![]() ![]() Snakeheads are known to migrate over short distances over land to find other waterbassins, using the ability to breath air. The genera Parachanna (native to parts of Africa) is described apart from the genera Channa because of a more primitive implementation of the airbreathing section. They appear to breathe air more frequently when swimming actively. Thus, their ability to breathe air when out of the water is limited. Unlike mammals they lack a diaphragm, and use water to exchange old air with fresh air each time they take a breath. These suprabranchial chambers are filled with folded tissues that have a high surface area, and allow oxygen change to occur directly between air and their blood. Unlike many other airbreathing fishes, channa have a series of cavities in the rear section of their head. However subadults and adults can also breath air to supplement their demand for oxygen. Snakeheads are in fact obligatory air breathers and must have air from the surface otherwise they will drown. Physical featuresĬhanna have an elongated body and are distinguished by their long dorsal fins large mouths full of teeth. They earn their common name Snakehead because their flattened shape and the scales on their heads that are reminiscent of the large epidermal scales on snakes.Ĭhanna have gills to breath water like most other fish. From 15 million years ago end on, the animals have spread by the expanding intertropical climate zone to parts of Europe, Africa and larger parts of Asia. Originįossiles dated from 50 million years ago indicate an origin in the southern Himalayas (India and East Pakistan). striata) can even grow up to 100 cm or even larger and can be considered monsterfish that are barely suitable for aquaria. ![]() Besides size, this intermediate category contains the most diversity in behaviour since some of the species are closer related to the dwarf species, and some relate more to the category of monsterfish.ĥ species (A. Most of the species grow to a maximum length of 30-90 centimeters. These species are most suitable for keeping in an aquarium because of their size and their relative docile temperament. The term dwarf snakeheads is coined by aquarists to describe a group of Channa species growing only 25 centimeters: Channa bleheri, Channa cachua, Channa orientalis and Channa andrao. The different species of Channa vary in size considerably. ![]() Vietnam, Korea, and China northward into Siberia.ģ species of the closely related genera Parachanna are native to parts of Africa. Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Sumatra, Indonesia, Southeastern Iran and eastern Afghanistan eastward through Pakistan, India, southern The genus Channa contains 31 species that are native throughout Asia from are native from They are a group of perciform (perch-like) fishes whose affinities are unknown, although recent studies on the molecular phylogeny of bony fishes consider snakeheads as most closely related to the labyrinth fishes (anabantoids) and the synbranchiform eels, which include the spiny eels. Channa, commonly known as Snakeheads, are primitive predatory fish and members of the family Channidae. ![]()
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