Bagre marinus, Gafftopsail sea catfish : fisheries, gamefish

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Bagre marinus (Mitchill, 1815)

Gafftopsail sea catfish
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Bagre marinus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Bagre marinus (Gafftopsail sea catfish)
Bagre marinus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Siluriformes (Catfishes) > Ariidae (Sea catfishes) > Bagreinae
Etymology: Bagre: Mozarabic, bagre, taken from Greek, pagros = a fish (Dentex sp.) (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Mitchill.

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

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 0 - 50 m (Ref. 5217). Subtropical; 43°N - 34°S, 98°W - 34°W

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

Western Atlantic: coast of Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, western margin of the Caribbean, and the northern margin of South America. Sometimes in rivers and estuaries.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 44.8, range 50 - 63.5 cm
Max length : 69.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3265); max. published weight: 4.4 kg (Ref. 40637)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Anal soft rays: 22 - 28. Maxillary barbels, first ray of dorsal fin, and first ray of pectoral fin extended as long, flat filaments. 1 pair of barbels on chin.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Mainly marine but enters brackish estuaries with relatively high salinities (Ref. 5217). Opportunistic feeders over mud and sandy bottoms (Ref. 27549). Feeds mainly on small fishes and invertebrates. The dorsal and pectoral fins are equipped with a serrated erectile spine, both of which are venomous. Commonly caught by anglers along bridges, piers and catwalks. Flesh considered good; marketed fresh (Ref. 5217). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 57178.

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

Each male carries not more than 50 eggs in its mouth, usually averaging from 15 to 30 (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Ferraris, Jr., Carl J. | Collaborators

Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 January 2014

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

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Common names
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Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | 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 | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | OceanAdapt | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 22.7 - 27.9, mean 24.9 °C (based on 426 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5625   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00562 (0.00324 - 0.00975), b=3.16 (3.00 - 3.32), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.5 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec = 70).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (48 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 61.8 [31.7, 152.9] mg/100g; Iron = 0.914 [0.564, 1.529] mg/100g; Protein = 17.6 [16.0, 19.4] %; Omega3 = 0.239 [0.137, 0.409] g/100g; Selenium = 29.5 [15.8, 59.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 10.4 [4.4, 24.8] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.855 [0.571, 1.300] mg/100g (wet weight);