Updated 29 March 2024
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Belodontichthys Bleeker 1857 bélos (Gr. βέλος), arrow and odontos, Latinized and grammatically adjusted from the Greek nominative ὀδούς (odoús), tooth, referring to “lancet- or arrow shaped jaw teeth” of B. dinema (translation); ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish

Belodontichthys dinema (Bleeker 1851) di– (Gr. prefix), from dýo (δύο), two; nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to pair of very thin, short barbels, placed far posteriorly on the chin

Belodontichthys truncatus Kottelat & Ng 1999 Latin for truncate, referring to its shorter head compared with B. dinema

Ceratoglanis Myers 1938 cerato-, from kératos (Gr. κέρατος), genitive of kéras (κέρας), horn, referring to bony maxillary barbels of C. scleronama; glánis (Gr. γλάνις), ancient name for a silurid catfish (probably S. aristotelis), now used as a general term for catfish

Ceratoglanis pachynema Ng 1999q pachýs (Gr. παχύς), thick or stout; nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to thickened maxillary barbels of mature males

Ceratoglanis scleronema (Bleeker 1863) sclero-, from sklērós (Gr. σκληρός), tough or hard; nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to its bony maxillary barbels

Hemisilurus Bleeker 1857 hemi-, from hḗmisys (Gr. ἥμισυς), half, referring to Silurus, from which it differs by lacking a dorsal fin

Hemisilurus heterorhynchus (Bleeker 1854) héteros (Gr. ἕτερος), different; rhynchus, from rhýnchos (Gr. ῥύγχος), snout, presumably referring to its truncate snout, different from presumed congeners in Wallago (original genus)

Hemisilurus mekongensis Bornbusch & Lundberg 1989 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Mekong River basin (China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), where it is endemic

Hemisilurus moolenburghi Weber & de Beaufort 1913 in honor of Pieter Eliza Moolenburgh (1872–1944), ethnographer and government official in the Dutch East Indies, who gave a large collection of fishes from Sumatra to the authors, presumably including holotype of this one

Kryptopterus Bleeker 1857 kryptόs (Gr. κρυπτός), hidden; pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), fin, referring to “rudimentary, filiform” (translation) dorsal fin of K. micropus (=cryptopterus)

Kryptopterus baramensis Ng 2002 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Baram River drainage, northern Borneo, type locality

Kryptopterus bicirrhis (Valenciennes 1840) bi-, from bis (L.), twice; cirrhis, from cirrus (L.), curl or tendril, probably referring to pair of long forward-pointing whiskers on upper lip

Kryptopterus cryptopterus (Bleeker 1851) cryptos, from kryptόs (Gr. κρυπτός), hidden; pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), fin, referring to its dorsal fin, described as a “short slender thread” (translation)

Kryptopterus dissitus Ng 2001 Latin for lying apart, referring to its widely separated vomerine tooth patches

Kryptopterus geminus Ng 2003 Latin for twin-born or paired, referring to its close morphological similarity to K. cryptopterus

Kryptopterus hesperius Ng 2002 Latin for western, referring to its distribution in western Thailand

Kryptopterus lais (Bleeker 1851) laïs, Sundanese name for various silurid and schilbeid catfishes, presumably including this one

Kryptopterus limpok (Bleeker 1852) Malay word for this and other mid-sized silurid catfishes in Sumatra, Indonesia

Kryptopterus lumholtzi Rendahl 1922 in honor of Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922), Norwegian explorer and ethnographer, who collected holotype

Kryptopterus macrocephalus (Bleeker 1858) big-headed, from makrós (Gr. μακρός), long or large, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to its relatively large head, contained a little more than five times in SL and a little more than six times in TL

Kryptopterus minor Roberts 1989 Latin for less, referring to small size of adults (up to 68.5 mm SL)

Kryptopterus mononema (Bleeker 1846) mono-, from mónos (Gr. μόνος), one or single; nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to short, filiform dorsal-fin ray (which Bleeker later realized comprised two rays, fused at the base)

Kryptopterus palembangensis (Bleeker 1852) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia, type locality

Kryptopterus paraschilbeides Ng 2003 pará (Gr. παρά), near, referring to close similarity to K. schilbeides

Kryptopterus piperatus Ng, Wirjoatmodjo & Hadiaty 2004 Latin for peppered, referring to scattered black spots on flanks

Kryptopterus schilbeides (Bleeker 1858) –oides, Neo-Latin from eíd̄os (Gr. εἶδος), form or shape: Schilbe (Schilbeidae), referring to similar concave profiles

Kryptopterus vitreolus Ng & Kottelat 2013 diminutive of vitreus (L.), of glass, referring to its transparent appearance in life

Micronema Bleeker 1857 micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to very short and thin barbels of M. hexapterus

Micronema cheveyi (Durand 1940) in honor of French ichthyologist Pierre Chevey (1900–1942), Directeur de l’institut Océanographique de l’Indochine

Micronema hexapterus (Bleeker 1851) héx (Gr. ἕξ), six; pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), fin, presumably referring to absence of dorsal fin, giving fish six fins (two pectoral, two ventral, anal, caudal) instead of seven

Micronema platypogon (Ng 2004) platýs (Gr. πλατύς), flat; pṓgōn (Gr. πώγων), beard, referring to its flat, ribbon-like barbels

Ompok Lacepède 1803 per Bleeker (1858), “apparently a corruption of the Malay word Limpok” (translation), used for various mid-sized silurid catfishes

Ompok argestes Sudasinghe & Meegaskumbura 2016 argéstēs (Gr. ἀργέστης), the west-southwest wind, referring to its distribution in southwestern Sri Lanka

Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch 1794) bi-, from bis (L.), twice; maculatus (L.), spotted, presumably referring to blackish blotch above pectoral fin and spot on caudal peduncle (although neither mark is mentioned in description and latter mark is not shown in illustration)

Ompok binotatus Ng 2002 bi-, from bis (L.), twice; notatus (L.), marked, referring to dark spots on humeral region and end of caudal peduncle

Ompok borneensis (Steindachner 1901) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Borneo, where it is endemic

Ompok brevirictus Ng & Hadiaty 2009 brevis (L.), short; rictus (L.), open mouth, referring to relatively short mouth (causing mouth rictus to be separated from anterior orbital margin by a distance of more than ⅓ eye diameter)

Ompok canio (Hamilton 1822) latinization of kani, from Kani pabda, Bengali name for this and related catfishes in India

Ompok ceylonensis (Günther 1864) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Ceylon, former name of Sri Lanka, where it is endemic

Ompok eugeneiatus (Vaillant 1893) eū́– (Gr. εὖ), well or very; geneā́tis (Gr. γενεᾶτις) or geneiḗtis (γενειῆτις), the bearded one, referring to its long mandibular barbels, which nearly extend to end of caudal fin

Ompok fumidus Tan & Ng 1996 Latin for smoky colored, referring to its uniform gray-to-black color

Ompok hypophthalmus (Bleeker 1846) hypó (Gr. ὑπό), under or beneath; ophthalmós (Gr. ὀφθαλμός), eye, referring to placement of eyes on lower half of head

Ompok karunkodu Ng 2013 from the Tamil karun, a contraction of karuppu (black) and kodu (line), referring to dark midlateral stripe running along side of body

Ompok leiacanthus (Bleeker 1853) leí̄os (Gr. λεῖος) smooth; acanthus, (L.), from ákantha (Gr. ἄκανθα), thorn, referring to smooth and slender pectoral-fin spine

Ompok malabaricus (Valenciennes 1840) –icus (L.), belonging to: Malabar (i.e., southern India), type locality

Ompok miostoma (Vaillant 1902) mio-, from meíōn (Gr. μείων), lesser or smaller; stóma (Gr. στόμα), mouth, referring to its “médiocre” mouth, the commissure ending well before reaching anterior margin of eye

Ompok pabda (Hamilton 1822) from Kani pahda, Bengali name for this and related catfishes in India

