The forest snakehead (''Channa lucius'') is a 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 are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with ...

. Its range includes most of

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 ...

and parts of southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It lives in forest streams and can reach in length. The forest snakehead is known in Thai language as ''pla krasong'' ( th, ปลากระสง ).

Khmer language Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the Official language, official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pāli, Pali, especiall ...

called it កញ្ជនជៃ (''kanh chon chey''), Indonesians named it ''kehung'', while in Malaysia, they called it ''ikan bujuk'' in

Malay Language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...

A genetic study published in 2017 indicates that ''C. lucius'' is 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 ...

.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

It has a distinct series of port-hole markings on the side and has a more tapering head compared to other snakeheads. Juveniles are pale and have three lateral stripes from head to tail.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1096439

Forest snakehead The forest snakehead (''Channa lucius'') is a species of snakehead, a fish of the family Channidae. Its range includes most of Southeast Asia and parts of southern China. It lives in forest streams and can reach in length. The forest snakehead ...

Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1831 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier