Malaysian striped wallago
(Wallagonia leerii)
General data
Wallagonia leerii, also known as the striped wallago catfish, helicopter catfish, or Tapah is a species of catfish native to Southeast Asia. Its habitat ranges from the river drainages of Thailand through the Malayan peninsula to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia.
It can grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length and weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb).
It has been used as food in Southeast Asia since ancient times. Overfishing for its prized meat has cause population to significantly decrease. Furthermore, the breeding migration pattern of this fish is especially vulnerable to damming which has decreased the wild population significantly.
Until osteological research validated the genus Wallagonia in 2014, W. leerii was included in the genus Wallago.
The other two species of the genus Wallagonia, W. micropogon from the Mekong river basin and W. maculatus from the Kinabatangan river basin on Borneo, are currently considered as distinct species. There are, however, strong suspicions that they may in fact be subspecies of W. leerii, as the sole difference seems to lie in a slightly different coloration.
