Date:Mon 11/21/2022 8:52 AM
Happy Monday everyone! As I said, now that marching band is over for the season, I am restarting fish of the day! Today we will be focusing on the striped eel catfish! Personally, one of my favorite kinds of catfish, simply due to how cool they look.
Known by the scientific name of Plotosus lineatus, the striped catfish eel is a species of, surprisingly, eeltail catfish (otherwise known as the Plotsidea family) They are a distinct family of the catfish class due to their tails elongated, eel like structure. The tail fin is joined to the caudal and dorsal fin, forming one continuous fin. Where many catfish are known for their body armour, fish within this family are known to have spines along its back (otherwise known as dorsal spines). Within the Plotsidea family this means that these catfish can give a rather painful sting, however, within the case of the striped eel catfish these dorsal spines are highly venomous, and may cause death.
Like almost all catfish, the striped eel catfish are bottom feeders found native in the Indian ocean and Western Pacific as well as some freshwaters in Eastern Africa. They eat "crustaceans, molluscs, polychaete worms - and the occasional fish" as fishesofaustralia.net.au put it. Around Australia they are said to have a reef association. The species can also be found in the Mediterranean as an invasive species that traveled through the Suez Canal, and thus has been marked by the European Union as a species that can not be "imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or internationally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.". This means Britain, a non European Union affiliated country, is free game for bringing striped eel catfish with intention to release as an invasive species (so long as you ignore that you are commiting enviornmental terrorism, it would be funny)
The striped eel catfish can reach lengths of 32 cm (13 inches!) long. These fish are often known for the large (about 100 fish!) schooling balls juvenile fish make, as they make mesmerizing patterns while swimming. I will attempt to link videos of this, but I am unsure how accessible they will be. Adults tend to separate from their younger schools as solitary fish, or find themselves in small groups of around 20. During the day these fish can be found hiding under ledges
It has been found that along Mediterranean striped eel catfish there has been no mortality rate from the venomous spines, whereas those found within the Indian ocean have what may be a stronger venom.
Everyone have a nice Monday!
