The Borna snakehead, or Chel snakehead,
[Courtenay, Jr., Walter R. and James D. Williams]
''USGS Circular 1251: Snakeheads (Pisces, Chinnidae) - A Biological Synopsis and Risk Assessment''. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. 2004-04-01. Retrieved 2007-07-16. ''Channa amphibeus'', is an extremely rare species of
snakehead. ''C. amphibeus'' is native only to the
Chel River
The Kuru River, or Chel River is a stream in the South Sudanese states of Western Bahr el Ghazal and Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
It is a headwater of the Lol River.
Course
The Kuru or Chel River forms in the south of Western Bahr el Ghazal on the bo ...
(in the drainage of the
Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
), of the
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
foothills, in northern
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
As with all snakeheads, ''C. amphibeus'' is an aggressive predator. The fish grows up to about 25 cm (10 inches). ''C. amphibeus'' requires warm fresh water (about 22–28˚C) to properly mature, and access to atmospheric oxygen.
[AC Tropical Fis]
''Chel Snakehead - Channa amphibeus''. 2004-6. Retrieved 2008-04-30 It was reported that during rainy periods, young are found “in flooded paddy-fields enclosed by forest; large fish can be found in pools of dried streams in forests.”
This is a manifestation of behavior common to snakeheads – they need atmospheric air, which they receive by way of a
suprabranchial organ (a primitive form of a
labyrinth organ
The Anabantoidei are a suborder of anabantiform ray-finned freshwater fish distinguished by their possession of a lung-like labyrinth organ, which enables them to breathe air. The fish in the Anabantoidei suborder are known as anabantoids or lab ...
).
From a young age, ''C. amphibeus'' can survive in a low-oxygen water habitat, but if deprived of surface access, adult snakeheads can die from the lack of oxygen.
Due to its smaller size (in comparison to other snakeheads), the Chel snakehead is slightly easier to keep in aquaria. However, there have been several episodes when snakeheads have been released into non-endemic environments, and the danger of the hardy, gregarious fish becoming a serious invasive species is very large (although for this species, this phenomenon has not yet transpired due to its relative rarity).
Alternate
binomial
Binomial may refer to:
In mathematics
*Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms
* Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials
*Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition
...
names include ''Ophiocephalus amphibeus''.
Names in northern Bengal include ''bora cheng'' (
Mechi
Mechi ( ne, मेची अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones to provinces, comprising four districts; namely Ilam, Jhapa, Panchthar and Taplejung. Its headquarters are at Ilam. It comes und ...
) and ''borna'' (
Rabha
The Rabha are a Tibeto-Burman community to the Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. They primarily inhabit the plains of Lower Assam and the Dooars, while some are found in the Garo Hills. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to thems ...
).
References
External links
snakeheads.org
{{Taxonbar, from=Q972879
Borna snakehead
Fish described in 1845