Neosilurus hyrtlii — Victoria River, NT — photo © Michael Hammer
Eeltailed catfishes (family Plotosidae) are elongated, whiskered, scaleless fishes found throughout Australia and New Guinea, several of which are kept alongside rainbowfishes. You can access species accounts below by clicking on the links in the list of species from Australia and New Guinea.
Australia
- Anodontiglanis dahli Rendahl, 1922 — Toothless Catfish
- Neosiluroides cooperensis Allen & Feinberg, 1998 — Cooper Creek Catfish
- Neosilurus ater (Perugia, 1894) — Black Catfish
- Neosilurus brevidorsalis (Günther, 1867)
- Neosilurus gloveri Allen & Feinberg, 1998 — Dalhousie Catfish
- Neosilurus hyrtlii Steindachner, 1867 — Hyrtl’s Catfish
- Neosilurus manjandi Hammer, Moore, Allen, Adams & Unmack, 2026
- Neosilurus mollespiculum Allen & Feinberg, 1998 — Softspine Catfish
- Neosilurus pseudospinosus Allen & Feinberg, 1998 — False-spined Catfish
- Neosilurus sp. “Bulloo” undescribed
- Porochilus argenteus (Zietz, 1896) — Silver Catfish (also Silver Tandan)
- Porochilus obbesi Weber, 1913 — Obbes’ Catfish
- Porochilus rendahli (Whitley, 1928) — Rendahl’s Catfish
- Porochilus sp. “Gulf of Carpentaria” undescribed
- Tandanus tandanus (Mitchell, 1838) — Freshwater Catfish
- Tandanus bellingerensis Welsh, Jerry, Burrows & Rourke, 2017
- Tandanus tropicanus Welsh, Jerry & Burrows, 2014 — Wet Tropics Tandan
- “Tandanus” bostocki Whitley, 1944 — Freshwater Cobbler
New Guinea
Most New Guinea species are known from little more than distribution records and passing mentions in the broader literature — unsurprising given how remote and little-surveyed most of their ranges are. Neosilurus sp. “1” (the Ramu Tandan) and sp. “2” (from Misool) are both undescribed forms awaiting formal study; the Black Catfish (Neosilurus ater) and Neosilurus brevidorsalis are shared with Australia and appear in both lists.
- Neosilurus ater (Perugia, 1894) — Black Catfish
- Neosilurus brevidorsalis (Günther, 1867)
- Neosilurus equinus (Weber, 1913) — Southern Tandan
- Neosilurus gjellerupi (Weber, 1913)
- Neosilurus idenburgi (Nichols, 1940) — Idenburg Tandan
- Neosilurus novaeguineae (Weber, 1908)
- Neosilurus sp. “1” undescribed — Ramu Tandan
- Neosilurus sp. “2” undescribed — Misool
- Oloplotosus luteus Gomon & Roberts, 1978 — Pale Yellow Tandan
- Oloplotosus mariae Weber, 1913
- Oloplotosus torobo Allen, 1985
- Plotosus papuensis Weber, 1910 — Papuan Eel Catfish
- Porochilus meraukensis (Weber, 1913)
- Porochilus obbesi Weber, 1913 — Obbes’ Catfish