Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Anabantaria
Ordo: Anabantiformes
Subordo: Channoidei
Familia: Channidae
Genus: Channa
Species: C. amphibeus – C. andrao – C. argus – C. asiatica – C. aurantimaculata – C. aurantipectoralis – C. auroflammea – C. bankanensis – C. baramensis – C. barca – C. bleheri – C. brunnea – C. burmanica – C. centrala – C. coccinea – C. cyanospilos – C. diplogramma – C. gachua – C. harcourtbutleri – C. hoaluensis – C. longistomata – C. lucius – C. maculata – C. marulius – C. marulioides – C. melanoptera – C. melasoma – C. micropeltes – C. ninhbinhensis – C. nox – C. orientalis – C. ornatipinnis – C. panaw – C. pardalis – C. pleurophthalma – C. pseudomarulius – C. pulchra – C. punctata – C. pyrophthalmus – C. quangtriensis – C. rakhinica – C. rubora – C. stewartii – C. striata
Name
Channa Scopoli, 1777
References
Scopoli, I.A. 1777. Introductio ad historiam naturalem sistens genera lapidum, plantarum, et animalium hactenus detecta, caracteribus essentialibus donata, in tribus divisa, subinde ad leges naturae. 540 pp. Apud Wolfgangum Gerle, Pragae [Prague]. BHL Reference page.
Adamson, E.A.S. & Britz, R. 2018. The snakehead fish Channa aurolineata is a valid species (Teleostei: Channidae) distinct from Channa marulius. Zootaxa 4514(4): 542–552. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4514.4.7 Paywall Reference page.
Adamson, E.A.S., Britz, R. & Lieng, S. 2019. Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4571(3): 398–408. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4571.3.7 Paywall Reference page.
Britz, R., Adamson, E., Raghavan, R., Ali, A. & Dahanukar, N. 2017. Channa pseudomarulius, a valid species of snakehead from the Western Ghats region of peninsular India (Teleostei: Channidae), with comments on Ophicephalus grandinosus, O. theophrasti and O. leucopunctatus. Zootaxa 4299(4): 529–545. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4299.4.4. Reference page.
Britz, R., Tan, H.H. & Rüber, L. 2024. Four new species of Channa from Myanmar (Teleostei, Labyrinthici, Channidae). Raffles bulletin of Zoology 72: 1–25. DOI: 10.26107/RBZ-2024-0001. Open access. Reference page.
Britz, R. 2013: Channa andrao, a new species of dwarf snakehead from West Bengal, India (Teleostei:Channidae). Zootaxa 3731(2): 287–294. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3731.2.9 Reference page.
Channa species list in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Lalhlimpuia, D.V., Lalronunga, S. & Lalramliana, L. 2016. Channa aurantipectoralis, a new species of snakehead from Mizoram, north-eastern India (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4147(3): 343–350. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4147.3.7 Reference page.
Praveenraj, J., Uma, A., Moulitharan, N. & Kannan, R. 2019. Channa brunnea, a new species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from West Bengal, India. Zootaxa 4624(1): 059–070. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4624.1.4. Reference page.
Scopoli, Giovanni Antonio (Johann Anton): Introductio ad historiam naturalem, sistens genera lapidum, plantarum et animalium hactenus detecta, caracteribus essentialibus donata, in tribus divisa, subinde ad leges naturae.Prague, 1777.
Sudasinghe, H., Adamson, E.A.S., Ranasinghe, R.H.T., Meegaskumbura, M., Ikbe, C. & Britz, R. 2020. Unexpected species diversity within Sri Lanka’s snakehead fishes of the Channa marulius group (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4747(1): 113–132. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4747.1.4 Paywall Reference page.
