Mystus velifer, a new species of catfish from Indochina (Teleostei: Bagridae)

Abstract

Mystus velifer, a new species of catfish from the lower reaches and estuaries of river drainages in mainland Southeast Asia is described here. It can be distinguished from congeners in having a combination of a produced, narrow snout, large eye (diameter 23.3-29.2% SL), the (anterior) cranial fontanel reaching past midway between the posterior orbital margin and the base of the supraoccipital spine, very long maxillary barbels that reach to or beyond the base of the caudal fin, head length 24.1-27.6% SL, length of dorsal spine 16.6-21.2% SL, 22-29 rakers on the first gill arch, the first dorsal-fin ray produced and reaching to the middle of the adipose-fin base, a short-based adipose fin (13.0-17.9% SL) without a deeply incised posterior margin, and depth of caudal peduncle 8.3-11.1% SL. The synonymy of M. armiger with M. wolffii is confirmed. Copyright © 2012.