Biology:Dwarf snakeheads

Channa orientalis drawing.
Francis Day (1889): The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. (Fishes, Volume 1 and Volume 2).

Dwarf snakeheads is term coined by aquarists to describe a group of snakehead fishes growing only 10 inches (25 cm) maximum.

The following snakeheads belong to this group:

• Channa bleheri
• Channa burmanica
• Channa gachua
• Channa harcourtbutleri
• Channa orientalis
• Channa stewartii

Channa Sp. Redfin, a variation of dwarf snakehead first described in 2007.

In addition to those scientifically described snakeheads, several other undescribed snakeheads belong to this group. Those are (with trade names)

• Channa species five-stripe
• Channa species lal-cheng, also known as blue bleheri and Channa spec. Assam
• Channa species true-blue, also known as Channa species galaxy-blue
• Channa species Redfin. Similar to Channa Gachua but has dots in the body and fin edges are draker.

Besides their commonality of being of small size, two other features characterize this group more specifically.

• Zoogeographically, they belong to the Indian ichthyofauna
• This species are all but one mouthbrooders. Channa bleheri is the only nestbrooding species of this group.

Further information

• For further taxonomic information see Channa on Wikispecies.

External links

• Comprehensive information on snakeheads at snakeheads.org