Long-barbeled Sea Catfish

Long-barbeled Sea Catfish, Bagre pinnimaculatus

Long-barbeled Sea Catfish, Bagre pinnimaculatus. Commercial fish purchased at Soriana’s, San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, April 2019. Length: 29 cm (11 inches).

Long-barbeled Sea Catfish, Bagre pinnimaculatus. Commercial fish purchased at Walmart, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, September 2011. Length: 38 cm (15 inches). Weight: 1 lb 0 oz. Price: $1.00.

Long-barbeled Sea Catfish, Bagre pinnimaculatus. Fish caught from the freshwater systems of Puerto Chomes, Costa Rica, March 2021. Length: 40 cm (16 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish, Bagre pinnimaculatus, is a member of the Sea Catfish or Ariidae Family, that is also known as the Red Sea Catfish and in Mexico as bagre barbón. Globally there are four species in the genus Bagre, of which three are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.

The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish has a standard “catfish” appearance with a robust body that is rounded anteriorly and compressed posteriorly. They are silvery overall being steel blue to nearly black dorsally, silvery-white with a pink cast on their sides and transitioning to white ventrally. Their fins are pale. Their head is wide with a smooth shield and a sub-terminal mouth with thin lips. They are equipped with narrow bands of villiform teeth followed by 4 narrow continuous bands across their palate and 2 pairs of barbels. Their upper barbel is long, broad, ribbon-like, and can reach the middle of the pelvic fins and their second barbel is short and lower on the head. Their anal fin has 27 to 32 rays; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their first dorsal fin has 1 venomous spine with an elongated filament and 7 rays; their second dorsal fin is a small skin flap; and their pectoral fins have one venomous spine that is long and flattened and reaches the end of the anal fin. They have 4 to 6 gill rakers. Their lateral line is complete and they do have have scales and their skin is smooth to the touch.

The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish is a demersal species that is found in coastal waters and estuaries over sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 18 m (60 feet). They reach a maximum length of 95 cm (3 feet 1 inch). They feed on small fish and a wide variety of benthic invertebrates including crabs, mollusks, and shrimp. The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish  is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish is a resident of all Mexican freshwater river systems that drain into the Pacific Ocean with the exception is that they are absent from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The Long-barbeled Sea Catfish is most likely confused with the Chihuil, Bagre panamensis (smaller; no extended filament on dorsal fin).

From a conservation perspective the Long-barbeled Sea Catfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are an important commercial fish and marketed fresh, frozen, dried or smoked. They are viewed as good table fare and have been a mainstay of subsistence fishermen for centuries. They are often sold under the name “sciaenids corvinata” which is more socially acceptable and can command higher prices. Caution: Care must be taken during handling to avoid being gaffed by the venomous spines found at the front of the first dorsal and pectoral fins which are often removed by commercial fishermen at the time of the catch.