Common names:
Lake Victoria deepwater catfish
Local: Unavailable

Taxonomic tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
Order: Siluriformes(Catfishes)
Family: Clariidae (Airbreathing catfishes)
Genus: Xenoclarias
Species: Xenoclarias eupogon (Norman, 1928)
Number of Occurrancies: 0

Etymology(based on Sharpf & Lazara, 2019) 

• Xenoclarias: xenos, meaning strange or foreign (i.e., different), referring to how it differs from Clarias “in only one major anatomical character” (greatly reduced suprabranchial organs and cavity)


• eupogon: eu-, well or very; pogon, beard; referring to much longer nasal and maxillary barbels compared to the similar Clarias alluaudi, its presumed congener at the time 

Synonyms: click here to view synonyms

Type locality: Lake Victoria, 0°22'S, 34°14'30"E. Holotype at British Museum of Natural History (BMNH)

Distinguishing characters for the genus: Superficially, Xenoclarias looks like Clarias. In Xenoclarias, however:

• The supra-branchial arborescent organs are absent


• The gill filament fill the entire part of the gill chamber


• The uppermost gill-filaments of each arch are not joined together to form a fan-like structure. 

Distinguishing characters for the species :Only 1 species occurs in Uganda; the characters used to identify the genus above suffice to identify the species in Ugandan waters.

Distribution in Uganda: Endemic to Lake Victoria (in deeper waters). 

Occurence: Endemic

Habitat: Demersal; very deep waters over muddy bottoms (mainly above 50 m). The absence of the accessory, air breathing respiratory organs in this genus suggests an adaptation to life in deeper waters than those inhabited by species of the otherwise similar genus Clarias. 

Feeding: Possibly insectivorous

Biology: The species hardly exceeds 20 cm; sexual maturity is reached at 11 cm SL. Information on breeding is scanty; other life history aspects are also unknown.

Economic importance/End use: Unknown

IUCN conservation status: click here to view IUCN status

Threats: Unknown; possibly predation by Lates niloticus

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