Common names:
Unknown
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 khartoumensis (Abu, 1967)
Number of Occurrancies: 0

Etymology (based on Scharpf & Lazara, 2017)

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


• khartoumensis:  –ensis, suffix denoting place: Khartoum, Sudan, near type locality in the Blue Nile

Synonyms: click here to view synonyms on FishBase

Type locality: Blue Nile, 2 miles from junction of Blue Nile and White Nile to form the main Nile, Khartoum, Sudan. Holotype at Shanghai Natural History Museum (SNHM)

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 family Auchenoglanidae 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: Nile Basin and Lake Albert.

Occurence: Native

Habitat: No information is available

Feeding: No information is available.    

Biology: No information available. 

Economic importance/End use: Unknown.

IUCN conservation status: click here to view conservation status

Threats: Unknown

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