Environment / Climate / Range
Marine; freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; amphidromous (Ref. 51243); depth range ? - 122 m (Ref. 55273), usually ? - 10 m (Ref. 55273). Tropical; 32°N - 19°S, 106°W - 15°E (Ref. 55273)
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 300 - ? cm
Max length : 650 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6902); max. published weight: 591.0 kg (Ref. 6902)
Morphology | Morphometrics
Fewer sawteeth (normally 19, rarely 20 on a side). First dorsal fin originate in advance of the origin of the pelvic fins and much more deeply concave posterior margins of the dorsal fins. Saltwater species when fresh-caught, either dark gray or golden brown, while freshwater species are mouse gray with reddish along midback posterior to first dorsal fin, reddish posterior to lower part of sides, first dorsal pale yellow with reddish free rear corner; second dorsal, pelvic fins, caudal and lower sides posterior to first dorsal dull brick red. Reddish tint either normal or result of suffusion with blood below the skin (Ref. 6902).
Northwest Atlantic: Texas, Florida. Northeast Atlantic: West Africa. Eastern and Western Central Pacific: off northern Australia. Indo-China: East Indies. South America: Amazon near Santárem, Brazil.
Inhabits shallow water in the vicinity of the shore and estuarine, particularly lagoons. Generally thought to rarely descend below 10m but have been found at 122m in Lake Nicaragua (Ref. 55273). Tends to run farther upstream in large rivers. Found in temperatures higher than 20-30°C (Ref. 6902). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 50449). Minor commercial, for the curio trade (Ref. 37548).
Ferreira, E.J.G., J.A.S. Zuanon and G.M. dos Santos, 1998. Peixes comerciais do médio Amazonas. Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis. 211p. (Ref. 27548)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)
Threat to humans
Fisheries: minor commercial
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
CollaboratorsPicturesStamps, CoinsSoundsCiguateraSpeedSwim. typeGill areaOtolithsBrainsVision
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00851 (0.00413 - 0.01752), b=3.00 (2.81 - 3.19), based on LWR estimates for species & Subfamily-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 4.0 ±0.6 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278
): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec assumed to be <100).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Very high vulnerability (78 of 100) .