TIGER CATFISH - Amazon RIver Monsters

Hey guys, Bill here. Wow what a fantastic trip into the Amazon region of Venezuela to track down some "Amazon River Monsters" for my all original series right here on Youtube! Steve Townsend, the fish finder is helping me track down the famous "Vampire Fish" but along the way, we came across this very exotic catfish, called a "tiger fish."


Pseudoplatystoma is a genus of several South American catfish species of family Pimelodidae. The species are known by a number of different common names. They typically inhabit major rivers where they prefer the main channels and tend to stay at maximum depth, but some species can also be seen in lakes, flooded forests and other freshwater habitats. They have robust bodies, and are important food fish.

In their native waters, these fish may be called surubí in Guaraní. This name is also used in some Spanish speaking countries. In Peruvian Spanish is called doncella or zúngaro. P. corruscans may be called moleque or pintado. They often are referred to in the vernacular as bagre rayado or pintadillo (tiger catfish or tiger--shovelnose). P. corruscans, P. fasciatum, and P. tigrinum are also known as spotted sorubim, barred sorubim, and tiger sorubim, respectively. This genus contains the fish commonly known as the tiger shovelnose catfish in the aquarium hobby, though the species in this genus are relatively easy to confuse.

The distribution of Pseudoplatystoma species includes the great river basins of South America: the Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, São Francisco, Magdalena, Rupununi, Essequibo, and Suriname River. They have not been reported from river basins draining into the Pacific.[2] P. fasciatum inhabits the Guyana region, including the Essequibo and Suriname rivers and their tributaries, in the countries of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. P. tigrinum is found in the Amazon River in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. P. corruscans originates from the Paraná River and São Francisco River in the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. P. orinocoense is named for and endemic to the Orinoco River of Venezuela. P. metaense is distributed in the Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela; it is named for the Meta River, the type locality, a tributary of the Orinoco River. P. magdaleniatum is named for and endemic to the Magdalena River drainage, including the Cauca River of Colombia. P. reticulatum inhabits the central Amazon and Paraná River in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.[2]