''Channa gachua'', the dwarf snakehead, is a species of fish in the family

Channidae The snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with ...

. The name "dwarf snakehead" is also used for several other species of small snakeheads. ''C. gachua'' is native to freshwater habitats in southern Asia, where it has a wide distribution from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. This fish is considered to be a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, a group of several closely related taxa with one name. It is likely at least three to four different species, and further research may differentiate them. A few species such as ''

Channa harcourtbutleri ''Channa harcourtbutleri'', the Burmese snakehead, is a species of Channidae, snakehead endemism, endemic to Inle Lake and surroundings in Myanmar. Locally called ''nga ohn-ma'', among aquarists it is considered one of the dwarf snakeheads, but ...

'' have been separated from the complex in recent decades. The easternmost population of ''C. gachua'' is often recognized as a separate species '' C. limbata'' , while the isolated

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n population often is recognized as '' C. kelaartii''.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.

Description

This species can reach in total length, but most individuals are much smaller. It feeds on small fish, insects, and crustaceans. It is a

mouthbrooder Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a va ...

, with the male brooding the eggs and juveniles in his mouth. Males have more-extended dorsal and anal fins than females, and develop more intense color pattern.

Distribution and taxonomy

The species was recorded from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. This is a common fish found in most any type of wetland. It can live in large rivers or small brooks and creeks, in fast currents or stagnant waters, and in altered waterways such as canals. It also lives in

rice paddies A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Au ...

.Silva, K. (1991)
Population ecology of the paddy field‐dwelling fish ''Channa gachua'' (Günther) (Perciformes, Channidae) in Sri Lanka.
''Journal of fish biology'', 38(4), 497-508. There is a distinct genetic split between western and eastern populations (the distribution of the two approach each other in Myanmar). As a consequence some recognize them as separate species with western being ''C. gachua'' and eastern ''C. limbata''. The isolated Sri Lankan population is also highly distinctive from a genetic point of view, leading some to recognize it as ''C. kelaartii''. Despite the deep genetic splits between these populations, their

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

is very similar.

Value

This fish is caught for food in many parts of Asia. This is one of several ''Channa'' known as

dwarf snakeheads Dwarf snakehead is a term coined by aquarists to describe a group of ''Channa'' snakehead fishes growing to about maximum. They are found in freshwater habitats (often streams) in South and Southeast Asia, and southern China.Endruweit, M. (2017). ...

, smaller species kept in aquaria. It is also valued for its attractive coloration.Milton, J., et al. (2017)
Ovarian development and histological observations of threatened dwarf snakehead fish, ''Channa gachua'' (Hamilton, 1822).
''Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences''. In Press. This species has been studied for use in

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

operations.

References

External links

''Channa gachua''.
World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). {{Taxonbar, from=Q728780 gachua Freshwater fish of Indonesia Freshwater fish of Malaysia Fish of Bangladesh Fish of Pakistan Fish of Singapore Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1822