You can sponsor this page

Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793)

Spotted snakehead
Upload your photos and videos
 Pictures | Google image

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Anabantiformes (Gouramies, snakeheads) > Channidae (Snakeheads)
Etymology: Channa: Greek, channe, -es = an anchovy (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Bloch.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical; 22°C - 28°C (Ref. 2059)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Yunnan in China.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 31.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4833); common length : 15.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6028)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Obligate air-breathing (Ref. 126274); Found in ponds, swamps, brackish water (Ref. 6028), ditches and beels (Ref. 1479). Adults prefer stagnant waters in muddy streams (Ref. 4833). Feed on worms, insects and small fish (Ref. 6028). Accept chopped fish and shrimp in the aquarium. Breed throughout the year. Mitochondrial hypertrophy, noted in the double cone of the retina of this species, is considered a basic process in oil droplet formation (Ref. 10557) believed to be an adaptation for enhanced visual contrast detection in turbid waters (Ref. 10407). Used as live bait for angling larger snakeheads.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Spawning usually takes place at night in shallow water with a silty substrate. Eggs are laid in nests through elaborate tunnels in vegetated areas which look like vertical columns of water with the eggs floating in the center (Ref. 205). The male and female move towards the center of the nest during spawning where the male entwines his body to the female moving upward while releasing the eggs to be fertilised (Ref. 45309). Eggs are guarded by one or both parents. Hatching takes place in a day (Ref. 6028).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Pethiyagoda, R., 1991. Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka. The Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka, Colombo. 362 p. (Ref. 6028)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 11 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: commercial; bait: occasionally
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00801 - 0.01307), b=2.98 (2.92 - 3.04), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.8   ±0.70 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 1.2 (0.9 - 2.4) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 11 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.2; Fec=2,300).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (18 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 144 [56, 374] mg/100g; Iron = 1.07 [0.71, 1.61] mg/100g; Protein = 17.5 [16.6, 18.4] %; Omega3 = 0.138 [0.069, 0.274] g/100g; Selenium = 29.4 [12.4, 70.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 55.9 [26.3, 115.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.27 [0.86, 1.81] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.