Ompok pabo (Hamilton 1822) Assamese name for this catfish in India

Ompok pinnatus Ng 2003 Latin for feathered or plumed, referring to very long dorsal fin and barbels

Ompok platyrhynchus Ng & Tan 2004 platýs (Gr. πλατύς), flat; rhynchus, from rhýnchos (Gr. ῥύγχος), snout, referring to “lack of a distinct nuchal concavity”

Ompok pluriradiatus Ng 2002 pluris (L.), more; radiatus (L.), rayed, referring to its relatively numerous anal-fin rays

Ompok rhadinurus Ng 2003 rhadinós (Gr. ῥαδινός), slender, lithe or tapering; urus, from ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to its slender caudal peduncle

Ompok sabanus Inger & Chin 1959 –anus (L.), belonging to: Sabah, local name for North Borneo, where it is endemic

Ompok siluroides Lacepède 1803 –oides, Neo-Latin from eíd̄os (Gr. εἶδος), form or shape: Silurus, a related genus from Europe, but in this case perhaps referring to catfishes in general

Ompok supernus Ng 2008 Latin for “that is above” or “in high,” referring to its dorsally placed eyes

Ompok urbaini (Fang & Chaux 1949) in honor of French biologist and immunologist Achille Urbain (1884–1957), Director, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris)

Ompok weberi (Hardenberg 1936) in honor of the “well known” German-born Dutch physician and zoologist Max Weber (1852–1937), who described many fishes from the Indo-Australian region

Phalacronotus Bleeker 1857 phalakrós (Gr. φαλακρός), bare; notus, from nṓtos (Gr. νῶτος), back, referring to absence of dorsal fin, i.e., bare-backed

Phalacronotus apogon (Bleeker 1851) ἀ-, Greek privative i.e., without; pṓgōn (Gr. πώγων), beard, referring to seeming lack of barbels in the poorly preserved specimens Bleeker initially examined; later, when Bleeker received better specimens, he discovered that the catfish indeed had extremely thin, hair-like barbels and changed the name to micropogon, but the original name must be retained

Phalacronotus bleekeri (Günther 1864) in honor of Dutch army surgeon and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1819–1878), who described many silurid catfishes from southeast Asia and whose collection contained the holotype

Phalacronotus micronemus (Bleeker 1846) micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; nemus, unnecessary masculinization of nḗma (Gr. νῆμα), thread or yarn, referring to its very thin barbels

Phalacronotus parvanalis (Inger & Chin 1959) parvus (L.), small; analis (L.), anal, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to fewer anal-fin rays compared with P. apogon and P. micronema

Pinniwallago Gupta, Jayaram & Hajela 1981 pinna (L.), fin, similar to Wallago but distinguished by presence of a second rayed dorsal fin, much longer than first dorsal fin and widely separated from the tail

Pinniwallago kanpurensis Gupta, Jayaram & Hajela 1981 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, type locality

Pterocryptis Peters 1861 pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), fin; cryptis, from kryptόs (Gr. κρυπτός), hidden, a transposition of the similar Kryptopterus, from which it is easily distinguished by the fusion of its anal and caudal fins

Pterocryptis anomala (Herre 1934) Latin for odd or irregular, referring to absence of ventral fins on type specimen, a presumed adaptation to “living on the muddy bottoms of ponds and sluggish streams”

Pterocryptis barakensis Vishwanath & Nebeshwar Sharma 2006 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Barak River (type locality), and Brahmaputra River basin, India, where it is endemic

Pterocryptis berdmorei (Blyth 1860) in honor of the late Major Hugh Thomas Berdmore (1811–1859), Madras Artillery, Assistant to the Commissioner and in charge of the forests’ office, who collected or provided holotype

Pterocryptis bokorensis (Pellegrin & Chevey 1937) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Bokor, Cambodia, elevation 800–1000 m, type locality

Pterocryptis buccata Ng & Kottelat 1998 Neo-Latin adjective derived from bucca (L.), cavity or cheek, referring to prominent mandibular muscles, causing cheeks to appear inflated