Links
ITIS
Taxon identifiers
Wikidata: Q618552 BOLD: 47886 CoL: 3M54 EoL: 24032 EPPO: 1CHNNG Fossilworks: 252926 GBIF: 2387196 iNaturalist: 87358 NBN: NHMSYS0021168960 NCBI: 33789 Plazi: D28DC2D2-1C4A-13B2-7756-3EBD94F1E0CC WoRMS: 268714 ZooBank: 56117443-0240-45A4-A15F-0CC3451E2706
Vernacular names
Deutsch: Schlangenkopffische
eesti: Madupea
Nederlands: slangenkopvissen
தமிழ்: விலாங்கு
українська: Змієголови
Channa is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extending from Iraq in the west, to Indonesia and China in the east, and parts of Siberia in the Far East. A particularly high richness of species exists in Myanmar (Burma) and northeastern India, and many Channa species live nowhere else. In contrast, a few widespread species have been introduced to several regions outside their natural range, where they often become invasive. The large and medium-sized Channa species are among the most common staple food fish in several Asian countries, and they are extensively cultured.[1] Apart from their importance as a food fish, snakeheads are consumed in some regions as a traditional medicine for wound healing and reducing postoperative pain and discomfort,[1] and collected for the international aquarium pet trade.[2]
All snakeheads are highly predatory, and the diets of the various species of Channa include fish, amphibians (like frogs), snakes, rodents, birds, and invertebrates (insects and crustaceans).[1] They have a labyrinth organ, which allows them to breathe air for short periods, and they use this adaptation to travel across land in the event that their habitat becomes inhospitable. They are mostly solitary or live in monogamous pairs that are highly aggressive towards outsiders of their own species, but C. pleurophthalma often occurs in small groups. Larger species are mostly nestbrooding (making a nest of vegetation at the water surface),[1] and the dwarfs mostly paternal mouthbrooding, but exceptions occur; the large C. barca is a paternal mouthbrooder and the dwarf C. bleheri is a free-spawner (the eggs float to the surface where the parents take care of them, but they do not mouthbrood or built a nest).[3]
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of the genus Channa is incomplete, and a comprehensive revision of the family has not been performed. A phylogenetic study in 2010 has indicated the likelihood of the existence of undescribed species of channids in Southeast Asia,[4] and a more comprehensive phylogenetic study in 2017 indicated that several undescribed species exist in Asia (as well as an undescribed Parachanna in Africa).[5] In 2011, the Malabar snakehead Channa diplogramma from peninsular India was shown to be a distinct species, 146 years after its initial description and 134 years after it was synonymised with C. micropeltes, establishing it is an endemic species of peninsular India. The study also suggested that the species shared a most recent common ancestor with C. micropeltes, around 9.52 to 21.76 MYA.[6][7]
Species
Currently, 51 recognized species are placed in this genus:[8][9][10]
Channa amari Dey et al., 2019[11]
Channa amphibeus (McClelland, 1845) (Borna snakehead)
Channa andrao Britz, 2013[12]
Channa ara (Deraniyagala, 1945)
Channa argus (Cantor, 1842) (northern snakehead)
Channa aristonei Praveenraj, Thackeray, Singh, Uma, Moulitharan & Mukhim, 2020
Channa asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) (small snakehead)
Channa aurantimaculata Musikasinthorn, 2000 (orange-spotted snakehead)
Channa aurantipectoralis Lalhlimpuia, Lalronunga & Lalramliana, 2016[13]
Channa auroflammea Adamson, Britz and S. Lieng, 2019[14]
Channa aurolineata (F. Day, 1870)
Channa bankanensis (Bleeker, 1853)
Channa baramensis (Steindachner, 1901)
Channa barca (F. Hamilton, 1822) (barca snakehead)
Channa bipuli Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Bleher, 2018[15]
