Catfish, Thick Spined

The Thick Spined Catfish is a member of the Ariidae – Sea catfishes family of fish’s and if found throughout the Indo West Pacific, Eastern Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and various tropical marine habitats and brackish water rivers in Thailand.
Members of this most ancient family of sea catfishes have anatomical ancestry dating back to the lower Eocene Epoch of the Tertiary period.
The scale-less Thick Spined Catfish has a grey to silver coloration throughout its entire small steam lined body with red to orange fins and forked caudal fin.
The Thick Spined Catfish has bony plates on its head and predorsal area with sharp pectoral fins, gill covers and dorsal fin and should be handled with extreme caution.
The Thick Spined Catfish has two to three pairs of barbules/whiskers located under its lower jaw and feeds on a variety of crustaceans, mollusks and plant matter.
This species of Thai Catfish is generally found in marine and brackish environments and sometimes in freshwaters and are regularly harvested by local fishermen in Thailand.
The Thick Spined Catfish although not a true Thailand monster fish plays a significant part in the diverse aquatic environment of the great tidal rivers of Thailand and is a valuable and prolific food source for various other freshwater predatory monster fish species.
Thick Spined Catfish are regularly caught whilst river fishing in Thailand on variety of baits including small grubs, shrimps and prawns and are an extremely popular eating fish in rural and riverside regions of Thailand