Channa gachua is a species of snakehead

Channidae

The Snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to Africa and Asia. These elongated predatory fish are distinguished by a long dorsal fin, large mouth and shiny teeth. They breathe air with a suprabranchial organ, a primitive form of a labyrinth organ...

. It is a species of dwarf snakehead and has a length of 20 centimetres (8 in). It gave its name to the aquarists' term dwarf snakeheads

Dwarf snakeheads

Dwarf snakeheads is term coined by aquarists to describe a group of snakehead fishes growing only maximum.The following snakeheads belong to this group:*Channa bleheri*Channa burmanica*Channa gachua*Channa harcourtbutleri...

 to denote the smaller Channa

Channa

Channa is a genus of the Channidae family of snakehead fishes. This genus contains about 29 species, but the most well known are probably northern snakehead and the giant snakehead . Channa has a wide natural distribution extending from Iran in the West, to China in the East, and parts of Siberia...

 species

• Channa bleheri
  Channa bleheri
  The Rainbow snakehead, Channa bleheri, is a species of snakehead. Its type location is Dibrugarh, the most north-eastern area of Assam, India. It is known in Assamese as Sengeli....
  
  
• Channa burmanica
  Channa burmanica
  Channa burmanica is an endemic species of snakehead from Northern Burma. It is a very small species of snakehead that is included in the group of Dwarf snakeheads. Its colouring closely resembles that of Channa gachua and Channa bleheri. It is very rarely found in pet shops...
  
  
• Channa harcourtbutleri
  Channa harcourtbutleri
  Channa harcourtbutleri is a species of snakehead endemic to Inle Lake and surroundings in Myanmar. Locally called nga ohn-ma, among aquarists it is known as one of the "dwarf snakeheads", but no significant import for aquarists is known. It is one of the smallest species of snakehead and has a...
  
  
• Channa orientalis
  Channa orientalis
  Channa orientalis is a dwarf snakehead species. It is commonly called ceylon snakehead. They are freshwater fish that grow to a maximum size of 10 cm/4 inches. They originate from southwest of the island of Sri Lanka. They are predatory fish that feed on plankton, insects and sometimes small...
  
  
• Channa stewartii

It can be found in Asian countries from Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 to Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. Modern ichthyology

Ichthyology

Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...

 considers this fish to be a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 complex, i.e. that it consists of several closely related species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. Because of its pretty coloration and small size, it is an attractive fish and is commonly kept in aquaria

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

. It is a mouthbrooder

Mouthbrooder

Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a variety of different animals, most notably Darwin's...

 and eats a wide range of foods including insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s, small fish but no animals like frogs. It is a hardy fish that can tolerate large changes in temperature and acidity.

Channa gachua is often confused with Channa orientalis

Channa orientalis

Channa orientalis is a dwarf snakehead species. It is commonly called ceylon snakehead. They are freshwater fish that grow to a maximum size of 10 cm/4 inches. They originate from southwest of the island of Sri Lanka. They are predatory fish that feed on plankton, insects and sometimes small...

 an endemic species from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. In Indian ichthyology, Channa gachua is considered to be a junior synomym of Channa orientalis, because it was described by Markus Elieser Bloch 20 years before Hamilton described Channa gachua. The major morphological

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

 difference between the two species is that Channa gachua has ventral fins and Channa orientalis does not. Besides that there are many differences in their breeding behavior, like the number of offspring and others.

Channa gachua can also hardly be distinguished from another closely related Channa species called Channa harcourtbutleri

Channa harcourtbutleri

Channa harcourtbutleri is a species of snakehead endemic to Inle Lake and surroundings in Myanmar. Locally called nga ohn-ma, among aquarists it is known as one of the "dwarf snakeheads", but no significant import for aquarists is known. It is one of the smallest species of snakehead and has a...

 inhabiting Lake Inlé in Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

.

External links

• Ng, H.H.; Ng, Peter K.L.; Britz, Ralf 1999: Channa harcourtbutleri (Annandale, 1918): a valid species of snakehead (Perciformes: Channidae) from Myanmar.Journal of South Asian Natural History. Vol.4: 57-63.