Ripsaw Catfish
Oxydoras niger ON EXHIBIT: Flooded Amazon exhibit in River Journey
FUN FACTS
The gentle Niger Ripsaw Catfish or Plated Catfish is the largest member of the Dorididae
family of catfish. They have very sharp armored scales running down their lateral lines, plus sharp thorn-like hooks attached to their razor sharp scales. Sometimes literature refers to the doradids as “Talking
Catfish” due to the fact that they can be heard to make audible noises, almost as if they are speaking to
one another.
CONSERVATION
The niger takes a long time to reach sexual maturity, and being slow to reproduce has placed
them as code red on the endangered species list.
About This Animal
SIZE: They can grow up to 3 feet in the wild.
RANGE: They are found throughout many of the major river systems of northern South America – Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
HABITAT: Muddy areas of slower moving water or lakes.
DIET: An omnivorous detrivore, they will consume anything edible they find as they sift through the substrate, although a large proportion of the diet is composed of benthic crustaceans and the larval forms of various insects.