Catla (''Labeo catla''), ( bn, কাতলা, translit=kātlā) also known as the major South Asian carp, is an economically important South Asian freshwater fish in the carp family
Cyprinidae. It is native to rivers and lakes in northern
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 ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
, and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, but has also been
introduced elsewhere in South Asia and is commonly
farmed
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
.
In Nepal and neighbouring regions of India, up to Odisha, it is called Bhakura.
Catla is a fish with large and broad head, a large protruding lower jaw, and upturned mouth. It has large, greyish scales on its dorsal side and whitish on its belly. It reaches up to in length and in weight.[
Catla is a surface and midwater feeder. Adults feed on zooplankton using large gill rakers, but young ones on both zooplankton and phytoplankton. Catla attains sexual maturity at an average age of two years and an average weight of 2 kg.
]
Taxonomy
The catla was formerly listed as the only species in the genus ''Catla'', but this was a synonym of the genus ''Gibelion''.[ More recently, ]Catalog of Fishes
Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously u ...
has moved this species to ''Labeo
''Labeo'' is a genus of carps in the family Cyprinidae. They are found in freshwater habitats in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia.
It contains the typical labeos in the subfamily Labeoninae, which may not be a valid group, however ...
''.[Eschmeyer W (2014]
Cyprinus catla
CAS Catalog of Fishes This species has often been confused with the giant barb
The giant barb, Siamese giant carp, or simply Siamese carp (''Catlocarpio siamensis'') ( km, ត្រីគល់រាំង, ; th, กระโห้, , , or , , ; Vietnamese: ''cá Hô''), is the largest species of cyprinid in the world. Thes ...
(''Catlocarpio siamensis'') of south-east Asia as the two taxa bear an extraordinary resemblance to each other, especially in their very large heads.[
]
Aquaculture
It is one of the most important aquacultured freshwater species in South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
.Development of freshwater fish farming and poverty alleviation - A case study from Bangladesh
/ref>
It is grown in polyculture
In agriculture, polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop species in the same space, at the same time. In doing this, polyculture attempts to mimic the diversity of natural ecosystems. Polyculture is the opposite of monoculture, i ...
ponds with other carp-like fish, particularly with the roho labeo
The rohu, rui, ruhi or roho labeo (''Labeo rohita'') is a species of fish of the carp family, found in rivers in South Asia. It is a large omnivore and extensively used in aquaculture.
Description
The rohu is a large, silver-colored fish o ...
(''Labeo rohita'') and mrigal carp
The mrigal carp (''Cirrhinus cirrhosus''), ( bn, মৃগেল, translit=mrigél) also known as the white carp, is a species of ray-finned fish in the carp family. Native to streams and rivers in India, the only surviving wild population is in ...
. The reported production numbers have increased sharply during the 2000s, and were in 2012 about 2.8 million tonnes per year.[Catla catla (Hamilton, 1822)]
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme
Catla is sold and consumed fresh, locally and regionally. It is transported on ice. Fish of 1–2 kg weight are preferred by consumers.[
]
References
* Catla catla - http://en.bdfish.org/2010/02/catla-catla-catla-hamilton-1822/.BdFISH
Bangladesh Fisheries Information Share Home (BdFISH) is a global online database of information about fish species of Bangladesh. It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on fishes of Bangladesh on the web. Over time it has ...
* Menon, A.G.K. 1999 Check list - fresh water fishes of India. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Misc. Publ., Occas. Pap. No. 175, 366 p.
Fish described in 1822
Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
Fish of India
Labeo
Cyprinid fish of Asia
Fish farming
Fish of Bangladesh
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{Labeoninae-stub