external and internal morphological changes and feeding habits in the fry state of Japanese Catfish Silurius Asotus", 1999, Osamu Yada and Atsushi Furukawa, UJNR Aquaculture 28th Panel Proceedings

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