''Chitala'' is a genus of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

of the family

Notopteridae The family Notopteridae contains 10 species of osteoglossiform (bony-tongued) fishes, commonly known as featherbacks and knifefishes. These fishes live in freshwater or brackish environments in Africa and South and Southeast Asia. With the denot ...

. This genus contains six species, in which some are important 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 ...

and the aquarium industry. They are commonly known as the Asian knifefishes or featherbacks. They are native to freshwater in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The largest fish in the genus (and also the family) is ''Chitala lopis'', which grows up to a length of . Other well-known species are the clown knifefish (''C. ornata'') and the Indochina knifefish (''C. blanci'').

Species

There are six recognized species in this genus. In the past some of these (notably ''C. ornata'') were included in ''C. chitala'',Roberts, T.R. (1992). ''Systematic revision of the old world freshwater fish family Notopteridae.'' Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 2(4):361-383. resulting in considerable confusion, especially in the fishing and aquarium industries.Seriously Fish:
Chitala chitala.
' Retrieved 24 May 2014 * ''

Chitala blanci The royal knifefish or Indochina featherback, ''Chitala blanci'', is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Notopteridae found in the Mekong basin in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), off ...

'' ( François d'Aubenton-Carafa, 1965) (Indochina featherback or royal knifefish) * ''

Chitala borneensis The Indonesian featherback (''Chitala borneensis'') is a species of knifefish from freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia. The details of its range are not entirely clear, with FishBase reporting that it occurs in Sumatra, Borneo, and the Mala ...

'' (

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Chitala chitala ''Chitala chitala'' (Assamese: চিতল ''sitawl'', Bengali: চিতল, ''chitol'') is a knifefish from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, found in the Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges and Mahanadi River basins. It is sometimes known as ...

'' ( F. Hamilton, 1822) (Indian featherback) * ''

Chitala hypselonotus ''Chitala hypselonotus'' is a species of knifefish found in freshwater habitats in Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, i ...

'' (

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Chitala lopis ''Chitala lopis'', locally known as the belido, is an extinct species of freshwater fish, formerly endemic to the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia an ...

'' (

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Chitala ornata The clown featherback, clown knifefish, or spotted knifefish, ''Chitala ornata'', is a nocturnal tropical fish with a long, knife-like body. This knifefish is native to freshwater habitats in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, but it has al ...

'' (

J. E. Gray John Edward Gray, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoology, zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ...

, 1831) (Clown featherback or clown knifefish)

References

Notopteridae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Osteoglossiformes-stub