📸 PhotoPhoto: Andshel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Yellow catfish
Tachysurus fulvidraco (Yellow catfish · コウライギギ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum total length of 34.5 cm is slightly longer than the long side of an A4 sheet of paper (29.7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 300 g is the weight of five chicken eggs (about 60 g each) (Comparison).
- 💡 FishBase notes that it is an important food fish, and it is also farmed commercially.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The yellow catfish is a small, scaleless freshwater catfish with sharp pectoral spines, also found in China, Taiwan, and eastern Siberia. In Korea, it lives in rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea and South Sea.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its head is flattened from top to bottom with 4 pairs of short barbels around the mouth, and its pectoral and dorsal fin spines are large and erectile. The pectoral fin spines are serrated on both the inner and outer edges, and the body is yellowish-brown with large dark brown blotches.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It comes out at night to feed on aquatic insects, fish eggs, shrimp, and small animals. From May to July, the male uses his pectoral spines to dig a spawning chamber in the muddy bottom and guards the eggs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed on the National List of Species of Korea and lives in rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea and South Sea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2011) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/166095/6173346
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 54F32
- • iucnredlist.org — 6173346
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000057702 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000057702
- • wikidata.org — Q3269848
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Рыба КОСАТКА поймана в Амуре ф4.JPG
- • fishbase.se — Tachysurus-fulvidraco.html
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Cee Nell · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Bagridae)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.