Back Wallago leerii Catalan Wallago leerii CEB Wallago leerii Spanish Wallago leerii EU Wallagonia leerii French שפמנון הליקופטר HE Wallago leerii Italian Wallago leerii Dutch ปลาค้าวดำใต้ Thai Wallagonia leerii VI
| Wallagonia leerii | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Siluridae |
| Genus: | Wallagonia |
| Species: | W. leerii
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| Binomial name | |
| Wallagonia leerii (Bleeker, 1851)
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| Synonyms | |
Wallagonia leerii, also known as the Tapah and formerly the striped wallago catfish is a species of catfish native to Southeast Asia. Its habitat ranges from the river drainages of Thailand through the Malayan peninsula to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia.[2] It can grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length and weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb).[2] It has been used as food in Southeast Asia since ancient times.[3] Overfishing for its prized meat has caused the population to significantly decrease. Furthermore, the breeding migration pattern of this fish is especially vulnerable to damming, which has also decreased the wild population significantly.
Until osteological research validated the genus Wallagonia in 2014, W. leerii was included in the genus Wallago.[2]
The other two species of the genus Wallagonia, the Lesser tapah from the Mekong river basin and the Spotted tapah from the Kinabatangan river basin on Borneo, are currently considered as distinct species. There are, however, strong suspicions that these may in fact be subspecies of W. leerii, as the sole difference seems to lie in a slightly different coloration.[2]
- ^ NG, H.H. (2019). "Wallagonia leerii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Roberts, T.R. (2014): Wallago Bleeker, 1851 and Wallagonia Myers, 1938 (Ostariophysi, Siluridae), Distinct Genera of Tropical Asian Catfishes, with Description of †Wallago maemohensis from the Miocene of Thailand. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 55 (1): 35-47.
- ^ Charles Higham, A. Kijnga ed. The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor: Volume VI The Iron Age. page 43. IV 'The Fish Remains'