Channa bleheri Vierke, 1991 (rainbow snakehead)
Channa brahmacharyi Chakraborty, Yardi & Mukherjee, 2020[16]
Channa brunnea Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Kannan, 2019[17]
Channa burmanica B. L. Chaudhuri, 1919
Channa cyanospilos (Bleeker, 1853)
Channa diplogramma (F. Day, 1865) (Malabar snakehead)
Channa gachua (F. Hamilton, 1822) (dwarf snakehead)
Channa harcourtbutleri (Annandale, 1918) (Burmese snakehead)
Channa hoaluensis Nguyen, 2011
Channa kelaartii (Günther, 1861)[5]
Channa limbata (Cuvier, 1831)[5]
Channa lipor Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Singh, 2019[18]
Channa longistomata (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012)
Channa lucius (G. Cuvier, 1831) (forest snakehead)
Channa maculata (Lacépède, 1801) (blotched snakehead)
Channa marulioides (Bleeker, 1851) (emperor snakehead)
Channa marulius (F. Hamilton, 1822) (great snakehead)
Channa melanoptera (Bleeker, 1855)
Channa melanostigma Geetakumari & Vishwanath Waikhom, 2011[19]
Channa melasoma (Bleeker, 1851) (black snakehead)
Channa micropeltes (G. Cuvier, 1831) (giant snakehead)
Channa ninhbinhensis V. H. Nguyễn, 2011[20]
Channa nox C. G. Zhang, Musikasinthorn & Watanabe, 2002 (night snakehead)
Channa orientalis Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801 (Ceylon snakehead)
Channa ornatipinnis Britz, 2008
Channa panaw Musikasinthorn, 1998 (Panaw snakehead)
Channa pardalis Knight, 2016[21]
Channa pleurophthalma (Bleeker, 1851)
Channa pomanensis Gurumayum & Tamang, 2016
Channa pseudomarulius (Günther, 1861)
Channa pulchra Britz, 2007
Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) (spotted snakehead)
Channa quinquefasciata Praveenraj et al., 2018[22]
Channa rara Britz et al., 2019[23]
Channa royi Praveenraj et al., 2018 (Andaman emerald snakehead)[24] — likely a synonym of C. harcourtbutleri[23]
Channa shingon M. Endruweit, 2017)[25]
Channa stewartii (Playfair (fr), 1867) (Assamese snakehead)
Channa stiktos Lalramliana, Knight, Lalhlimpuia & Singh, 2018[26]
Channa striata (Bloch, 1793) (striped snakehead)
Channa torsaensis Dey, Nur, Raychowdhury, Sarkar, Singh & Barat, 2018 (cobalt blue snakehead)[27]
References
Kumar, K., R. Kumar, S. Saurabh, M. Sahoo, A.K. Mohanty, P.L. Lalrinsanga, U.L. Mohanty and P. Jayasankar (2012). Snakehead Fishes: Fact Sheets. Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar.
PracticalFishkeeping (13 June 2016). Quick Guide to Snakeheads. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
SeriouslyFish: Channa bleheri. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
Adamson, E.A.S., Hurwood, D.A. & Mather, P.B. (2010): A reappraisal of the evolution of Asian snakehead fishes (Pisces, Channidae) using molecular data from multiple genes and fossil calibration. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56 (2): 707–717.
Conte-Grand, C., Britz, R., Dahanukar, N., Raghavan, R., Pethi-yagoda, R., Tan, H.H., Hadiaty, R.K., Yaakob, N.S. & Rüber, L. (2017). Barcoding snakeheads (Teleostei, Channidae) re-visited: Discovering greater species diversity and resolving perpetuated taxonomic confusions. PLoS ONE, 12 (9): e0184017.
Benziger, A., Philip, S., Raghavan, R., Ali, P.H.A., Sukumaran, M., Tharian, J.C., Dahanukar, N., Baby, F., Peter, R., Rema Devi, K., Radhakrishnan, K.V., Haniffa, M.A., Britz, R. & Antunes, A. (2011): Unraveling a 146 Years Old Taxonomic Puzzle: Validation of Malabar Snakehead, Species-Status and Its Relevance for Channid Systematics and Evolution. PLoS ONE, 6 (6): e21272.
Li, X., Musikasinthorn, P. & Kumazawa, Y. (2006): Molecular phylogenetic analyses of snakeheads (Perciformes: Channidae) using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Ichthyological Research, 53 (2): 148-159.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Channa in FishBase. February 2019 version.
