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 macrops (Greenwood, 1963)
Number of Occurrancies: 0

Etymology (based on Scharpf & Lazara, 2017)

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


• macrops:  macro-, large; ops, eye, referring to larger eye compared to the similar S. schall

Synonyms: click here to view synonyms on FishBase

Type locality: A tributary stream of Aswa River, Teso District, Uganda. Holotype at British Museum of natural History (BMNH)

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 lack 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 3.3-4 times in the standard length


• Skin on the anterior part of the body vilose (i.e. hairly in appearence)


• 18-21 mandibular teeth


• Maxillary barbels reaching the the point mid-way along the humeral process


• Outer Mandibular barbels with slender branches, inner pair with short, tuberculate branches on the anterior third, the outer branches short but slender


• Humeral process acutely pointed, its depth contained 1.5-2 times its length


• Dorsal fin with a spine (weakly granulate on its anterior face and weakly serrated behind) and 6 or 7 branches


• Distance between last dorsal fin ray and the origin of the adipose fin contained 2.5-4.33 times in the length of adipose fin


• Pectoral spine with small but distinct serrations on its anterior face and larger, stronger serrations on its posterior face

Taxonomic remarks 

S. macrops in general appearence resembles Synodontis schall, but it is easily distinguished by its large eyes 

Distribution in Uganda: Aswa River basin 

Occurence: Native

Habitat: Information is scanty, but its possibly a riverine benthopelagic species

Feeding: No information is available.    

Biology: The largest recorded specimen was 12.5 cm standard length, but no information exists on ecology and reproductive biology of Uganda population. 

Economic importance/End use: Unknown.

IUCN conservation status: click here to view synonyms on FishBase

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