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Dwarf snakehead is a term coined by 
Several of these only recently received their scientific name, but were already known among aquarists before. Examples of this are ''C. andrao'' (described 2013, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "Lal Cheng" or "blue bleheri"), ''C. pardalis'' (described 2016, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "true blue" or "galaxy blue"), ''C. quinquefasciata'' (described 2018, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "five stripe"), ''C. torsaensis'' (described 2018, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "cobalt blue"), and ''C. brunnea'' (described 2019, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "chocolate bleheri"). A few dwarf snakeheads that are known from the aquarium trade remain undescribed, including:
*''Channa'' sp. "Burmese red rim rainbow" or "redfin". Similar to ''Channa gachua'' but has black dots on the body and fin edges are darker.
*''Channa'' sp. "fire and ice".
Besides their commonality of being of small size, dwarf snakeheads generally are paternal
Channa bleheri
Retrieved 12 February 2019. Although several dwarf snakeheads are very close relatives, overall the group is not
Comprehensive information on snakeheads at snakeheads.org
Channidae Fish common names
Dwarf snakehead is a term coined by aquarists
Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a piscicultural fishkeeping industry, serving as a branch of agriculture.
Origins of fishkeeping
Fish have ...
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). Description of a new dwarf snakehead (Perciformes: Channidae) from western Yunnan. Vertebrate Zoology 67(2): 173-178.
The following snakeheads belong to this group:Lalramliana, J. D. M. Knight, D. V. Lalhlimpuia and M. Singh (2018). Integrative taxonomy reveals a new species of snakehead fish, Channa stiktos (Teleostei: Channidae), from Mizoram, North Eastern India. Vertebrate Zoology 68 (2): 165-175.
*''Channa andrao
Channa andrao is a species of snakehead, a fish of the family Channidae. Its range includes India in Asia. It is described in 2013 by Ralf Britz
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived f ...
''
*''Channa aurantipectoralis
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
''
*'' Channa baramensis''
*''Channa bipuli
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa bleheri
''Channa bleheri'' (the rainbow snakehead) is a species of dwarf snakehead that is endemic to the Brahmaputra River basin in the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.SeriouslyFishChanna bleheri Retrieved 11 February 2019. It is among the ...
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*'' Channa brunnea''
*'' Channa burmanica''
*'' Channa gachua''
*''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 ...
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*''Channa kelaartii
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa limbata
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa lipor
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*'' Channa melanostigma''
*''Channa orientalis
The Ceylon snakehead (''Channa orientalis'') is a species of snakehead found in freshwater habitats, typically shaded streams, in southwestern Sri Lanka (although occasionally claimed to occur in other countries, this is misidentifications of r ...
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*''Channa ornatipinnis
''Channa ornatipinnis'' is a freshwater species of snakehead, a fish of 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 a ...
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*'' Channa panaw''
*''Channa pardalis
''Channa pardalis'' is a species of dwarf snakehead in the genus ''Channa''. It was first described in 2016 from Khasi Hills, Meghalaya of northeastern India. Prior to its scientific description, it was known as ''Channa'' sp. "True Blue" or ''Ch ...
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*'' Channa pulchra''
*''Channa quinquefasciata
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa rara
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa royi
''Channa royi'', the Andaman emerald snakehead, is a species of snakehead fish endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. This dwarf snakehead is distinct from other snakehead species due to its differing coloration, number of vertebra ...
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*''Channa shingon
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
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*''Channa stewartii
''Channa stewartii'' is a species of dwarf snakehead in the family Channidae, which is native to Nepal and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It may also be found in Bangladesh. This freshwate ...
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*''Channa stiktos
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution exte ...
''
*''Channa torsaensis
''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...
''
Some of these are borderline dwarf snakeheads, slightly surpassing in maximum length (e.g., ''C. pulchra'' has been called a dwarf snakehead, but may reach ). In contrast, the smallest dwarf snakehead species are less than .
Several of these only recently received their scientific name, but were already known among aquarists before. Examples of this are ''C. andrao'' (described 2013, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "Lal Cheng" or "blue bleheri"), ''C. pardalis'' (described 2016, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "true blue" or "galaxy blue"), ''C. quinquefasciata'' (described 2018, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "five stripe"), ''C. torsaensis'' (described 2018, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "cobalt blue"), and ''C. brunnea'' (described 2019, previously known as ''C.'' sp. "chocolate bleheri"). A few dwarf snakeheads that are known from the aquarium trade remain undescribed, including:
*''Channa'' sp. "Burmese red rim rainbow" or "redfin". Similar to ''Channa gachua'' but has black dots on the body and fin edges are darker.
*''Channa'' sp. "fire and ice".
Besides their commonality of being of small size, dwarf snakeheads generally are paternal 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 ...
s (confirmed in some species, suspected in others). An exception is the free-spawning ''C. bleheri'' where the eggs float to the surface and the parents take care of them (no mouthbrooding).SeriouslyFishChanna bleheri
Retrieved 12 February 2019. Although several dwarf snakeheads are very close relatives, overall the group is not
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
. For example, the dwarfs ''C. burmanica'' and ''C. stewartii'' are phylogenetically much closer to the large '' C. barca'' (up to ) than they are to the dwarfs ''C. ornatipinnis'', ''C. pulchra'' and ''C. stiktos''.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.
References
{{ReflistExternal links
Comprehensive information on snakeheads at snakeheads.org
Channidae Fish common names