Identification of my Snakehead

Introduction to the Identification Table of the Publisher

The many misidentifications in the history of the channa ichthyology are mostly due to the enormous color range of each channa species. One standard characteristic of identification since early ichthyology is the number of dorsal and anal fin rays. Additionally, it is the absence or existence of the pelvic fins (Before 1932, snakeheads with pelvic fins were named Ophicephalus and those without were named Channa). This table is arranged by the absence or existence of the pelvic fins, then the increasing number of dorsal rays. The third criteria is the number of anal rays. The fourth criteria is the number of scales of the lateral line. Thus, the first step of identification is very easy. The second step is to count the dorsal and then the anal rays. Look up the numbers in this table, if there is still a set of candidates, take time to count the scales of the lateral row (mLR). This criteria will finally identify your channa. The more ichthyological articles will get published here on www.snakeheads.org, the more other ways to identify channa you will see. But those are mostly inferior to this method as well as more complicate.

1.) Check wether it has a pelvic fins, if so, there are only 5 to 6 species possible. 2.) Count the dorsal rays, 3.) Count the anal rays. 4.) Look up the corresponding numbers in the below given table. If you cannot find it, start counting the scales along the lateral line (which needs some patience and some food for the fish to hold still on the ground). Another source of failure is the fact that each individual fish can have a ranging ray number count. Is it really impossible to identify the fish, go for the snakeheads.org gallery and try to identify the fish visually.

This table is only a humble starting point on channa identification. We promise, to build really cool interfaces for easy as well as complexe (not complicate!) access for identification and information retrievel on the identified species. We only need some time.

By the time, we do add other species than those originally published by Dr. Jörg Vierke. They are not explicitely mentioned.

Existence of pelvic fin	Number of dorsal rays	Number of anal rays	Lateral band with	Valid scientific name	Author of first description, year of description	Length in cm	Origin
No	D 31 - 34	A 20 - 22	mLR 41	Channa orientalis	BLOCH & SCHNEIDER, 1801	20	Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
No	D 36 - 37	A 24	mLR 42 - 46	Channa bleheri	Channa bleheri Vierke, 1991	15	Northeast-India
No	D 38	A 28	mLR 51	Channa burmanica	CHAUDHURI, 1919	12	Nothern Burma
No	D 44-46	A 26-30	mLR 51-58	Channa asiatica	LINNE, 1758	35	Southeast-China
No	D 47 - 51	A 31 - 33	mLR 55 - 63	Channa nox	ZHANG, MUSIKASINTHORN, WATANABE, 2002	18,93 (SL: IOZCAS 70028)	China (Guangxi province)
Yes	D 29 - 32	A 20 - 23	mLR 37 - 40	Channa punctata	BLOCH, 1793	35	India
Yes	D 31 - 37	A 20 - 23	mLR 41 - 45	Channa harcourtbutleri		16	Burma, Lake Inle
Yes	D 31 - 37	A 20 - 23	mLR 41 - 45	Channa gachua	HAMILTON, 1822	16	Southern/Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 32 - 35	A 23 - 24	mLR 39 - 41	Channa panaw	MUSIKASINTHORN, 1998	17 (Standard Length)	Irrawaddy and Sittang River basins, Myanmar
Yes	D 36 - 41	A 21 - 25	mLR 49 - 52	Channa melasoma	BLEEKER, 1851	36	Indonesia
Yes	D 37 - 46	A 23 - 28	mLR 50 - 57	Channa striata	BLOCH, 1793	100	Southern/Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 38 - 43	A 24 - 26	mLR 51 - 55	Channa cyanospilos	BLEEKER, 1853	21	Sumatra
Yes	D 39 - 40	A 27	mLR 47 - 50	Channa stewartii	PLAYFAIR, 1867	25	Northeast-India
Yes	D 39 - 42	A 29 - 31	mLR 64	Channa bankanensis	BLEEKER, 1852	24	Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 39 - 43	A 27 - 30	mLR 58 - 65	Channa lucia	CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, 1831	40	Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 40 - 43	A 27 - 29	mLR 76 - 90	Parachanna insignis	SAUVAGE, 1884	32	Central Africa
Yes	D 40 - 43	A 28 - 31	mLR 57 - 58	Channa pleurophthalma	BLEEKER, 1851	40	Indonesia
Yes	D 40 - 45	A 26 - 31	mLR 62 - 78	Parachanna obscura	GÜNTHER, 1861	35	Western Africa
Yes	D 41 - 46	A 26 - 30	mLR 55 - 58	Channa maculata	LACEPEDE, 1802	23	Southeast-China
Yes	D 42 - 49	A 30 - 34	mLR 74 - 84	Parachanna africana	STEINDACHNER, 1879	41	Central Africa
Yes	D 43 - 46	A 27 - 30	mLR 82 - 110	Channa micropeltes	CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, 1831	100	Southern/Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 44 - 47	A 28 - 31	mLR 54 - 57	Channa melanoptera	BLEEKER, 1855	65	Indonesia
Yes	D 45 - 47	A 28 - 30	mLR 51 - 54	Channa aurantimaculata	MUSIKASINTHORN, 2000	19 (Standard length)	Brahmaputra River basin at Dibrugarh (nothern Assam), India
Yes	D 45 - 55	A 28 - 36	mLR 55 - 70	Channa marulia	HAMILTON, 1822	120	Southern/Southeast-Asia
Yes	D 45 - 52	A 34 - 36	mLR 60 - 65	Channa barca	HAMILTON, 1822	32.9	India, Assam, North-Bengal, Bhutan
Yes	D 46 - 47	A 30 - 31	mLR 55 - 58	Channa marulioides	BLEEKER, 1851	27	Indonesia
Yes	D 48 - 53	A 33 - 38	mLR 61 - 75	Channa argus	CANTOR, 1842	80	Northeast-China
Yes	D 50	A 35	mLR 81	Channa amphibeus	MCLELLAND, 1845	23 (ZSI F11435/1)	Chel River basin in the Brahmaputra River drainage of northeastern India and Bhutan

Acknowledgement und Source(s)

The contents of this table is originally published in: Jörg Vierke - Räuberbande im Aquarium, Stuttgart 1993; ISBN 3-440-06583-9. The use of these data is acknowledged by the author. We want to encourage the reader to buy this book, it contains some wonderful channa photos of which we do not have the publishing permission. This book is out of print. We still do have some books for sale!!! Mail us for ordering