The giant sea catfish (''Arius gigas''), also called the ewe or the marine catfish, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea catfish The Ariidae or ariid catfish are a family of catfish that mainly live in marine waters with many freshwater and brackish water species. They are found worldwide in tropical to warm temperate zones. The family includes about 143 species. Fossil ...

in the family

Ariidae The Ariidae or ariid catfish are a family (taxonomy), family of catfish that mainly live in Marine (ocean), marine waters with many freshwater and brackish water species. They are found worldwide in tropical to warm temperate zones. The family i ...

. It was described by

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

in 1911, originally under the genus '' Tachysurus''.Boulenger, G. A., 1911 (24 Feb.) ef. 579''Catalogue of the fresh-water fishes of Africa in the British Museum (Natural History).'' London. v. 2: i-xii + 1-529 It is known from brackish and freshwater in the

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It reaches a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of , and a maximum weight of . Males incubate eggs in their mouths. The giant sea catfish is of commercial significance as a food fish; however, its populations have declined due to over-fishing, and possibly chemical pollution.

References

gigas Gigas may refer to: * Gigas, one of the Gigantes (Giants) in Greek mythology * Gigas (company), a Spanish cloud services company * Guigass, a snow ape like kaiju from ''Ultraman'' * ''Codex Gigas'', a medieval manuscript * gigue The gigue ( , ...

Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fish described in 1911 {{Ariidae-stub