Natural Environment Blog

I read that between 2003 and 2005, over 100 new species of catfish were described, which was a record for new descriptions of catfish.

Well, that was 4 or 5 years ago. Fast forward to 2008 and it doesn’t look like much has changed. It seems that new species of catfish are cropping up everywhere.

For starters, here’s what Practical Fishkeeping reported over the last couple of weeks:

• 3 new species of catfish on 20 October. The 3 species are:

Doras higuchii is named after Brazilian ichthyologist Horácio Higuchi in recognition of his work on thorny catfish sytematics

Doras phlyzakion, which is named after the abundant pores on the ventral surface of the body (from the Greek word meaning blister)

Doras zuanoni, which is named after Brazilian ichthyologist Jansen Zuanon for his contribution to Neotropical ichthyology and discovery of the new species

• The description of Synodontis woleuensis was also reported on 20 October. This fish had previously been confused with another species - the Synodontis batesii. According to Aquatic Community, this catfish was named after the river Woleu and is known to be present in the Woleu/Mbini/Uoro and Ntem basins of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in west central Africa.  
• On 27 October, it reported another new species named Chrysichthys praecox, which is named after the small size at which it matures (from the Latin praecox, meaning early ripening or precocious)
• Also on 27 October, Practical Fishkeeping reported the description of Synodontis ngouniensis, named after its type locality, the Ngounié River drainage, and is also known from the Nyanga River drainage (a smaller coastal river drainage south of the Ogooué River drainage in the Republic of Congo). 

And as if that’s not enough, according to All Catfish Species Inventory (ACSI), the latest edition of Neotropical Ichthyology contains descriptions of 30 new species and 2 new genera of catfishes.

I’d be interested to know how many species of catfish have been described over the past 2 years. It would be good to get a comparison with the 2005 - 2005 period.