Fishing cat
Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833)
The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), also called the viverrine cat, is a mammal in the cat family Felidae, subfamily Felinae, within the order Carnivora. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial and nocturnal carnivore, with a representative adult body mass of 9.14 kg and a highest reported value of 10.65 kg.
Quick facts about the fishing cat
Gestation lasts 71 days, litters have 2 young, and the lifespan is 17.1 years, with a highest reported value of 17.2 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the fishing cat as Vulnerable (VU) in its global assessment, a threatened category.
- Weight
- 9.14 kg – 10.7 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- 57 cm – 78 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 17.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- vertebratessrc for Main food
- Habitat
- riverine, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 63 days – 71.4 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the fishing cat?
Photos of the fishing cat
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the fishing cat live?
Not recorded
What is the fishing cat?
The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It has a deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots. Adults have a head-to-body length of 57 to 78 cm (22 to 31 in), with a 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) long tail. Males are larger than females, weighing 8 to 17 kg (18 to 37 lb), while females average 5 to 9 kg (11 to 20 lb). It lives mostly in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps and mangroves where it preys mostly on fish. Other prey items include birds, insects, small rodents, molluscs, reptiles including snakes, amphibians and carrion of cattle. The fishing cat is thought to be primarily nocturnal. It is a good swimmer and can swim long distances, even underwater.
The fishing cat has been listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2016, as the global population is thought to have declined by about 30% in the past three fishing cat generations during the period 2010–2015. The destruction of wetlands and killing by local people are the major threats throughout its range.
From the Wikipedia article “Fishing cat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fishing_cat&oldid=1377316462), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the fishing cat endangered?
The fishing cat is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the fishing cat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusPrionailurus
- SpeciesPrionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833)
Synonyms Felis viverrina, Felis viverrinus
Other names and names in other languages (50)
- Viverrine catEnglish
- Visvang KatAfrikaans
- قط سماكArabic
- قط صياد السمكArabic
- মাছুৱৈ মেকুৰীAssamese
- Кот-рыбакBelarusian
- Рибна коткаBulgarian
- বাঘরোলBangla
- BaghrolBangla
- Kazh pesketaerBreton
- kočka rybářskáCzech
- FiskekatDanish
- FischkatzeGerman
- Αγριόγατα ΨαράςGreek
- Fiŝa katoEsperanto
- Gato pescadorSpanish
- KalakassEstonian
- kalastajakissaFinnish
- Chat pêcheurFrench
- chat viverrinFrench
- मछलीबाज़ बिल्लीHindi
- halászmacskaHungarian
- Kucing bakauIndonesian
- Gatto pescatoreItalian
- Gatto viverrinoItalian
- スナドリネコJapanese
- Kla treyKhmer
- ខ្លាភ្ញីថ្មកែវKhmer
- 고기잡이삵Korean
- 고기잡이살쾡이Korean
- Viverinė katėLithuanian
- Kucing IkanMalay
- FiskerkattNorwegian Bokmål
- Malaha biraloNepali
- Vissende KatDutch
- tarajPolish
- kotek cętkowanyPolish
- Gato-pescadorPortuguese
- Кошка-рыболовRussian
- Hadun diviyaSinhala
- හඳුන් දිවියාSinhala
- Mačka rybárskaSlovak
- Ribiška tigrasta mačkaSlovenian
- FiskarkattSwedish
- เสือปลาThai
- balıkçı kediTurkish
- Кіт-рибалкаUkrainian
- Machhli khore billiUrdu
- 渔猫Chinese
- 漁貓Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the fishing cat
Other species in the same genus Prionailurus.
Leopard cat
Prionailurus bengalensis
Rusty-spotted cat
Prionailurus rubiginosus
Flat-headed cat
Prionailurus planiceps
Sunda leopard cat
Prionailurus javanensis
CompareFishing cat vs Leopard catFishing cat vs Rusty-spotted catFishing cat vs Flat-headed catFishing cat vs Sunda leopard cat
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is a fishing cat?
A fishing cat has a representative adult body mass of 9.14 kg, and the highest value reported by our sources is 10.65 kg.
What does the fishing cat eat?
The fishing cat is a carnivore, and its trophic level is also carnivore.
Is the fishing cat endangered?
The fishing cat is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List in its global assessment, which is a threatened category.
How long does a fishing cat live?
The fishing cat has a lifespan of 17.1 years, with a highest reported value of 17.2 years.
How many young does a fishing cat have?
A fishing cat has 2 young per litter, after a gestation period of 71 days.
Is the fishing cat active at night?
Yes, the fishing cat is nocturnal, and it has a terrestrial lifestyle.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/fishing-cat
“Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/fishing-cat.
@misc{fishing_cat_2026,
title = {Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/fishing-cat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}