The Malabar snakehead (''Channa diplogramma'') is a vulnerable species of snakehead from fresh water in the Western Ghats in India. Until 2011, its scientific name was usually considered to be a synonym of '' C. micropeltes'', the giant snakehead.Benziger A, Philip S, Raghavan R, Anvar Ali PH, Sukumaran M, et al. (2011
Unraveling a 146 Years Old Taxonomic Puzzle: Validation of Malabar Snakehead, Species-Status and Its Relevance for Channid Systematics and Evolution.
''PLoS ONE 6(6): e21272. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021272''

Taxonomy

Sir Francis Day described ''Ophiocephalus diplogramma'' in 1865 based on one juvenile specimen (42 mm in length) collected near the mouth of the Cochin River in the port city of

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

(southwestern India), and called it Malabar snakehead. The color pattern of this juvenile matched with that of juveniles of another species of snakehead, '' O. micropeltes'', originally described by Cuvier and

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

from

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, Indonesia. This possibly led Day to synonymise ''C. diplogramma'' with ''C. micropeltes'' in 1878.Day F (1878) Fishes of India; being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India, Burma and Ceylon. The close similarity, rarity of adult specimens in museum collections, and because no

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...

had studied this snakehead since its description, resulted in the subsequent acceptance of the synonymy by

ichthyologists Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

. In 2011, ''C. diplogramma'' was shown to be a valid species 134 years after it was synonymised, making it an endemic species of peninsular India.

Biology

''C. diplogramma'' shows multiple color phases during its life history, which makes local fishers believe that they are different species. The different specimens are also known by different

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

names (''pulivaka'', ''karivaka'', ''manalvaka'', and ''charalvaka''). All these specimen in different color phases occur sympatrically and use the same ecological habitats.

Distribution

The Malabar snakehead is endemic to the southern Western Ghats of peninsular India. It is known from the

Meenachil Meenachil is the north-eastern region of Kottayam district in Kerala, south India. The name originates from Meenakshi, the Hindu Goddess. Pala is the main city in Meenachil. The arterial river of the district is also named Meenachil. Geogra ...

Manimala Manimala is a small town and a village in Kottayam district in the Indian state of Kerala, situated about from the nearest town Kanjirappally. It's declared as a folklore village since 2011 by the central government to promote folklore. Ge ...

, Pampa, Achenkovil and

Kallada Kallada is a village in Kollam district of the Indian state of Kerala. Maharaja Marthanda Varma of the kingdom of Travancore was born there. The Kallada River passes through there and the famous Chittumala Sree Durga Devi temple is situated there ...

Rivers (and their reservoirs) in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, as well as the Chittar and Tambaraparani Rivers (and their reservoirs) in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

Identification

The Malabar snakehead differs from all other species in the genus by its high number of lateral line scales (103–105 vs. 36–91). It further differs from all other ''Channa'' species, except '' C. bankanensis'', '' C. lucius'', '' C. micropeltes'', and '' C. pleurophthalma'', by the presence of

gular Gular is of or pertaining to the throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separatin ...

scales, a patch of scales between the anterior tips of the lower jaws, visible in ventral view. ''C. diplogramma'' differs from ''C. bankanensis'', ''C. lucius'', and '' C. pleurophtalma'' by having a very different color pattern, and from its sister species ''C. micropeltes'' by a combination of characteristics, viz. number of caudal

fin ray Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as see ...

s, lateral line scales, scales below lateral line; total vertebrae, pre-anal length, and body depth.

Conservation status

The Malabar snakehead is listed as a vulnerable species in the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

in view of its restricted distribution, and threats including fishing, habitat loss, and pollution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Channa Diplogramma Malabar snakehead Fish of India Fish described in 1865