Ariopsis assimilis

(Günther, 1864) · species

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Animalia/Chordata/Siluriformes/Ariidae/Ariopsis

At a glance

Occurrence records97

Data sources10

Biological traits6

DNA specimens0

eDNA detections16

Sources10 archives

Databases and archives Ariopsis assimilis's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility65 records↗

OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System32 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI16 eDNA detections↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗

NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗

WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗

Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗

On this page5 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources6 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF · OBIS97 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 4 countries16 detections

Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI≈1.6 Gbp

01Narrative

The Mayan sea catfish (Ariopsis assimilis), also known as the Mayan catfish or the Maya sea catfish,Common names of Ariopsis assimilis at fishbase.org. is a species of sea catfish in the family Ariidae. It was described by Albert Günther in 1864, originally under the genus Arius.Günther, A. 1864 (10 Dec.) [ref. 1974] Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Physostomi, containing the families Siluridae, Characinidae, Haplochitonidae, Sternoptychidae, Scopelidae, Stomiatidae in the collection of the British Museum. v. 5: i-xxii + 1-455. It is found in tropical brackish and freshwater bodies in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama. It can reach a maximum total length of 35 cm, but more commonly reaches a TL of 25 cm. The Mayan sea catfish is of minor commercial interest to fisheries, and its meat is generally consumed fresh.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesFishBase

Size & morphology1

Body length35 cm

Habitat & environment3

Habitat brackishyes

Habitat freshwateryes

Habitat zonedemersal

Uses & economy1

Commercial importanceminor commercial

Other traits1

Vulnerability25

05DNA & barcoding16 eDNA hits

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Ariopsis assimilis has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

eDNA detections16

Countries4

06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI

The complete instruction manual Ariopsis assimilis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Genome size≈1 648 387 287 bp assembly estimate

Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).

BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb

FUNGUS0.04 Gb

INSECT0.25 Gb

THIS GENOME Ariopsis assimilis1.65 Gb

HUMAN3.2 Gb

WHEAT17 Gb

FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.

Assembly levelScaffold

07Deep time~11.9 Ma lineage

How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.

At a glance

DNA clock origin11.9 Ma TimeTree

When this lineage existed

How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.

DNA clock origin

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type97 records

Wild obs. + sensor33

Museum / vouchered63

Other1

Origin

Native6

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO216 km²

Depth

0–200 m sunlit7

200–1000 m twilight0

1–4 km midnight0

>4 km abyssal0

median 30 m · max 30 m · 7 records with depth

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy79% within 1 km

≤100 m 9≤1 km 2≤10 km 2>10 km 1

14 georeferenced · 19 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor33

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy84% within 1 km

≤100 m 14≤1 km 2≤10 km 3

19 georeferenced · 44 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence63

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions4 of 9 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
Tapachula, MX	15
Chicago, US	14
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record	6
Toronto, CA	4
Mexico City, MX	2
Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record	1
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record	1
FishBaselocation not on record	1
Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record	1

9 institutions · 45 of 63 vouchered records shown

09Environmental DNA16 detections

Where the DNA of Ariopsis assimilis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found16

Studies independent surveys1

Countries4

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 16 detections have coordinates

Open the map4 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

Modelled climatemodelled

−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C

Temperature median27.6 °C 26.6–27.7

Seasonal swing summer↔winter4.20 °C

Max temp (day)30.0 °C 29.0–31.0

Min temp (night)24.2 °C 23.9–25.0

Precipitation163 mm/mo 135–218

Air humidity65.6 % 64.9–66.8

Moisture balance1.10 mm/mo -17.4–136

Vapour deficit1,268 Pa 1,159–1,295

Wind speed2.30 m/s 1.80–3.20

Cloud cover28.7 % 26.7–36.2

CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 13 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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