You can sponsor this page

Schilbe mystus (Linnaeus, 1758)

African butter catfish
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Stamps, coins, misc. | Google image
Image of Schilbe mystus (African butter catfish)
Schilbe mystus
Picture by Hippocampus-Bildarchiv

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

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Schilbeidae (Schilbid catfishes)
Etymology: mystus: Named for Mr. Adanson, collector of the type material of this species (Ref. 43912).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Issue
This species was commonly known as Schilbe (Eutropius) niloticus; the morphological examination of the holotype of Silurus mystus Linnaeus, 1758 (De Vos and Skelton, 1990) has shown that this specimen and Schilbe (Eutropius) niloticus Rüppel, 1829 belong to the same species; this results in the substitution of the name S. niloticus by the oldest name available, in this case, S. mystus.

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

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 4 - 69 m. Tropical; 23°C - 27°C (Ref. 1672); 25°N - 27°S, 17°W - 45°E

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

Africa: Nilo-Sudanese species, known from the Nile basin and in West Africa from the Senegal River eastwards to the Cross, Wouri and Sanaga River, including the Chad basin (Ref. 43912). Various reports, including from the Ogowe and Congo River basin or Zambia and Zimbabwe, are based on misidentifications (Ref. 43912). Reports from Angola and Tanzania are questionable and need confirmation.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 13.1, range 15 - ? cm
Max length : 35.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 57127); max. published weight: 250.00 g (Ref. 3799); max. reported age: 7 years (Ref. 7248)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 6. Diagnosis: adipose fin present (Ref. 43912, 57127, 81643) and fully developed (Ref. (Ref. 57127, 81643). Anterior nostrils more closer to each other than to posterior ones; inner margin of pectoral-fin spine strongly denticulate posteriorly (Ref. 43912, 57127, 81643). Nasal barbel reaching to anterior eye margin (Ref. 57127, 81643), but never extending beyond posterior margin of eye (Ref. 43912, 57127, 81643). Mouth subterminal (Ref. 57127, 81643), snout reaching beyond lower jaw (Ref. 43912). 45-64 branched anal-fin rays and 8-15 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch (Ref. 43912, 57127, 81643).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Lacustrine as well as fluviatile species, confined to lakes and moderate to large rivers (Ref. 43912). Shoals in standing or slowly flowing open water with emergent or submerged vegetation. Generally more active at night or in subdued light. Feed from mid-water and surface waters on a wide variety of foods including fish, insects, shrimps, snails, plant seeds, and fruit. Oviparous, eggs are unguarded (Ref. 205). Often important spawning migrations occur (Ref. 43912). Breed during the rainy season and may be either a single or multiple spawner in different localities, laying eggs on vegetation. May live up to 6-7 years (Ref. 7248). Max total length 45.0mm (Ref. 43912). Also caught with drawnets. In general considered as a flavoured, first class eating fish (Ref. 43912).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Distinct pairing (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

De Vos, L., 1995. A systematic revision of the African Schilbeidae (Teleostei, Siluriformes). With an annotated bibliography. Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Centr., Sci. Zool., 271:1-450. (Ref. 43912)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 04 November 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
References
References

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

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=0.00832 (0.00658 - 0.01052), b=3.00 (2.93 - 3.07), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.4 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.09-0.94; tmax=6-7; assuming fec > 10,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 128 [51, 292] mg/100g; Iron = 1.48 [0.69, 2.75] mg/100g; Protein = 16.9 [15.1, 18.7] %; Omega3 = 0.542 [0.207, 1.418] g/100g; Selenium = 78.6 [34.3, 193.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 37.6 [13.9, 92.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.5 [1.0, 2.1] mg/100g (wet weight);