page_title: Channa
section_title: Species
hierarchical_section_title: Channa / Taxonomy / Species
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Channa andrao im Aquarium English: The dwarf snakehead from West Bengal
context_page_description: Channa is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakehead, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extending from Iraq in the west, to Indonesia and China in the east, and parts of Siberia in the Far East. A particularly high richness of species exists in Myanmar and northeastern India, and many Channa species live nowhere else. In contrast, a few widespread species have been introduced to several regions outside their natural range where they often become invasive. The large and medium-sized Channa species are among the most common staple food fish in several Asian countries and they are extensively cultured. Apart from their importance as a food fish, snakeheads are consumed in some regions as a traditional medicine for wound healing and reducing post-operative pain and discomfort, and collected for the international aquarium pet trade.
  All snakeheads are highly predatory and the diets of the various species of Channa include fish, amphibians, snakes, rodents, birds and invertebrates.
context_section_description: There are currently 50 recognized species in this genus:
  Channa amphibeus (McClelland, 1845) (Borna snakehead)
  Channa andrao Britz, 2013
  Channa argus (Cantor, 1842) (northern snakehead)
  Channa asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) (small snakehead)
  Channa aurantimaculata Musikasinthorn, 2000
  Channa aurantipectoralis Lalhlimpuia, Lalronunga & Lalramliana, 2016
  Channa auroflammea Adamson, Britz and S. Lieng, 2019
  Channa aurolineata (F. Day, 1870)
  Channa bankanensis (Bleeker, 1853)
  Channa baramensis (Steindachner, 1901)
  Channa barca (F. Hamilton, 1822) (Barca snakehead)
  Channa bipuli Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Bleher, 2018
  Channa bleheri Vierke, 1991 (rainbow snakehead)
  Channa brunnea Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Kannan, 2019
  Channa burmanica B. L. Chaudhuri, 1919
  Channa cyanospilos (Bleeker, 1853)
  Channa diplogramma (F. Day, 1865) (Malabar snakehead)
  Channa gachua (F. Hamilton, 1822) (dwarf snakehead)
  Channa harcourtbutleri (Annandale, 1918) (Burmese snakehead)
  Channa hoaluensis Nguyen, 2011
  Channa kelaartii (Günther, 1861)
  Channa limbata (Cuvier, 1831)
  Channa lipor Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Singh, 2019
  Channa lucius (G. Cuvier, 1831)
  Channa maculata (Lacépède, 1801) (blotched snakehead)
  Channa marulioides (Bleeker, 1851)
  Channa marulius (F. Hamilton, 1822) (great snakehead)
  Channa melanoptera (Bleeker, 1855)
  Channa melanostigma Geetakumari & Vishwanath, 2011
  Channa melasoma (Bleeker, 1851) (black snakehead)
  Channa micropeltes (G. Cuvier, 1831) (giant snakehead)
  Channa ninhbinhensis V. H. Nguyễn, 2011
  Channa nox C. G. Zhang, Musikasinthorn & Watanabe, 2002 (night snakehead)
  Channa orientalis Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801 (Ceylon snakehead)
  Channa ornatipinnis Britz, 2008
  Channa panaw Musikasinthorn, 1998 (Panaw snakehead)
  Channa pardalis Knight, 2016
  Channa pleurophthalma (Bleeker, 1851)
  Channa pomanensis Gurumayum & Tamang, 2016
  Channa pseudomarulius (Günther, 1861)
  Channa pulchra Britz, 2007
  Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) (spotted snakehead)
  Channa quinquefasciata Praveenraj et al., 2018
  Channa rara Britz et al., 2019
  Channa royi Praveenraj et al., 2018  (Andaman emerald snakehead) — likely a synonym of C. harcourtbutleri
  Channa shingon M. Endruweit, 2017)
  Channa stewartii (Playfair (fr), 1867) (Assamese snakehead)
  Channa stiktos Lalramliana, Knight, Lalhlimpuia & Singh, 2018
  Channa striata (Bloch, 1793) (striped snakehead)
  Channa torsaensis Dey, Nur, Raychowdhury, Sarkar, Singh & Barat, 2018 (cobalt blue snakehead)
caption: Channa andrao
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