Catla (''Labeo catla''), ( bn, কাতলা, translit=kātlā) also known as the major South Asian carp, is an economically important South Asian freshwater fish in the carp family

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ve ...

. It is native to rivers and lakes in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

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 Wells explai ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, but has also been introduced elsewhere in South Asia and is commonly

farmed Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. In Nepal and neighbouring regions of India, up to Odisha, it is called Bhakura. Catla is a fish with large and broad head, a large protruding lower jaw, and upturned mouth. It has large, greyish scales on its dorsal side and whitish on its belly. It reaches up to in length and in weight. Catla is a surface and midwater feeder. Adults feed on zooplankton using large gill rakers, but young ones on both zooplankton and phytoplankton. Catla attains sexual maturity at an average age of two years and an average weight of 2 kg.

Taxonomy

The catla was formerly listed as the only species in the genus ''Catla'', but this was a synonym of the genus ''Gibelion''. More recently,

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously u ...

has moved this species to ''

Labeo ''Labeo'' is a genus of carps in the family Cyprinidae. They are found in freshwater habitats in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia. It contains the typical labeos in the subfamily Labeoninae, which may not be a valid group, however ...

''.Eschmeyer W (2014
Cyprinus catla
CAS Catalog of Fishes This species has often been confused with the giant barb (''Catlocarpio siamensis'') of south-east Asia as the two taxa bear an extraordinary resemblance to each other, especially in their very large heads.

Aquaculture

It is one of the most important

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 ...

d freshwater species in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

.Development of freshwater fish farming and poverty alleviation - A case study from Bangladesh
/ref> It is grown in

polyculture In agriculture, polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop species in the same space, at the same time. In doing this, polyculture attempts to mimic the diversity of natural ecosystems. Polyculture is the opposite of monoculture, i ...

ponds with other carp-like fish, particularly with the roho labeo (''Labeo rohita'') and

mrigal carp The mrigal carp (''Cirrhinus cirrhosus''), ( bn, মৃগেল, translit=mrigél) also known as the white carp, is a species of ray-finned fish in the carp family. Native to streams and rivers in India, the only surviving wild population is in ...

. The reported production numbers have increased sharply during the 2000s, and were in 2012 about 2.8 million tonnes per year.Catla catla (Hamilton, 1822)
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme Catla is sold and consumed fresh, locally and regionally. It is transported on ice. Fish of 1–2 kg weight are preferred by consumers.

References

* Catla catla - http://en.bdfish.org/2010/02/catla-catla-catla-hamilton-1822/.

BdFISH Bangladesh Fisheries Information Share Home (BdFISH) is a global online database of information about fish species of Bangladesh. It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on fishes of Bangladesh on the web. Over time it has ...

* Menon, A.G.K. 1999 Check list - fresh water fishes of India. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Misc. Publ., Occas. Pap. No. 175, 366 p. Fish described in 1822 Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Fish of India Labeo Cyprinid fish of Asia Fish farming Fish of Bangladesh Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Labeoninae-stub