Red List of South African Species

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Notes

Schilbe intermedius Ruppell, 1832 was described from the lower Nile River in Egypt. As presently recognised, this species has a wide African distribution from the Phongolo River in KwaZulu-Natal north to the Nile and across into parts of west Africa. Taxonomic examination of isolated subpopulations using new techniques, e.g. DNA sequencing, is needed. Schilbe intermedius seems closely related to S. uranoscopus and these species are sympatric in several hydrographic basins.

habitat_narrative

Freshwater (=Inland waters)

Schilbe intermedius is generally abundant in open water, in both lacustrine and fluviatile conditions, often showing shoaling habits (De Vos 1995). The species seems to prefer large or rather large rivers and lakes and apparently rarely penetrates small rivers or small affluents (De Vos 1995). In the Lake Victoria basin it is reported to be pelagic (van Oijen 1995), occurring mainly in shallow waters and in open waters of lakes (van Oijen 1995). It migrates to the surface at night (Witte and de Winter 1995). S. intermedius is a nocturnal, omnivorous and predaceous fish (De Vos 1995). It feeds on a wide range of invertebrates including terrestrial insects and whole or pieces of fish (Bailey 1994). It is primarily piscivorous at 13–34 cm TL (Corbet 1961). It spawns throughout the year peaking once and migrates into rivers in fairly compact schools during the rainy season to spawn in floodwater pools (Witte and de Winter 1995). It is potamodromous (migratory) and generally does not penetrate high up into river systems. This species rarely grows to lengths greater than 30 cm SL (van Oijen 1995).

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