''Channa marulius'', the bullseye snakehead or great snakehead, is a large species of
snakehead native to
South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
.
Populations in Southeast Asia are now regarded as separate species.
[Adamson, E. A. S. and R. Britz (2018). The snakehead fish Channa aurolineata is a valid species (Teleostei: Channidae) distinct from Channa marulius. Zootaxa 4514 (4): 542–552.][Adamson, E.A.S., R. Britz and S. Lieng (2019). Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae). Zootaxa 4571(3): 398–408.]
Taxonomy
''C. marulius''—as traditionally defined—is a
species complex
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
. A study published in 2017 showed that ''
C. pseudomarulius'', formerly regarded as a
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
of ''C. marulius'', is a valid species from the southern
Western Ghats. A
genetic study published the same year showed that ''C. marulius'' consisted of three clearly separated
lineages (not counting the already separated ''C. pseudomarulius''). One of these is ''
C. aurolineata'', revalidated in 2018 for the populations in drainages in
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
,
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, and non-natively in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
(separated from the more western ''C. marulius'' by the
Indo-Burman Ranges),
[ and the other was described as a new species, '' C. auroflammea'', from the Mekong basin in 2019.][ In India it is a widespread native fish. In South India, it is commonly found in reservoirs, in Pechipparai, Chittar, Manimuthar, Bhvani, and Mettur dams of Tamil Nadu, and Thenmalai, Neyyar, and Idukki dams of Kerala. It can also be found in the reservoirs of Himachal Pradesh, such as the Pong Dam (Maharana Pratap Sagar), where it is known locally as ''soal''. ''C. marulius'' is commonly known as giant murrel. In Assam, it is locally known as'' xal'' ( Assamese: শাল). In Andhra and Telangana, it is called ''korrameenu'', and is quite common in lakes and reservoirs. In Sindh, the larger one is referred to as Shakur (Sindhi: شاڪُرُ) and the smaller one as Mukur (Sindhi: مُڪُرُ).
]
Culinary
Bullseye snakehead is a fast-growing fish species when compared to most of the others of the genus, and they are also suitable for intensive culture due to their air-breathing habit. They are being sold live and fetch high prices in the market, due to their excellent-tasting flesh and lack of fine bones.
References
External links
*
*
Channa marulius
- USGS
{{Taxonbar, from=Q620617
marulius
Fish described in 1822
Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton