Giant snakehead

Large snakehead fish ( Channa micropeltes )

The Great snakehead fish ( Channa micropeltes ) is one of the largest species of the family of snakehead fish.

Features

Channa micropeltes has the typical elongated body shape of all snakeheads. It reaches a length of up to 130 cm with a weight of up to 20 kg. Young animals are initially colored entirely orange, a little later they also show narrow black longitudinal stripes. With the continued growth of the orange hue is more and more and the black drawing becomes more dominant. On the flanks seen in adult animals a broad black stripes. The belly is white, on the back of it, the Fish a black and white drawing irregular. The dorsal fin extending over almost the entire length of the body. The caudal fin is rounded and not notched. The anal fin extends over about 1/3 of the body length. The pectoral fins are rounded. C. micropeltes has pelvic fins. The massive head is relatively large, the huge foot column is slightly upper constant and extends to behind the eyes.

Origin and Distribution

The species inhabits the basin of the Mekong and Chao Phraya, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. There they can be found in almost all types of freshwater.

Nutrition

C. micropeltes feeds mainly on other fish and shellfish. They eat almost anything that fits into their big mouths.

Others

Juveniles of the species are occasionally offered as an aquarium fish. The attractive color of the pups occasionally leads to purchase this fish. For entertainment in the home aquarium, however, the animals soon become too large. For anglers, this fish is a popular Art In their homeland, the fish are used as food fish.