The papillate sea catfish (Cathorops kailolae), also known as the Kailola's sea catfish,[2] is a species of sea catfish in the family Ariidae.

[3] It was described by Alexandre Pires Marceniuk and Ricardo Betancur-Rodríguez in 2008.

It is a tropical fresh and saltwater catfish which occurs in Central America.

It reaches a standard length of 25.4 cm (10.0 in).

[3] The species epithet "kailolae" refers to ichthyologist Patricia J. Kailola, and is cited as being given in honour of her contributions to the systematics for the family Ariidae.