SILURIFORMES

Matamoros, Wilfredo A., Schaefer, Jacob F. & Kreiser, Brian R., 2009, Annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of continental and insular Honduras, Zootaxa 2307, pp. 1-38 : 9-11

SILURIFORMES

Ariidae . Peripheral.

Cathorops higuchii Marceniuk & Betancur-R., 2008. Higuchi’s Sea Catfish, bagre de Higuchi. Native. Department: Gracias a Dios. Drainage: Atlantic slope: Coco.

Remarks: Details about the distribution of this species in Honduras and Mesoamerica are given by Marceniuk & Betancur-R. (2008).

Cathorops melanopus (Günther, 1864) . Dark sea catfish, bagre prieto. Native.

Departments: Cortés and Santa Bárbara. Drainages: Atlantic slope: Motagua and Ulúa.

Remarks: C. melanopus was thought to be endemic to the Motagua river basin in Guatemala and possibly occurring in Honduras ( Marceniuk & Betancur-R., 2008). Vouchers LACM 32355-1 collected in the Río Ulúa in the department of Santa Bárbara, and LACM 32405-1 collected in the Río Blanco (tributary of the Ulúa River ) represent the first records of C. melanopus in Honduras as well as a significant range extension. Furthermore, Vaux (1985) collected C. melanopus at the Yure River (at the confluence with the Quebrada de Chamo), which is a tributary of the Humuya River, Río Ulúa system.

Cathorops sp. Raredon’s sea catfish, bagre de Raredon. Native.

Remarks: The distributional range of the Raredon’s sea catfish as reported by Marceniuk et al. (in press), extends from Sinaloa México to the department of La Libertad to La Unión in El Salvador. In the description of the species, Marceniuk et al. (in press) included material collected in La Unión Bay. La Unión Bay is a small body of water located in the Gulf of Fonseca bordering Honduras and El Salvador. Based on the geographical location of the La Unión Bay, it is most likely that the Raredon’s sea catfish also occurs in Honduras (R. Betancur-R., pers. comm.).

Cathorops steindachneri (Gilbert & Starks, 1904) . Steindachner’s sea catfish, bagre de Steindachner. Native.

Remarks: The distributional range of C. steindachneri extends from El Salvador to Panama (Marceniuk et al., in press). This species has been reported from the Gulf of Fonseca in El Salvador, but is also potentially present on the Honduran side of the Gulf of Fonseca (R. Betancur-R., pers. comm.; Marceniuk et al., in press), since the Gulf of Fonseca is a shared body of water between these two countries.

Cathorops taylori ( Hildebrand, 1925) . Taylor’s sea catfish, bagre de Taylor. Native.

Remarks: While no specimens of this species have been collected in Honduras, its occurrence in the country is very likely (R. Betancur-R., pers. comm.). Marceniuk et al. (in press) listed specimens collected in La Unión Bay, which is a small shared body of water at the Honduras – El Salvador border.

Sciades assimilis (Günther, 1864) . Maya sea catfish, bagre maya. Native. Department: Cortés. Drainage: Atlantic slope: Chamelecón.

Sciades guatemalensis (Günther, 1864) . Widehead sea catfish, bagre guatemalense. Native. Departments: Choluteca and Valle. Drainages: Pacific slope: Nacaome and Choluteca.

Sciades seemanni (Günther, 1864) . Tete sea catfish, bagre tete. Native.

Departments: Choluteca and Valle. Drainages: Pacific slope: Lempa, Goascorán, Nacaome and Negro.

Ictaluridae . Primary.

Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque, 1818) . Channel catfish, bagre de canal. Exotic.

Departments: Comayagua, Cortés and Santa Bárbara. Drainages: Atlantic slope: Chamelecón and Ulúa. Remarks: I. punctatus was introduced in Honduras in the early 1960s for aquaculture purposes by technicians of the United Fruit Company. During Hurricane Fifi in 1975, many fish escaped into the Ulúa and Chamelecón Rivers. In the environmental impact study prior to building the El Cajón reservoir, Vaux (1985) reported I. punctatus . There is also evidence of at least one fish farmer in Comayagua that has been capable of reproducing catfish locally (D. Meyer, pers. comm.).

Heptapteridae . Primary.

Rhamdia guatemalensis (Günther, 1864) . Guatemalan chulin, barbudo de Guatemala. Native.

Departments: Atlántida, Choluteca, Colón, Comayagua, Copán, Cortés, El Paraíso, Francisco Morazán, Gracias a Dios, Intibucá, La Paz, Olancho, Santa Bárbara, Valle and Yoro. Drainages: Atlantic slope: Motagua, Chamelecón, Ulúa, Leán, Cangrejal, Lislis, Aguán, Sico-Tinto, Plátano, Patuca, Warunta and Coco. Pacific slope: Lempa, Goascorán, Nacaome, Choluteca and Negro.

Remarks: Silfvergrip’s (1996) revision of the genus Rhamdia synonymized R. guatemalensis with R. quelen . Perdices et al. (2002) analyzed the evolutionary history of the genus in Central America and concluded that South American R. quelen are evolutionarily distinct from R. guatemalensis from Central America. Here we treat R. guatemalensis as a distinct species.

Rhamdia laticauda (Kner, 1858) . Filespine Chulin, chulín. Native.

Departments: Atlántida, Comayagua, Copán, Cortés, El Paraíso, Francisco Morazán, Intibucá, Lempira, Olancho and Santa Bárbara. Drainages: Atlantic slope: Motagua, Ulúa, Chamelecón, Leán, Cangrejal, Lislis, Aguán, Sico-Tinto, Plátano, Patuca, Warunta and Coco. Pacific slope: Lempa and Choluteca.