''Channa marulius'' (bullseye snakehead or great snakehead) is a large species of snakehead native to South Asia. Populations in Southeast Asia are now regarded as separate species.Adamson, E. A. S. and R. Britz (2018). The snakehead fish Channa aurolineata is a valid species (Teleostei: Channidae) distinct from Channa marulius. Zootaxa 4514 (4): 542-552.Adamson, E.A.S., R. Britz and S. Lieng (2019). Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4571(3): 398-408.

Taxonomy

''C. marulius''—as traditionally defined—is a species complex. A study published in 2017 showed that '' C. pseudomarulius'', formerly regarded as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''C. marulius'', is a valid species from the southern Western Ghats. A genetic study published the same year showed that ''C. marulius'' consisted of three clearly separated lineages (not counting the already separated ''C. pseudomarulius''). One of these is '' C. aurolineata'', revalidated in 2018 for the populations in drainages in

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

, Thailand, and non-natively in the United States (separated from the more western ''C. marulius'' by the Indo-Burman Ranges), and the other was described as a new species, '' C. auroflammea'', from the Mekong basin in 2019.In India it is a widespread native fish. In South India, it is commonly found in reservoirs, in Pechipparai, Chittar, Manimuthar, Bhvani, and Mettur dams of Tamil Nadu, and Thenmalai, Neyyar, and Idukki dams of Kerala. It can also be found in the reservoirs of Himachal Pradesh, such as the Pong Dam (Maharana Pratap Sagar), where it is known locally as ''soal''. ''C. marulius'' is commonly known as giant murrel. In Assam, it is locally known as'' xal'' (

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

: শাল). In Andhra and Telangana, it is called ''korrameenu'', and is quite common in lakes and reservoirs. In Sindh, the larger one is referred to as Shakur (Sindhi: شاڪُرُ) and the smaller one as Mukur (Sindhi: مُڪُرُ).

Culinary

Great snakehead is a fast-growing fish specie when compared to most of the others of the genus, and they are also suitable for intensive culture due to their air-breathing habit. They are being sold live and fetch high prices in the market, due to their excellent-tasting flesh and lack of fine bones.

References

External links

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Channa marulius
- USGS {{Taxonbar, from=Q620617 marulius Fish described in 1822 Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton