Sains Malaysiana 44(9)(2015): 1217–1222

A Review on Sperata aor (Hamilton, 1822), a Popular Food Fish of Indian Subcontinent

(Kajian ke atas Sperata aor (Hamilton, 1822), Ikan Makanan Popular dari Subbenua India)

SANDIPAN GUPTA*

Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR), Barrackpore, Kolkata-700120, India

Received: 26 November 2014/Accepted: 28 April 2015

ABSTRACT

Sperata aor is a freshwater catfish of Bagridae family which is distributed throughout Indian subcontinent including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar. It is a popular food fish due to its good taste and high nutritional value. Recently it has also made its entry in domestic ornamental fish markets of India and has been reported to have moderate export price too. Earlier, few works on different aspects of its morphology and biology have been carried out but no consolidated review is available on these aspects. Therefore, the current work was done to sum up all available information on these aspects to fill the information gap that will be beneficial to its future fishery. Considering all available information, knowledge on food and feeding habit of this fish species is satisfactory, except detail information on spatial variation of its breeding periodicity, proper information on other aspects are still lacking. No work has been conducted to examine its captive culture potential or for induced breeding. Further work should be done to explore its future fishery.

Keywords: Breeding biology; feeding habit; fishery; morphology; Sperata aor

ABSTRACT

Sperata aor adalah ikan keli air tawar daripada keluarga Bagridae tertabur di sepanjang subbenua India termasuk India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal dan Myanmar. Ia adalah ikan makanan popular kerana khasiatnya yang tinggi dan baik rasanya. Baru-baru ini ia juga telah menjadi ikan hiasan dalam pasaran tempatan di India dan telah dilaporkan mempunyai nilai harga eksport yang sederhana. Sebelum ini, beberapa kajian ke atas aspek morfologi dan biologi yang berbeza telah dijalankan tetapi tiada kajian keseluruhan ke atas aspek-aspek ini. Oleh itu, kajian ini telah dijalankan untuk menyatukan semua maklumat yang ada pada aspek-aspek ini untuk mengisi jurang maklumat yang dapat memberi manfaat kepada industri perikanan pada masa hadapan. Memandangkan semua maklumat yang ada, pengetahuan mengenai makanan dan tabiat pemakanan spesies ikan ini adalah memuaskan, kecuali maklumat terperinci tentang variasi reruang kala pembiakan yang masih kurang. Tiada kajian dijalankan untuk mengkaji potensi budaya kawalan atau untuk pembiakan teraruh. Kajian lanjutan perlu dilakukan untuk meneroka perikanan ini pada masa hadapan.

Kata kunci: Biologi pembiakan; morfologi; perikanan; Sperata aor; tabiat pemakanan

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*Corresponding author; email: sandipangupta2007@gmail.com