Common names:
Sampa, Catfish, Vundu
Local: Unavailable
Taxonomic tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
Order: Siluriformes(Catfishes)
Family: Clariidae (Airbreathing catfishes)
Genus: Heterobranchus
Species: Heterobranchus longifilis (Valenciennes, 1840)
Number of Occurrancies: 0
Etymology(based on Sharpf & Lazara, 2019)
- Heterobranchus: heteros, meaning different; branchus, meaning gill; referring to its dendritic gill apparatus, which was quite distinctive among fishes at the time
- longifilis: longus, meaning long; filis, meaning thread; referring to long barbels, longer than the similar Clarias hasselquistii (=C. anguillaris)
Synonyms: click here to view synonyms
Type locality: Nile River, Egypt. Holotype at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Distinguishing characters for the genus
- Possession of an adipose fin and a short dorsal fin (otherwise most other features are the same as Clarias).
Distinguishing characters for the species (Only 1 species occurs in Uganda)
- The posterior part of the adipose fin is generally blackish
- The caudal fin has clearly marked light transversal bands
- Color is dark greyish-black above, lighter below
Distribution in Uganda: Murchison Nile, Lake Edward.
Occurence: Native
Habitat: Possibly demersal; potamodromous
Feeding: Omnivorous (insects, inverterbrates, decaying animal material)
Biology: Unknown
Economic importance/End use: Unknown (The species is rare)
IUCN conservation status: click here to view IUCN status
Threats: Unknown
Main references
- Greenwood PH. 1966. The fishes of Uganda. The Uganda Society, Kampala. 131 pages.
- Sharpf C, Lazara J.K. 2019. Fish Name Etymology Database v12. www.etyfish.org
