fresh water fish

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Channa marulia - (Giant snakehead)

Family: Channidae (Snakeheads)
Show available picture(s) for Channa marulia
Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name: Great snakehead
Max. size: 183 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 6351); max. published weight: 30.0 kg (Ref. 4833)
Environment: benthopelagic; potamodromous
Climate: tropical; 24 - 28°C
Global Importance: fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: public aquariums
Resilience: Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.23)
Distribution: Asia: India to China, south to Thailand and Cambodia (Ref. 12693) and Pakistan (Ref. 4833).
Biology: Occurs in sluggish or standing water in canals, lakes, and swamps (Ref. 12693). Inhabits waters with submerged aquatic vegetation (Ref. 12693). Usually found only in deep pools in rivers and occasionally in lakes. Enters flooded forest (Ref. 9497). Carnivorous and subsists on fish, frogs, snakes, insects, earthworms and tadpoles (Ref. 1479). There are reports of this species taking water birds, snakes, and rodents. Males are territorial. May bite when caught (Elliot Bligh, pers. comm., 2001)
Threatened: Not Evaluated, see IUCN Red List , (Ref. 36508)
Dangerous: traumatogenic
Coordinator:




Sri Lanka country information
Common names: Ara, Giant snakehead

1 comment: