Species: Sciades herzbergii, Pemecou Sea Catfish

roof mouth: 2 pr tooth patches, fused to form U
Sciades herzbergii (Bloch, 1794)
Pemecou Sea Catfish
Head rounded, only slightly flattened; snout long, overhangs mouth, distinctly rounded when viewed from above; bony head shield very rough, granular, extends forward to between eyes; bony plate at front of base of dorsal fin short, crescent shaped, sometimes notched behind where it meets the dorsal fin spine; bony process between head shield and pre-dorsal plate rough, broad at base, tapering to rear, slightly keeled above; a large transverse skin fold between rear nostrils; three pairs of barbels (on both jaws and chin), top barbels with very thick bases; roof of mouth with two pairs of patches of conical teeth, front pair fused centrally and continuous with rear pair, the entire set U shaped; gill opening wide, membranes not adhering to breast; gill rakers on second arch 21-23 (19-26), sometimes a few tiny rakers on rear of 1st 2 gill arches; pectoral soft rays 10 (10-11); tail fin deeply forked; a complete lateral line, with branches to top and bottom base of tail fin, no scales.
Dark brown above, whitish below.
Reaches 55 cm.
Estuaries, saltwater and hypersaline lagoons, lower parts of rivers.
Depth range: 1-20 m?
Colombia to Brazil.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Brackish
- Hypersaline
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Estuary
- Mud
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
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- Brooded
- Data
- No pelagic larva
- No pelagic phase
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Also in Brazil
- Continent
- Continent only
- Extends South of GC
- GC non-endemic
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 55
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 20