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he catfish that we are spotlighting this month is small, from Asia, and was once situated for many years in the Sisoridae family but was re-located back into the Erithistidae family by de Pinna. This new family was first established in 1822 by Bleeker, and resurrected again in 1996 by de Pinna. In Ferraris 2007, Erithistes has been moved back to its original placement in the Sisoridae family which had been moved there by de Pinna in 1996, along with Conta, Erethistoides, Hara and Pseudolaguvia.

Erethistes hara

Identifying the "Asian Moth cats" is no easy matter with at the last count of about 7 species, not to mention the Hara species of Moth Cats which are also very alike. To go some way to identifying these species we have Erithistes filamentosus which sports a long filament to the top ray of the caudal fin, E. jerdoni which has very long pectoral spines and is also very much smaller in size, E. horai which grows larger and has a larger adipose fin. These are the most common, along with E. hara for the "Moth Cats" seen in the aquarium trade today.

On another note, Talwar & Jhingran (1992), state that both E. filamentosus (Blyth, 1860) and E. saharsai Datta Munshi & Srivastava, 1988 are synonyms of Erithistes hara, just confirming how alike members of this genera are.

Erithistes jerdoni (A) & Erithistes hara (B) side by side

A. Dorsal view of head of Erithistes jerdoni to show occipital process reaching basal bone of dorsal fin. Longer length of pectoral spines.

B. Dorsal view of head of Erithistes hara to show occipital process not reaching basal bone of dorsal fin and pectoral spine shorter than head length. (Both figures after Hora, S.L. 1949. Rec.Indian Mus. 47, Plate 11, figs. 7 & 2 respectively).

Why are they called "Moth Cats"?. Hamilton who described Erithistes (Hara) hara, remarked on the colour and pattern of the fins as being very like the wings of moths. These fish are beginning to appear again in the U.K. in the last couple of years as the last time I acquired a Erithistes (Hara) species it was E. jerdoni in 1986, when they were rediscovered in Bihar and Assam a year earlier, and exported via a development project. Have a go with them if you can find them in your local aquatic outlet and you also may be lucky enough to spawn them and hopfully redistribute them around to make these catfish more popular in the hobby.

Moth Catfish

Glyptothorax asperus, Hara buchanani, Hara filamentosa, Erethistes hara, Hara saharsai, Laguvia  asperus, Pimelodus asperus, Pimelodus hara, Hara hara.

Sisorinae

Asia: India, Nepal and Myanmar. Reported from Bangladesh.

12.0cm. (4¾ins)

12-25°C (51-77°F)

6.0-7.5.

Pectoral spine shorter (1.05-1.08) than head length. Occipital process, cleithral process, scapular process all prominent and naked. Humeral process prominent on ventral side. 4 pairs of barbels. Rayed dorsal fin with 5 or 6 rays and a spine.

A combination of brown and cream vertical bands after the posterier of dorsal fin. Maxillary & mandibular barbels with alternative blackish/brown bands.

There has been a report of the breeding of Erithistes jerdoni by an aquarist here in the U.K. where they laid their eggs in a spawning mop. The eggs had a black nucleus and had a jelly like substance surrounding them. This species may have been E. hara instead of E. jerdoni as stated in the article. The females are usually heavier looking than the males and it is said that the males have slightly longer fins and barbels.

Not recorded

They are not fussy feeders and can be fed a healthy diet of worm foods such as frozen bloodworm and tubifex and also tablet food at lights out, as this is the time of day that they become active.

Cleithral: A flattened pointed posterior extension of the pectoral girdle (most prominent in the genus Synodontis).
Humeral process: Bony extension of the pectoral girdle.
Occipital: A median bone on the upper surface of the back of the head; pertaining to the occiput.
Scapular: The shoulder region.
Synonym: Different name for the same fish.

Burgess, Warren E. Dr., An Atlas of Freshwater and Marine Catfishes. 1989.
Grant, Steven; The Identity of Moth Cats of the genera Hara Blyth, 1860 and Erethistes Müller & Troschel, 1849 (Pisces: Siluriformes: Erethistidae) Cat Chat, the  Journal of the Catfish Study Group
Jayaram, K.C.; The Freshwater Fishes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and   SriLanka. A Handbook. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. p.245-246.
Taylor, Adrian; My Observations on breeding the Moth Cat, Hara jerdoni. Cat Chat, the Journal of the Catfish Study Group.

Photo Credits

© Steven Grant @