Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; brackish; demersal; amphidromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 25°N - 8°S, 62°E - 117°E
Indo-Pacific: east and west coast of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, the Indo-Australian archipelago but not in the Philippines or Australia.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 59.0 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 97030); common length : 24.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3290); max. published weight: 1.5 kg (Ref. 121653)
Dorsal
spines
(total): 1;
Dorsal
soft rays
(total): 7;
Anal
soft rays: 16 - 30. Head profile concave at nape. Head shield strongly rugose and granulated; supra-occipital process short, about as long as broad, with median keel, hind end concave. Dorsal and pectoral fins with very strong, thick, and coarsely granulated spine; tip of dorsal spine produced into a long filament; adipose fin rather large. Body with metallic blue luster. Tip of dorsal fin blackish, its filament black; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins dusky; caudal fin paler; adipose fin either entirely black or bearing a large black blotch on upper half.
Mostly marine. Enters brackish waters and tidal rivers (Ref. 4833). Regularly ascends into fresh water in the Mekong delta (Ref. 12693). Feeds mainly on invertebrates and small fishes (Ref. 12693). Marketed fresh, also dried-salted. An important food fish.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Jayaram, K.C., 1984. Ariidae. In W. Fischer and G. Bianchi (eds.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean fishing area 51. Vol. 1. FAO, Rome. pag. var. (Ref. 3290)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 126983)
Threat to humans
Traumatogenic (Ref. 58010)
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial
More information
Common namesSynonymsMetabolismPredatorsEcotoxicologyReproductionMaturitySpawningSpawning aggregationFecundityEggsEgg development
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingNutrientsMass conversion
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 28 - 29.3, mean 28.9 °C (based on 733 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5156 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00501 (0.00426 - 0.00589), b=3.18 (3.13 - 3.23), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.0 ±0.64 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 1.9 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2
growth studies.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.65).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (28 of 100).
