Wallago attu ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Eagderi, Soheil, Sungur, Sevil, Coad, Brian W & Hamdard, Mohammad Hamid, 2023, Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist, Zootaxa 5305 (1), pp. 1-69 : 41-42

Wallago attu ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

[N]—Pabdah catfish

Taxonomy. Original description: Silurus attu Bloch & Schneider, 1801: 378 , pl. 75 [Malabar, India; holotype: ZMB 8783 (dry, lost)].— Afghanistan synonyms: Silurus boalis Hamilton, 1822 ; Silurodon hexanema Kner, 1866 ; Wallago hexanema (Kner, 1866) ; Silurus (Callichrus) macrostomus Swainson, 1839 ; Silurus muelleri Bleeker, 1846 ; Wallago russellii Bleeker, 1853 ; Wallago attu valeya Deraniyagala, 1953 ; Silurus wallagoo Valenciennes, 1840 .—Revisions: Jayaram (2006: 112).—Illustration: Kottelat (2001: fig. 357).

Status in Afghanistan. First listed by Coad (1981: 15; 2014: 294; 2015: 229); confirmed by ( Mirza 2003; Hossain et al. 2008).—Afghanistan materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Afghanistan: Kabul River.—General distribution: South Asia and Southeast Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Yunnan / China, Thailand, Indonesia and East Indies.—Habitat: This species inhabits freshwater and tidal waters in a variety of habitats, including large rivers, lakes, tanks, channels, and reservoirs. It is one of the largest, most voracious, and most predatory of the local catfish, which thrives well in rivers and tanks, especially in jheels with grassy margins. It mostly hides under holes in riverbanks and canals, and it prefers muddy tanks subject to periodic flooding from a nullah or river. It is rather sluggish and stays at the bottom of water in search of food. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Conservation. Conservation status in Afghanistan: Unknown.—IUCN: VU ( Ng et al. 2019).—Threats: CLI, CON, FIT, TOU, EUT.—High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.— Moderate priority for conservation action.