basa fish

Open encyclopedia reference

Basa (Pangasius bocourti), as it is commonly referred to, is a species of primarily freshwater-dwelling catfish in the shark-catfish family, Pangasiidae, native to the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins of Mainland Southeast Asia. Economically, these fish are important as a regional food source, and are also prized on the international market. Outside Asia, such as in North America or Australia, they are often referred to as "basa fish" or "swai" or by their specific name, "bocourti". In the United Kingdom, all species of Pangasius may, legally, be described as "river cobbler", "cobbler", "basa", "pangasius" or simply "panga", as well as any of these names with the addition of "catfish". In the rest of mainland Europe, these fish are mostly sold as "pangasius" or "panga". In Asian fish markets, names for basa also include "Pacific dory" and "patin". Other, related shark-catfish species may occasionally be labeled—albeit incorrectly—as basa, including the iridescent shark (P. hypophthalmus) and the yellowtail catfish (P. pangasius).

Wikipedia contributors, Basa (fish); see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:45:41.964896+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Pangasius bocourti Sauvage, 1880

Name authority

Sauvage, 1880

Common name

basa fish

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Siluriformes

Family

Pangasiidae

Genus

Pangasius

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderSiluriformes
11. familyPangasiidae Bleeker, 1858
12. genusPangasius Valenciennes, 1840
13. speciesPangasius bocourti Sauvage, 1880

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Pangasius. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 25 records assigned to Pangasiidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Sauvage, H.-E. (1880). Notice sur quelques poissons de l’île Campbell et de l’Indo-Chine. Bulletin de La Société Philomathique de Paris (7th Série), v. 4: 228–233. [Also as a separate, pp. 18–23]. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4CCCW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.