Pulchra snakehead
Channa pulchra
30 cm
Adult size
350 L
Minimum volume
1
Minimum group
12 years
Lifespan
Water parameters
Understand these values- Genus
- Channa
- Diet
- carnivore
- Social life
- solitary
In the wild
Overview
Described in 2007 by the German ichthyologist Ralf Britz, together with Channa ornatipinnis, Channa pulchra (“beautiful”) is a snakehead with blue-grey flanks dotted with dark spots and fins edged in a pale colour. Although sometimes called a “dwarf”, the species reaches 30 cm.
The IUCN lists it as data deficient: it is known only from one small basin in the Arakan Mountains.
- Scientific name
- Channa pulchra Britz, 2007
- Classification
- Anabantiformes › Channidae
- IUCN Red List
- Data deficient (DD)
Natural habitat
Headwaters of the Kyeintali Chaung basin, Arakan Mountains, Rakhine State (western Myanmar)
Observations (GBIF) and localities Native countries Rivers and lakes
It lives in the Kyeintali Chaung basin, in the Arakan Mountains (Rakhine Yoma), in western Myanmar.
Its streams are fast, clear, well oxygenated and relatively cool, under a subtropical climate: the water rarely exceeds 23 °C. Like all Channa, it breathes air at the surface.
Behaviour
A predator, it is kept alone or in a pair in a species tank; members of its species become rivals at maturity, and any fish that fits in its mouth is prey. A covered tank is essential, as Channa jump.
It feeds on fish, insects and crustaceans, and in the aquarium accepts shrimp, mussels and worms. British and German hobbyists have bred it; sources disagree on how it incubates its eggs (in a cave or in the mouth).
Sources:FishBase GBIF Wikipédia (en) · Base map: Natural Earth