Pangasius is a genus of medium-large to very large native to fresh water in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The term "pangasius" is sometimes used to specifically refer to the commercially important basa fish, P. bocourti.
Taxonomy
In 1993,
Pangasius was one of two extant genera (along with
Helicophagus) in the family
Pangasiidae. At this point, it was split into four subgenera.
Pangasius (
Pangasianodon) included
P. gigas and
P. hypophthalmus and was diagnosed by the absence of mandibular barbels, the absence of teeth in adults and the presence of a single-lobed
gas bladder.
Pangasius (
Pteropangasius) included
P. micronema and
P. pleurotaenia and was typified by four lobes in the swimbladder and with multiple segments in the last lobe.
Pangasius (
Neopangasius) included
P. nieuwenhuisii,
P. humeralis,
P. lithostoma,
P. kinabatanganensis, and typically had
palatal teeth arranged in a single large patch and high
counts.
Pangasius (
Pangasius) was the final subgenus and had no unique features, including the remaining species.
These subgeneric classifications were confirmed in 2000 except for
Neopangasius, found to be
polyphyly and to be part of
Pangasius (
Pangasius), thus leaving three subgenera.
Since then, the subgenera have been variably recognized as separate. P. gigas and P. hypophthalmus have been classified in the genus Pangasianodon, and P. micronemus and P. pleurotaenia in the genus Pseudolais (with Pteropangasius as a junior synonym).
In 2011, Pangasius was sixth in the National Fisheries Institute's "Top 10" list of the most consumed seafood in the United States.
Species
Currently, 23 recognized species are in this genus:
-
Pangasius bocourti Sauvage, 1880 (basa fish)
-
Pangasius conchophilus Roberts & Vidthayanon, 1991 (snail eating pangasius)
-
Pangasius djambal Pieter Bleeker, 1846
-
Pangasius elongatus Laurent Pouyaud, Rudhy Gustiano & Guy Teugels, 2002 (elongated pangasius)
-
Pangasius humeralis Roberts, 1989
-
Pangasius icaria Ayyathurai, Kodeeswaran, Mohindra, Singh, Ravi, Kumar, Valaparambil, Thangappan, Jena & Lal, 2022
-
Pangasius kinabatanganensis Roberts & Vidthayanon, 1991 (kinabatang pangasius)
-
Pangasius krempfi Fang Ping-Wen & Chaux, 1949
-
Pangasius kunyit Pouyaud, Teugels & Legendre, 1999
-
Pangasius larnaudii Bocourt, 1866 (spot pangasius)
-
Pangasius lithostoma Roberts, 1989
-
Pangasius macronema Bleeker, 1851
-
Pangasius mahakamensis Pouyaud, Gustiano & Teugels, 2002
-
Pangasius mekongensis Gustiano, Teugels & Pouyaud, 2003 (Mekong pangasius)
-
Pangasius myanmar Roberts & Vidthayanon, 1991 (Myanmar pangasius)
-
Pangasius nasutus (Pieter Bleeker, 1863) (long nosed pangasius)
-
Pangasius nieuwenhuisii (Popta, 1904)
-
Pangasius pangasius (Hamilton, 1822) (yellowtail catfish)
-
Pangasius polyuranodon Bleeker, 1852
-
Pangasius rheophilus Pouyaud & Teugels, 2000
-
Pangasius sabahensis Gustiano, Teugels & Pouyaud, 2003
-
Pangasius sanitwongsei Smith, 1931 (giant pangasius)
-
Pangasius silasi Dwivedi, Gupta, Singh, Mohindra, Chandra, Easawarn, Jena & Lal, 2017
Fossil record
The single known fossil species of this genus,
P. indicus, is reported from the
Paleogene period of
Sipang,
Sumatra, either from the
Eocene or the
Oligocene.
External links
