The Barca snakehead (''Channa barca'') is a rare species of snakehead. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the upper

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese language, Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan, the Siang/Dihan ...

basin in northeastern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Records from

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

are of doubtful validity. Overall it has been assessed as

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

, and in 2014 it was assessed as

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

in Bangladesh by the IUCN. In Assam, it is locally known as ''cheng garaka'' or ''garaka cheng''. This is a relatively large snakehead, reaching a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of up to . The species is regarded as an excellent

food fish Many species of fish are caught by humans and consumed as food in virtually all regions around the world. Their meat has been an important dietary source of protein and other nutrients in the human diet. The English language does not have a s ...

, and it is also highly desired by aquarists, but its rarity, behavior and large size makes it unsuitable for most aquariums.SeriouslyFish
Channa barca
Retrieved 14 February 2019.

Distribution, habitat and behavior

The barca snakehead is only known from the upper Brahmaputra River basin the

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

in India, and

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

in Bangladesh. Records from

are of doubtful validity. It mostly inhabits wetlands, often near the margins, but can also be seen in riverine habitats.Choudhury, M., and S.P. Biswas (2003). Maturity and spawning habit of an ornamental snakehead fish Channa barca (Hamilton). J. Ecophysiol. Occup. Hlth. 3: 149–152.Goswami, M.M., B. Arunav, and P. Janardan (2006). Comparative biometry, habitat structure and distribution of endemic snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) species of Assam, India. Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India 38(1): 1–8. It is able to withstand large variations in water temperature and oxygen levels as its habitat experiences large seasonal changes in flood levels. It often inhabits a vertical tunnel that typically is around long and goes down to the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

. The tunnel ends in a chamber where the fish may spend the dry season when the wetlands above it disappear. Some other snakeheads that inhabit the same general region as the barca snakehead have also been reported to "

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most ...

" during the dry season, including the closely related orange-spotted snakehead (''C. aurantimaculata'').Gogoi, N., L.P. Hazarika and S.P. Biswas (2016). Studies on the reproductive biology and captive breeding of an endemic fish from Assam Channa aurantimaculata. Journal of Environmental Biology 37: 369–374. The overall conservation status of the barca snakehead is poorly known, but it appears to generally be a scarce or rare species. The species is highly carnivorous, feeding mostly on fish. Little is known about the breeding behavior, but like its nearest relatives it is likely a

mouthbrooder Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a va ...

. Maturity may occur when only long, but most individuals are around two or three times that size before they reach it. The breeding season is prolonged and begins when the

beel A beel (Bengali language, Bengali and Assamese language, Assamese: বিল) is a billabong or a lake-like wetland with static water as opposed to moving water in rivers and canals - typically called in Bengali, in the Ganges - Brahmaputra ...

s they inhabit are flooded by pre- monsoonal rain in April–May. The species has a low

fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the capability to produc ...

and both parents take care of the young.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q150496 Barca snakehead Goalpara Fish described in 1822