鮀 survives mainly in classical texts and place names - e.g. 鮀岛 is a literary alias for Shantou (汕头) in Guangdong, reflecting the fish-rich coastal estuary.
usage
Rare outside literary or onomastic contexts; for "catfish" use 鲶鱼, for "Chinese alligator" use 扬子鳄.
Components
radical
魚yú
fish (traditional form)
Left fish radical (traditional 11-stroke form, simplified to 鱼). The indexing radical, putting 鮀 in the aquatic family with 鯉 carp, 鯊 shark, 鯨 whale. All fish names hang on this graphic of a fish standing upright with a forked tail.
Right 它 supplies the sound - tā drifting to tuó in this character, regular sound shift for 它-phonetic forms. 它 originally pictured a snake, and that slithery image fits the small catfish meaning of 鮀. Same phonetic appears in 驼 camel, 跎 stumble, 陀 spinning top.
No stroke data for 鮀; the glyph shown is your device font, so component strokes can't be highlighted.
