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The family Cranoglanididae from China and Vietnam has not been covered before in our Factsheets probably because of their rarity in the hobby, but none the less this a very interesting family to cover and hopefully an interest to all catfish enthusiasts worldwide.

Cranoglanis bouderius is a species of armorhead catfish found in Kwangsi Province, China. It grows to a length of 43.0 cm SL and to 2.2 kilograms. It is considered to be a fine food fish in the Zhujiang River Valley in China.

Cranoglanis bouderius

Cranoglanis bouderius was first described as Bagrus bouderius in 1846 by John Richardson based on a Chinese watercolor painting and later Wilhelm Peters later described Cranoglanis along with a new species, Cranoglanis sinensis.

In 1936 Otto Koller described a new species, Pseudotropichthys multiradiatus and in 1931 George Myers synonymized Pseudotropichthys with Cranoglanis, as well as describing the family Cranoglanididae.

In 1955 the Indian Ichthyologist K. C. Jayaram synonymized C. multiradiata and C. sinensis under C. bouderius, but more recently, C. bouderius and C. multiradiata have been treated as separate species. In the same year Cranoglanis had been considered a monotypic genus by some, with C. bouderius as the only valid species.

C. henrici, described by Léon Vaillant in 1893, is often overlooked, but is a valid species.

Cranoglanis bouderius - head view

Strange but true but the Cranoglanididae are closely related to the North American family Ictaluridae. These two families are sister taxa in the superfamily Ictaluroidea.

Distrbution: China, Kwangsi-Province in China, Zhu-jiang River

Helmet Catfish

Bagrus bouderius, Cranoglanis bouderius bouderius, Macrones sinensis, Cranoglanis sinensis

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Asia: Kwangsi-Province in China, Zhu-jiang River.

43.0cm (17ins)

20-24°C (67-75°F)

D II/5–6, A ii–iii/26–34, P I/9–13, V i/10–11. Body elongateand laterally compressed. Head dorsoventrally de-pressed, bone on top of head naked or covered withthin membrane. Snout blunt and projected. Teeth villiform. Four pairs of barbels. Gill openings large. Scales absent. Lateral line straight and complete. Swimbladder heart-shaped, with three chambers (Chu et al. 1999).

There is not much information on the keeping of Cranoglanis species but they are predators so would need to take this into account if purchasing. Not seen very often in the hobby.

Matures after four years. Spawning in schools between late March and late June, with an intense period in May. Spawning in batches, water temperature 25–28°C. Build nests by burrowing in substrate. Eggs laid and protected in nest, eggs adhesive (Yuand Shen 2005).

Not known.

Feeds on small fishes, shrimps, aquatic insects, and invertebrates.

Anal Fin: The median, unpaired, ventrally located fin that lies behind the anus, usually on the posterior half of the fish.
Dorsal fin: The primary rayed fin(s) on top of the body.
Gills: The organs utilized to obtain oxygen from the water.
Lateral line: A sensory line, along the sides of the body.
Monotypic: Having only one species, such as a monotypic family of fishes.
Swimbladder: The air sac that gives fish buoyancy and balance. Acts as sound resonator in some fish.
Synonym: Different name for the same fish.
Ventral fins: The paired fins, between the pectorals and the anal fins.
Villiform: Elongated cardiform teeth.

Cranoglanis: Greek, kranion = skull + Greek, glanis = the name of a kind of fish.

Cui, K. & Zhao, H.H. 2011. Cranoglanis bouderius. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2009. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (03/2012).
Google Maps 2018.
Nelson, J.S., 1994. Fishes of the world. Third edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. 600 p.
Wikipedia contributors. (2018, March 22). Cranoglanis. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:49, December 20, 2018.
Yang, Lei & Liu, Caixia & He, Shunping. (2009). Threatened fishes of the world: Cranoglanis bouderius (Richardson, 1846) (Cranoglanididae). Environmental Biology of Fishes - ENVIRON BIOL FISH. 84. 157-158.
Zheng, C.-Y. 1990 Cranoglanididae. p. 294-297. In J.-H. Pan, L. Zhong, C.-Y. Zheng, H.-L. Wu and J.-H. Liu (eds). 1991. The freshwater fishes of Guangdong Province. Guangdong Science and Technology Press, Guangzhou. 589 p.

Photo Credits

Top: Freshwater Fishes of China in Coloured Illustrations
Bottom: © Johnny Jensen @