Genus · Catfish

Tachysurus

Tachysurus is a genus with 11 species in this atlas, catalogued in the Catfish section, recorded from China, Vietnam, India and 6 more countries. Adult sizes run from 2.5 in to 14 in. Every species below links to a full researched profile.

Species in atlas
11
Adult sizes
2.5–14 in
IUCN assessed
11 of 11
Recorded from
9 countries

About the genus

Tachysurus is a genus of bagrid catfish, family Bagridae, from East and Southeast Asia, with the atlas recording species across China, Vietnam, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, and Russia. Like other bagrids, they have a naked, scaleless body, an adipose fin, and four pairs of barbels around the mouth for locating food by touch and taste in murky river and lake water; sizes across the genus range from under 2.5 in up to a substantial 14 in. The genus has absorbed a number of species previously placed in other bagrid genera as molecular studies reshuffled the group's classification, so its exact boundaries have shifted more than once in the recent literature.

Tachysurus is of far greater importance to food production than to the aquarium hobby: the yellow catfish, Tachysurus fulvidraco, is farmed at large commercial scale across China as a prized table fish, and its biology is comparatively well studied as a result, while most of its relatives in the genus remain little known outside regional ichthyology. None of the eleven species the atlas tracks carries a CARES designation, and the great majority — nine of eleven — are not evaluated for conservation status, reflecting how much of the diversity in this genus still awaits dedicated assessment despite one member's outsized economic importance.

IUCN Red List: Least Concern · 2 Not Evaluated · 9

The 11 species

Every Tachysurus recorded in this atlas. Each card links to a full researched profile — distribution, water parameters, and aquarium care, cited to primary sources.

Shao & Zhang, 2026

Anal-spot bagrid

3.5 in SL · NE

Shao & Zhang, 2026

Bailong bagrid

3 in SL · NE

(Richardson, 1846)

Yellow catfish, Tawny dragon catfish, Korean bullhead

13.5 in TL · LC

Shao & Zhang, 2026

Forked-stripe bagrid

3 in SL · NE

Shao & Zhang, 2026

Constricted-stripe bagrid

6 in SL · NE

Shao & Zhang, 2026

Broad-mouth bagrid

5.5 in SL · NE

Shao & Zhang, 2026

2.5 in SL · NE

Shao, Cai & Zhang, 2026

4 in SL · NE

Shao, Nguyen & Zhang, 2026

3 in SL · NE

Shao & Zhang, 2026

3 in SL · NE

(Dybowski, 1872)

Chinese bagrid catfish

14 in SL · LC

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How to cite

Aquarist Atlas (2026). Genus Tachysurus. Aquarist Atlas. https://www.aquaristatlas.com/tachysurus/

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