Common names:
Sudan Squeaker
None

Taxonomic tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfish)
Family: Mochokidae (Squeakers or upside-down catfishes)
Genus: Synodontis
Species: Synodontis frontosus (Vaillant, 1895)
Number of Occurrancies: 28

Etymology (based on Scharpf & Lazara, 2017)

• Synodontis: an ancient name for an undetermined fish from the Nile


• frontosus:  with a broad head, presumably referring length of cephalo-nuchal shield being nearly equal to its width

Synonyms:click here to view synonyms on FishBase

Type locality: White Nile River, Sudan. Holotype at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)

General identifcation features of family Mochokidae: Mochokidae is easily distinguished from other catfishes by the presence of branched mandibular barbels, and the absence of nasal barbels. Note that families Auchenoglanidae and Malapteruridae also lacks nasal barbles, but the mandibular barbles are not branched. Only one genus, Synodontis, occurs in Ugandan waters. Synodontis fishes have pectoral spine that is articulated by means of a complicated joint so arranged that the spine can be firmly locked into its erectile position. This spine can inflict a painful wound if not handled with care. Synodontis are refered to as talking fish because of the grunts and squeaks produced when the fish is taken out of water. The sounds are produced by the movement of the pectoral fin spine.

Distinguishing characters for the species

• Body depth contained 3-4 times in the standard length


• 30-40 mandibular teeth


• Maxillary barbels reaching the posterior end of the humeral process, but occasionary only as far as its origin


• Outer Mandibular barbels with slender branches, inner pair with shorter, tuberculate branches


• Depth of the humeral process contained 1.33-1.4 times in its length


• Dorsal fin with a spine, smooth on its anterior face, strongly serated on its posterior face, and 7 branches (Differing from S. schall whose granulated on its anterior face, weakly serrated behind)


• Distance between last dorsal fin ray and the origin of the adipose fin contained 2.25-4 times in the length of adipose fin


• Pectoral spine strongly serrated on inner face; smooth anteriorly in fishes more than 20 cm long but serrated in smaller individuals


• Color is dark olivaceous or brown, peppered with small black spots

Distribution in Uganda: Lake Albert, Albert and Murchison Niles

Occurence: Native

Habitat: Benthopelagic; in the lake lake, found in deep waters but also in shallower water near the shore

Feeding: Bottom feeder; omnivorous: feeding on algae, macrophytes, detritus, crustaceans, insects and molluscs.    

Biology: Attains a length of 35 cm, but no information on the reproductive biology of Uganda population. 

Economic importance/End use: Not a target fishery, but probably forms an important subsistence fishery for riparian communities.

IUCN conservation status: click here to view synonyms on FishBase

Threats: Fishing

Main references

• Greenwood PH. 1966. The fishes of Uganda. The Uganda Society, Kampala. 131 pages.


• Sharpf C, Lazara J.K. 2017. Fish Name Etymology Database v4. www.etyfish.org