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Channa". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
Praveenraj, Jayasimhan; Thackeray, Tejas; Singh, Sadokpam Gojendro; Uma, Arumugam; Moulitharan, N.; Mukhim, Bankit K. (December 2020). "A New Species of Snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, Northeastern India". Copeia. 108 (4): 938–947. doi:10.1643/CI2020007. ISSN 0045-8511. S2CID 230507112.
Dey, A., Chowdhury, B.R., Nur, R., Sarkar, D., Kosygin, L. & Barat, S. (2019): Channa amari, a new species of Snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from North Bengal, India. International Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences, 9(2): 299-304.
Britz, R. (2013): Channa andrao, a new species of dwarf snakehead from West Bengal, India (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa, 3731 (2): 287–294.
Lalhlimpuia, D.v., Lalronunga, S. & Lalramliana (2016): Channa aurantipectoralis, a new species of snakehead from Mizoram, north-eastern India (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa, 4147 (3): 343-350.
Adamson, E.A.S., R. Britz and S. Lieng (2019). Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4571(3): 398-408.
Praveenraj, J., A. Uma, N. Moulitharan and H. Bleher (2018). Channa bipuli, a new species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Assam, northeast India. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 24(4): 153-166.
Chakraborty, P., Yardi, K. & Mukherjee, P. (2020). Channa brahmacharyi sp. nov., a new species of dwarf snakehead from Meghalaya, North-East India (Teleostei: Channidae). Species, 21(67): 101-108.
Kannan, Rajesh; Moulitharan, Nallathambi; Uma, Arumugam; Praveenraj, Jayasimhan (2019-06-27). "Channa brunnea, a new species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from West Bengal, India". Zootaxa. 4624 (1): 59–70. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4624.1.4. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 31716236.
"A New Species of Dwarf Channa (Teleostei: Channidae) from Meghalaya, Northeast India". Novataxa. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
Geetakumari, K. & Vishwanath, W. (2011): Channa melanostigma, a new species of freshwater snakehead from north-east India (Teleostei: Channidae). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 107 (3): 231-235.
Nguyen, V.H. (2011): Two new species belong to genus Channa (Channidae, Perciformes) discovered in Ninh Binh province, Vietnam. Vietnam Journal of Biology, 33 (4): 8-17.
Knight, J.D.M. (2016): Channa pardalis, a new species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Meghalaya, northeastern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 8 (3): 8583-8589.
Praveenraj, J., A. Uma, J. D. M. Knight, N. Moulitharan, S. Balasubramanian, K. Bineesh and H. Bleher (2018). Channa quinquefasciata, a new species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Torsa River, North Bengal, India. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 24 (4): 141-152.
Britz, R.; N. Dahanukar; V.K. Anoop; A. Ali (2019). "Channa rara, a new species of snakehead fish from the Western Ghats region of Maharashtra, India (Teleostei: Labyrinthici: Channidae)". Zootaxa. 4683 (4): zootaxa.4683.4.8. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4683.4.8. PMID 31715914.
Thakur, V. R.; Raymond, J. J. A.; Halalludin, Beni; Kiruba-Sankar, R.; Knight, J. D. M.; Praveenraj, J. (2018-12-31). "Channa royi (Teleostei: Channidae): a new species of snakehead from Andaman Islands, India". Indian Journal of Fisheries. 65 (4). ISSN 0970-6011.
Endruweit, M. (2017). Description of a new dwarf snakehead (Perciformes: Channidae) from western Yunnan. Vertebrate Zoology 67(2): 173-178.
Lalramliana, J. D. M. Knight, D. V. Lalhlimpuia and M. Singh (2018). Integrative taxonomy reveals a new species of snakehead fish, Channa stiktos (Teleostei: Channidae), from Mizoram, North Eastern India. Vertebrate Zoology 68 (2): 165-175.
"A New Ornamental Species of Snakehead Fish (Teleostei: Channidae) from River Torsa of West Bengal, India". Novataxa. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
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