Bagarius bagarius (Hamilton 1822)

Alfred W. Thomson & Lawrence M. Page, 2006, Genera of the Asian Catfish Families Sisoridae and Erethistidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes)., Zootaxa 1345, pp. 1-96 : 27

Bagarius bagarius (Hamilton 1822)

Pimelodus bagarius Hamilton 1822 : 186, 378, pl. 7 (fig. 62). Type locality: Ganges River , India. Possible syntype: BMNH 1857.6.13.151 [ex Zool. Soc.] (1).

Bagarius buchanani Bleeker 1853 : 121. Type locality: Hooghly River, Calcutta , India; Pepeh River, Surakata, cent. Java , Indonesia. Syntypes: (3) NMV 46015 (1). Apparently Bagarius buchanani is an unneeded replacement name for Pimelodus bagarius Hamilton 1822 ; if so, the type locality is Ganges River, India.

Distribution: Roberts (1983) reported this species from the Ganges, Chao Phrya and Mekong drainages and noted its possible occurrence in the Malay Peninsula. Prior to Robert’s paper, nearly all references to Bagarius bagarius were based on, at least in part, one or more of the other Bagarius species. Since Robert’s paper, this species has been reliably reported from the Malay Peninsula and the Salween and Mae Klong drainages (Kottelat, 1989; Talwar & Jingran, 1991). It has also been reported from the Brahmaputra drainage (Mamnur Rashid et al., 1997; Karmakar, 2000) and Irrawaddy drainages (Vishwanath et al., 1998; Keishing & Vishwanath, 1999). It has been reported from the Indus drainage (Misra & Hameed, 1974; Datta Munshi & Srivastava, 1988; Rafique, 2000), but the Bagarius species in the Indus drainage is most likely referable to B. yarrelli .