Critically Endangered
Synodontis guttatus
Synodontis guttatus
Synodontis guttatus is a ray-finned fish in the family Mochokidae (order Siluriformes), recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
Like all members of the genus Synodontis, S. Guttatus has a strong, bony head capsule that extends back as far as the first spine of the dorsal fin. In S. Guttatus, the spine of the dorsal fin is about 3⁄4 the length of the head, smooth in the front and serrated on the back. The remaining portion of the dorsal fin is made up of seven branching rays.
The outer pair of mandibular barbels is a little under twice the length of the inner pair.
It was first described by German ichthyologist Albert Günther in 1865, from the Niger River.
Range and habitat
In the wild, the species is known from only one location in Nigeria in the lower Niger River. The primary threats to the species arise from pollution in its habitat and the small area of habitat, and it is listed as an endangered species. Spawning likely occurs during the flooding season between July and October, and pairs swim in unison during spawning.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
Synodontis guttatus is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Synodontis guttatus, Wikidata item Q3765118. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
