Animal field guide
African Sharptooth Catfish
Clarias gariepinus
This large, eel-shaped catfish breathes air as well as water. A branching, tree-like organ above the gills absorbs oxygen from gulps taken at the surface, so it survives in warm, stagnant swamps and drying pools where most fish would suffocate.
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Get AnimalDexAfrican Sharptooth Catfish at a glance
Fish · Sub-Saharan Africa · Lakes · Four pairs of long barbels around · Relatively common
Known for: Long, Four pairs of long barbels around the mouth, Very long dorsal and anal fins reaching almost to, No adipose fin behind the dorsal fin
Animal field guide
African Sharptooth Catfish
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This large, eel-shaped catfish breathes air as well as water. A branching, tree-like organ above the gills absorbs oxygen from gulps taken at the surface, so it survives in warm, stagnant swamps and drying pools where most fish would suffocate.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Lakes, slow rivers, swamps, floodplain pools and irrigation channels across much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It favours muddy bottoms, dense vegetation and shallow, warm water.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
46
Speed
35
Size
36
Intelligence
28
Rarity
26%
Total
171
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the African Sharptooth Catfish
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to African Sharptooth Catfish
This large, eel-shaped catfish breathes air as well as water. A branching, tree-like organ above the gills absorbs oxygen from gulps taken at the surface, so it survives in warm, stagnant swamps and drying pools where most fish would suffocate.
How to identify a African Sharptooth Catfish
- Long, eel-like body with a broad, flattened bony head
- Four pairs of long barbels around the mouth
- Very long dorsal and anal fins reaching almost to the tail
- No adipose fin behind the dorsal fin
- Grey to olive-brown back, often mottled, with pale belly
Why African Sharptooth Catfish are interesting
- In fish farming it is often crossed with the vundu, Heterobranchus longifilis, to produce a fast-growing hybrid.
- The largest fish have been reported at about 1.5 to 1.7 metres long, though most caught are far smaller.
- It is one of the most widely farmed fish in Africa and has been taken to fish farms in Asia, Europe and South America.
- Escaped fish have become established in several countries outside Africa, where it is treated as an invasive predator of native fish.
- Its skin has no scales and is coated in thick mucus that helps keep it moist out of water.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does African Sharptooth Catfish behave this way?
- Long, eel-like body with a broad, flattened bony head
- Four pairs of long barbels around the mouth
- Very long dorsal and anal fins reaching almost to the tail
- No adipose fin behind the dorsal fin
- Grey to olive-brown back, often mottled, with pale belly
Mostly nocturnal. By day it rests quietly in deeper water, under vegetation or in burrows and hollows in the mud, becoming active and moving into shallows after dark.
04
Why Lakes?
Habitat: Lakes, slow rivers, swamps, floodplain pools and irrigation channels across much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It favours muddy bottoms, dense vegetation and shallow, warm water.
Native range: Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa & Middle East
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Lakes, slow rivers, swamps, floodplain pools and irrigation channels across much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It favours muddy bottoms, dense vegetation and shallow, warm water.
05
Why this diet?
An opportunistic omnivore that eats fish, insects, crustaceans, snails, frogs, small birds, carrion and plant matter. It hunts mainly at night by touch and taste using its barbels, sucking prey into its wide mouth.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Mostly nocturnal. By day it rests quietly in deeper water, under vegetation or in burrows and hollows in the mud, becoming active and moving into shallows after dark.
Reliable ages for wild fish are scarce; figures of around 8 to 15 years are sometimes quoted, and very large individuals are probably older.
07
African Sharptooth Catfish reproduction
Spawning follows the first heavy rains, when pairs move onto newly flooded shallows at night. A large female can release many tens of thousands of sticky eggs, and the biggest well over a hundred thousand, onto submerged plants; they hatch within about a day or two, and the young receive no parental care.
Males have a long, pointed genital papilla just behind the vent; in females it is short and rounded, and ripe females have a swollen belly.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Crocodiles, fish eagles, herons, cormorants, otters and large fish take young or medium-sized catfish, and people fish for it heavily. Stout, lockable spines in the pectoral fins make it hard to swallow, and it hides in mud or vegetation.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 26/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 26/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the African Sharptooth Catfish
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
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Where to find them
Where to find African Sharptooth Catfish
To find African Sharptooth Catfish in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa & Middle East than by covering too much ground.
- Quiet marsh edges, reedbeds, river bends, or shallow wetland margins
- Open grassland edges, lightly wooded plains, or raised ground where you can scan long distances
- Sunlit logs, exposed branches, warm rocks, or regular perch sites used for scanning
Scientific name
Clarias gariepinus
Category
Fish
Habitat
Lakes, slow rivers, swamps, floodplain pools and irrigation channels across much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It favours muddy bottoms, dense vegetation and shallow, warm water.
Rarity
Relatively common · 26/100
Native range
Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa & Middle East
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