Pterocryptis cochinchinensis (Valenciennes 1840) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Cochinchine (now southern Vietnam), type locality

Pterocryptis crenula Ng & Freyhof 2001 Latin for small notch, referring to relatively shallow notch between confluent anal and caudal fins

Pterocryptis cucphuongensis (Mai 1978) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: a cave in Cuc Phuong National Park, northern Vietnam, type locality

Pterocryptis furnessi (Fowler 1905) in honor of American anthropologist and explorer William H. Furness III (1867–1920), University of Pennsylvania, who collected holotype

Pterocryptis gangelica Peters 1861 –ica (L.), belonging to: Ganges River, India, type locality (also occurs in Bangladesh) [“corrected” to gangetica by some workers but original spelling stands]

Pterocryptis indica (Datta, Barman & Jayaram 1987) –ica (L.), belonging to: India, presumed to be an Indian member of a genus (originally Kryptopterus) previously known only from Southeast Asia

Pterocryptis inusitata Ng 1999 Latin for strange or unusual, referring to the “unusual” (elliptical vs. circular) shape of its eye

Pterocryptis subrisa Ng, Lalramliana & Lalronunga 2018 perfect passive participle of subrideo (L.), to smile, referring to its long supralabial fold, which vaguely resembles a smiling countenance

Pterocryptis taytayensis (Herre 1924) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: a small freshwater creek near Taytay, Palawan, Philippines, type locality [placed in Ompok by some workers]

Pterocryptis verecunda Ng & Freyhof 2001 Latin for shy or ashamed, referring to its genital papilla, which is partly concealed by the anus

Pterocryptis wynaadensis (Day 1873) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Wynaad, India, type locality

Silurichthys Bleeker 1856 Silurus, original genus of S. phaiosoma; ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish

Silurichthys citatus Ng & Kottelat 1997 Latin for swift, referring to its occurrence in fast-flowing streams

Silurichthys exortivus Ng & Kottelat 2022 Latin for “towards the sunrise,” the easternmost species of the genus (H. H. Ng, pers. comm.)

Silurichthys gibbiceps Ng & Ng 1998 gibbus (L.), hump; –ceps (Neo-Latin), headed, referring to its distinctively humped head

Silurichthys hasseltii Bleeker 1858 in honor of Dutch physician and biologist Johan Coenraad van Hasselt (1797–1823), who explored the colonial Dutch East Indies with his friend Heinrich Kuhl in 1820; Bleeker described this catfish based on their illustration

Silurichthys indragiriensis Volz 1904 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Indragari, Sumatra, Indonesia, type locality

Silurichthys insulanus Low, Ng & Tan 2022 Latin for of or belonging to an island, known only from Great Natuna Island (Pulau Natuna Besar in Indonesian), the main island of the Middle Natuna Archipelago

Silurichthys ligneolus Ng & Tan 2011 Latin for a small piece of wood, referring to its slender, uniformly brown body, resembling a small piece of wood

Silurichthys marmoratus Ng & Ng 1998 Latin for marbled, referring to its coloration

Silurichthys phaiosoma (Bleeker 1851) phaiós (Gr. φαιός), dark or gray; sṓma (Gr. σῶμα), body, referring to its brown body coloration

Silurichthys sanguineus Roberts 1989 Latin for blood-red, referring to its coloration in life

Silurichthys schneideri Volz 1904 in honor of Swiss biologist Gustav Schneider (1840-–1917), Universität Basel, Zoologisches Institut, who collected holotype

Silurus Linnaeus 1758 from sílouros (Gr. σίλουρος), catfish; per Cuvier (1829), name may have first belonged to a species from Egypt or Syria, but was later applied to S. glanis of Europe and used as another word for glanis (another ancient name for catfish) in Pliny’s translation of Aristotle

Silurus aristotelis Garman 1890 –is, Latin genitive singular of: Aristotle (384–322 BCE), Greek philosopher and scientist, who wrote about the parental behavior of a Greek catfish, now identified as this species (name coined by Agassiz in 1856 but without a description)

