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Scientific Name Bagarius rutilus  Ng & Kottelat, 2000
Common Names Banded Goonch
Red River Goonch, Vietnamesisk Djævlemalle (Denmark)
Type Locality Market in Hanoi, Viet Nam.
Pronunciation bag are ee uss
Etymology Bagarius: From the Bengali name of the fish (Vaghari). 
Hop to next section Species Information
Size 1000mm or 39.4" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification Can be differentiated from its congeners in the combination of following characters: skin heavily keratinized, cranium and interneural covered with numerous large, elongate tubercles, supraoccipital and interneural without sharp ridges, skin above neural spines anterior and posterior to adipose fin never forming distinct ridges, slender elongate neural spines, elliptical eyes, body depth at anus 11.0-12.3 %SL, head width 20.3-21.7 %SL, snout length 51.4-54.7 %HL, eye diameter 4.1-8.1 %HL; 12-13 pectoral-fin rays; caudal fin with 8-9 rays; 23-24 preanal vertebrae; adipose fin with short base and angular dorsal margin; dark yellow on dorsal and lateral surfaces of head and body, fading to light yellow on ventral region; dorsal surfaces of head and body with three darkly pigmented (brown) bands or blotches; a few small brown spots irregularly distributed throughout lighter parts of body; light yellow fins with a variable pattern of small brown spots distributed irregularly, orange fins in life. Adipose origin in front or above anal fin origin; longitudinal diameter of eye 12-24 times in HL.
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Distribution Asia: Nam Xam and Nam Ma basins in Laos and Red River basin in Viet Nam and Yunnan, China.
Pacific, Greater Sunda Island Rivers, Sumatra Waters (click on these areas to find other species found there)
Laos Waters, Nam Ma (click on these areas to find other species found there)
Laos Waters, Nam Xam (click on these areas to find other species found there)
Red River (Asia) (click on these areas to find other species found there)

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IUCN Red List Category Data Deficient, range map and more is available on the IUCN species page. Last assessed 2011.
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Feeding Larval foods such as bloodworm and also shrimp. larger morsels (including fish) can be offered as the fish grows. User data.
Furniture Large, smooth and rounded stones over a sandy substrate.
Compatibility In nature, it is a truly excellent predator, typically hunting in groups. In captivity, exhibits very anti-social behaviour so introduce other (large) fishes with extreme care as it reportedly eats scales and fin parts of some large fish kept with it. Will eat anything smaller.
Breeding Unreported.
Breeding Reports There is no breeding report.
Hop to next section Further Information
Reference Journal of South Asian Natural History v. 5 (no. 1), pp 10, Fig. 3.
Registered Keepers There is no registered keeper.
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There is but a single record of this fish being seen, view it.
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Last Update 2021 Feb 09 08:17 (species record created: 2006 Sep 26 08:06)