Species: Cathorops nuchalis, Orinoco Sea Catfish

Cathorops nuchalis (Gunther, 1864)

Orinoco Sea Catfish

Body elongate; head rounded, rounded when viewed from above, moderately flattened above; eyes large (4.3-6.6% SL); shield on top of head rough, densely granular, covered with thin skin, not or barely extending to level of rear edge of eyes, its rear process 11.7-18.9% SL, funnel shaped, a broad based, narrow and short at rear, with a central keel that is straight in profile, meeting a small, crescent-shaped plate at front of base of dorsal fin spine ; a deep, long groove along top of head, extending almost to keel of rear head-shield process; 2 pairs of close-set nostrils; no fleshy furrow extends across snout and connects rear nostrils; mouth small, lips thin; three pairs of barbels (on chin and both jaws), barbels moderate, top one usually reaching past base of pectoral spine; one pair of tooth patches on roof of mouth, those small, with molar teeth; gill opening restricted to sides by adhesion of gill membranes to breast; well developed, uniformly distributed gill rakers present on front and rear surfaces of first two gill arches, 18-23 at front of first arch, 16-19 on second arch; no fleshy papillae between gill rakers; dorsal spine long & thick; pectoral spine long, shorter than dorsal spine, with inconspicuous short serrations; anal fin 20-24 rays; tail fin deeply forked; a complete lateral line, with branches to top and bottom base of tail fin, no scales.

Uniform grey; rear edge of gill cover and base of pectoral fin reddish; fins pale.

Reaches 30 cm.

Primarily freshwater, but enters brackish waters.

Depth: 0-50 m.

Western Colombia to Guyana.