Overview
Photos
Taxonomy
The Family Channidae is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Genus (4): Channa · Ophicephalus · Ophiocephalus · Parachanna
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 145 species and subspecies in the Family Channidae.
Genera
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 (Channa argus) and the giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes). Channa has a wide natural distribution extending from Iran in the West, to China in the East, and parts of Siberia in the Far East. They are one of the most common staple food fish in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and other South East Asian countries where they are extensively cultured. Apart from their importance as a food fish, snakeheads are also consumed as a therapeutic for wound healing as well as reducing post-operative pain and discomfort, and collected for the international aquarium pet trade. The diets of various species of Channa include fish, frogs, snakes, rodents, birds, and insects. Some can move on land like snakes, and breathe air.
The taxonomy of the genus Channa is incomplete and a comprehensive revision
of the family has not been performed. A phylogenetic study in 2010 [1] has also indicated the likelihood of the existence of more undescribed species of channids in South East Asia, In June 2011 the Malabar snakehead Channa diplogramma from the Peninsular India has been shown to be a distinct species, 146 years after its initial description and 134 years after it was synonymised with C. micropeltes, establishing it is an endemic species of peninsular, the study also suggested that the species shared a most recent common ancestor with C. micropeltes, around 9.52 to 21.76 MYA [2]. The most plausible scenario for the evolution of channids would be a vicariant divergence after the Gondwanaland split-up, of the genus Parachanna (the second genus of Channidae, endemic to Africa) into
Africa and the genus Channa into Eurasia [2,3]. [more]
Ophicephalus
Ophiocephalus
Parachanna
Parachanna is a genus of the Channidae family of snakehead fishes. Species of Parachanna are found in tropical Africa. [more]
At least 4 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Parachanna.
More info about the Genus Parachanna may be found here.
Bibliography
- Ozouf-Costaz C, Pisano E, Bonillo C, Williams R, Chromosome research : an international journal on the molecular, supramolecular and evolutionary aspects of chromosome biology. 1996 Dec;4(8):557-61.
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