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or our last factsheet of 2022 we welcome Indian aquarist Abhisek Mishra and member of the Facebook group, Freshwater Fishes of Northeast India, to compile the information on a member of the Asian loach-catfishes or Hillstream Catfishes of the Amblycipitidae family, Amblyceps cerinum.

Amblyceps cerinum

The etymology of the torrent catfish genus Amblyceps means blunt headed catfish. In india there are a plethora of Amblyceps species that can be found in the himalayan region and now the distribution has been extended to western ghats after the discovery of Amblyceps accari from the kudremukh area in Karnataka.

These catfishes inhabit fast to moderatly flowing streams where they tend to occur inside dense vegetation or in between rock crevices. To keep these species in home aquaria one must try to replicate their habitat i.e clean and cool waters with high dissolved oxygen and lots of hiding places. Some species such as Amblyceps mangois will easily take dry pellets but others will require some amount of live food at first to acclimate into the tank environments.

Amblyceps cerinum - head view

The region of the Brahmaputra sub-basin where A. cerinum is found extends over an area of 580,000 sq.km lying in Tibet (China), Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. The drainage area lying in India is 194413 sq.km which is nearly 5.9% of the total geographical area of the country. It is bounded on the north by the Himalayas, on the east by the Patkari range of hills running along the Assam-Burma border, on the south by the Assam range of hills and on the west by the Himalayas and the ridge .separating it from Ganga sub-basin. The sub-basin lies in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Sikkim (waterresources.assam.gov.in).

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Asia: India, Brahmaputra River drainage, northern West Bengal. Type Locality: Raidak I River at Shipra, just outside Buxa Tiger Reserve, ca. 8 kilometers toward Barobisha on Siliguri-Guwahati road, 26°31'12"N, 89°43'25"E, West Bengal, India.

10.0cm. (4ins)

18-22°C (63-71°F)

Dorsal soft rays (total): 5-6. Amblyceps cerinum differs from its congeners except A. apangi, A. murraystuarti, and A. torrentis in having a truncate caudal fin (vs. forked or strongly emarginate); differs from A. apangi in having a longer adipose-fin base 32.4–38.3% SL (vs. 24.3–32.0), more slender caudal peduncle 9.2–11.2% SL (vs. 11.3–15.4), greater number of post-Weberian vertebrae 41–44 (vs. 38), having the lateral line terminating just posterior to the vertical through the dorsal-fin insertion (vs. extending to the end of the caudal peduncle); differs from A. murraystuarti in having a more slender body 9.2–11.2% SL (vs. 11.6–15.0), longer caudal peduncle 21.9–24.5% SL (vs. 19.6–22.6), with the posterior end of the adipose fin not broadly confluent with the dorsal procurrent caudal-fin rays and separated from them by a distinct notch (vs. adipose fin broadly confluent with dorsal procurrent caudal-fin rays and not separated by a distinct notch); differs from A. torrentis in having a more slender body 9.2–11.9% SL (vs. 15.3–17.3% SL), slender caudal peduncle 9.2–11.2% SL (vs. 13.8–15.6), the upper jaw longer than the lower jaw (vs. jaws equal), and an incomplete lateral line terminating at the posterior base of the dorsal fin (vs. a complete lateral line terminating at the base of the caudal fin).

To keep these species in home aquaria one must try to replicate their habitat i.e clean and cool waters with high dissolved oxygen and lots of hiding places.

Not recorded

Not recorded.

Some species such as Amblyceps mangois will easily take dry pellets but others will require some amount of live food at first to acclimatise into the tank environments.

Adipose fin: Fleshy finlike projection without rays, behind the rayed dorsal fin.
Caudal fin: The tail.
Caudal peduncle: he narrow part of a fish's body to which the caudal or tail fin is attached.
Dorsal fin: The primary rayed fin(s) on top of the body.
Lateral line: A sensory line, along the sides of the body.
Mandibular: Pertaining to the lower jaw. (mandibular barbels).
Maxillary: Pertaining to the upper jaw. (maxillary barbels).
Nasal barbels: On top of the head, by the nostrils. (nasal barbels).
Pectoral: The paired fins just behind the head.
Pelvic: The paired fins, between the pectorals and the anal fins. (also referred to as ventrals).
Weberian vertebrae: The four anterior vertebrae associated with the Weberian apparatus

Amblyceps: Amblys = blunt; ceps = from caput head.
cerinum: Name from Latin adjective 'cerinus', meaning wax-colored; refers to the yellowish colouration in life of this species.

Photo Credits

© Abhisek Mishra

© Beta Mahatvaraj
Map: openstreetmap.org