Snakehead (fish)
family of fishes
The snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with gills, which allows them to migrate short distances over land. They have suprabranchial organs, which are primitive forms of labyrinth organs, that develop when they grow older. The two extant genera are Channa in Asia and Parachanna in Africa, consisting of more than 50 species.
They are valuable as a food source and have become notorious as an intentionally released invasive species. These fish have been kept as pets, but as they get larger, people let them go into ponds, lakes, and rivers, making these fish invasive.
Description
The various species of snakeheads differ greatly in size; dwarf snakeheads, such as Channa orientalis, do not surpass 25 cm (10 in) in length. Most other snakeheads reach between 30 and 90 cm (12 and 35 in). Five species (C. argus, C. barca, C. marulius, C. micropeltes, and C. striata) can reach 1.0 m (3 ft 3 in) or more.
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This entry incorporates text from “Snakehead (fish)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.