Source: www.fishconsult.org
Video credit: Juan Martin Canturin Garcia (Peru)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the video channel and website)
African catfish, Clarias gariepinus was introduced from Africa to Brazil for aquaculture in 1986. However, the meat of catfish was not accepted well among consumers and hence the farming of the species is limited and its commercial farming could not develop as hoped. The recreational angling for the species has been practiced in ponds.
Reports mentioned that several hundreds of thousands of African catfish specimens have escaped from fish ponds and found their way to rivers and watersheds during floods in the upper Paraná watershed in 1996/1997. Consequently, it is believed that African catfish is found in almost all Brazilian watersheds. Reports highlighted severe ecological problems which are attributed to the introduction of this species especially the serious impacts of such predator on the restructuring of the native fish and invertebrate communities.