Silurus asotus Linnaeus 1758 presumably from ásōtos (Gr. ἄσωτος), lustful, licentious, profligate, debauched or dissolute, allusion not explained nor evident; Jordan & Fowler (1903) say it means “a sot” (i.e., a drunkard)

Silurus biwaensis (Tomoda 1961) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Lake Biwa, Japan, where it is endemic

Silurus burmanensis Khin Thant 1967 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Burma (Myanmar), where it is endemic to Inlé Lake

Silurus caobangensis Nguyễn, Vũ & Nguyễn 2015 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Cao Bang province, Vietnam, type locality

Silurus dakrongensis Nguyễn, Vũ & Nguyễn 2015 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Dakrong River, Quang Tri province, Vietnam, type locality

Silurus duanensis Hu, Lan & Zhang 2004 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Du’an County, Guangxi, China, where type locality (underground rivers of Disu Town) is situated

Silurus glanis Linnaeus 1758 glánis (Gr. γλάνις), ancient name for a silurid catfish (probably S. aristotelis) dating to at least Aristotle

Silurus grahami Regan 1907 in honor of British missionary John Graham (d. 1947), who collected many fishes in Yunnan, China, including holotype of this one

Silurus langsonensis Nguyễn, Vũ & Nguyễn 2015 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Lang Son province, Vietnam, type locality

Silurus lanzhouensis Chen 1977 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Lanzhou (also spelled Lanchow), Gansu Province, China, city on Yellow River, type locality

Silurus lithophilus (Tomoda 1961) stone-loving, from líthos (Gr. λῐ́θος), stone, and phílos (Gr. φίλος), friend or fond of, referring to its occurrence on rocky reefs of Lake Biwa, Japan (compared with the offshore S. biwaensis)

Silurus longibarbatus Li, Li, Zhang & He 2019 longus (L.), long; barbatus (L.), bearded, referring to its relatively long barbels

Silurus mento Regan 1904 from mentum (L.), chin, presumably referring to its “projecting” lower jaw

Silurus meridionalis Chen 1977 Latin for southern, referring to its occurence in southern China

Silurus microdorsalis (Mori 1936) micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; dorsalis (L.), of the back, referring to its “very small” dorsal fin, “a little longer than eye diameter”

Silurus soldatovi Nikolskii & Soin 1948 in memory of Russian ichthyologist Vladimir Konstantinovich Soldatov (1875–1941), Moscow Technical Institute of Fishing Industry and Fish Farming, preeminent authority on Amurian fishes (this catfish occurs in the Amur River of Russia and China)

Silurus tomodai Hibino & Tabata 2018 in honor of Yoshio Tomoda, National Science Museum, Tokyo, who described S. biwaensis and S. lithophilus in 1961

Silurus triostegus Heckel 1843 tri-, from tres (L.), three; stegus, from stégō (Gr. στέγω), to cover, allusion not explained nor evident; the only “three” mentioned by Heckel refers to its three dorsal-fin rays, which distinguished it from S. glanis

Wallago Bleeker 1851 presumably local name (sometimes spelled wallagoo) for W. attu in India

Wallago attu (Bloch & Schneider 1801) from Attu-vahlay, Malayan name for this catfish in southern India

Wallagonia Myers 1938 –ia (L. suffix), having the quality of: Wallago; replacement name for Wallago Bleeker 1851, which Myers believed was a senior synonym of Belodontichthys (Myers missed an earlier publication of Wallago, which he realized and corrected in 1948)

Wallagonia leerii (Bleeker 1851) in honor of Bleeker’s Dutch medical colleague Lieut.-Col. J. M. van Leer, who collected and/or provided holotype

Wallagonia maculatus (Inger & Chin 1959) Latin for spotted, referring to row of black blotches below lateral line [species inquirenda, provisionally included here, possibly a synonym of W. leerii]

Wallagonia micropogon (Ng 2004) micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; pṓgōn (Gr. πώγων), beard, referring to its short maxillary barbels