Amphilius natalensis, Natal mountain catfish : fisheries, aquarium

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Amphilius natalensis Boulenger, 1917

Natal mountain catfish

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Amphilius natalensis
Picture by South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Amphiliidae (Loach catfishes) > Amphiliinae
Etymology: Amphilius: Greek, amphi = on both sides + Greek, leios = fat.
More on author: Boulenger.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical; 15°S - 29°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Africa: Escarpment streams from lower Zambezi River in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe to Umkomaas system in KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, South Africa (Ref. 52193); also in Ruo River of Zambezi system in Malawi (Ref. 3818, 52193).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 6.2 range ? - 7 cm
Max length : 12.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 52193)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 7; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 8 - 9.

Lives among cobbles and rocks in swiftly flowing water (Ref. 52193). Active at night, feeding on benthic stream invertebrates such as mayfly and midge larvae (Ref. 52193). Breeds in summer (Ref. 52193). Iteroparous, with asynchronous ovarian development (Ref. 51405). Preyed upon by trout and is now scarce in certain streams (Ref. 7248, 52193).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Iteroparous, with asynchronous ovarian development (Ref. 51405).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Skelton, P.H., 2001. A complete guide to the freshwater fishes of southern Africa. Cape Town (South Africa): Struik Publishers, 395 p. (Ref. 52193)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 13 March 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: public aquariums

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators

Ecology
Ecology

Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics

Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos

Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith

Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)

Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability

Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.

Outreach
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Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures

References
References

Tools

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00537 (0.00264 - 0.01091), b=3.11 (2.92 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.2 ±0.40 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Fec=600).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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