What is Basa Fish?

The basa fish in scientific name is "Pangasius bocourti".It is one of catfish type in the family of Pangasiidae and found in southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam.The name of  “Basa” Introduced to it (and Swai or Tra) in the late 1960's, fresh from the southern Mekong River Delta in Vietnam.

Basa fish can also be found at Chao Phraya basin in Thailand. They usually live in large rivers and sometimes they like to enter flooded forests.The body of a basa fish is stout and heavy with rounded head and having a white band on its muzzle. It is a rather incredible and kind of delicate fish. 

These fish have their own value and uniqueness. They are also international market especially to United States. There, they are known as basa fish orbocourti.While in Europe, these kinds of fish are usually marketed as pangassius or panga. 

Nowadays, many peoples are getting used to Basa even in west east region but the fact is much that you see marketed is not the true Basa (Pangasius bocourti), but instead of Swai or Tra (Pangasius hypophthalmus). The true Basa yields thicker fillets, is a bit finer in texture, and has a lighter white color. No real matter, as the Tra coming in is of very high quality and has been properly frozen. On the other hand most of them are a different species of Asian catfish called tra.