Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch, 1794)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Ompok bimaculatus, known as butter catfish, is a species from the sheatfish family native to Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but recently identified in Myanmar. It has also been identified in the Mekong Basin of Vietnam.
Known in Thailand as pla cha-on (ปลาชะโอน), it is one of the very similar catfish species known in the markets as pla nuea on (วงศ์ปลาเนื้ออ่อน). It is valued for its delicate flesh and is also used for making high-quality fish balls. O. bimaculatus reaches a maximum length of 45 cm. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified this species as near threatened due to limited data suggesting overfishing and possibly widespread population declines, noting uncertain identities of populations classified as O. bimaculatus and concluding that there is an "urgent need for taxonomic, harvest and population studies".
Wikipedia contributors, Ompok bimaculatus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:24:31.343854+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch, 1794)
- Name authority
- (Bloch, 1794)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Siluriformes
- Family
- Siluridae
- Genus
- Ompok
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderSiluriformes
- familySiluridae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusOmpok Lacepède, 1803
- speciesOmpok bimaculatus (Bloch, 1794)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ompok. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Ompok borneensis (Steindachner, 1901) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok brevirictus Ng & Hadiaty, 2009 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok canio (Hamilton, 1822) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok fumidus Tan & Ng, 1996 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok jaynei Fowler, 1905 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok leiacanthus (Bleeker, 1853) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok pabda (Hamilton, 1822) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok pabo (Hamilton, 1822) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok pinnatus Ng, 2003 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok platyrhynchus Ng & Tan, 2004 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok siluroides Lacepède, 1803 | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ompok sindensis (Day, 1877) | SiluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=281881 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:74KY2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.