''Kurtus indicus'', the Indian humphead, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh, brackish, and marine waters of the coastal regions of southern Asia from India to southeast China and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It resembles the closely related '' K. gulliveri'', but is far smaller, only reaching a length of .Berra, T.B. (2003). ''Nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri (Perciformes: Kurtidae), from northern Australia: redescription, distribution, egg mass, and comparison with K. indicus from southeast Asia.'' Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 14(4): 295-306. Although it has been suggested that the male carries the egg cluster on a hook protruding from the forehead (as known from ''K. gulliveri''), available evidence strongly suggests this is not the case in ''K. indicus'': Out of several thousand examined, none carried eggs in this manner and the male's hook is likely also too small. The female lacks the hook entirely. It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries.

References

Kurtidae Fish described in 1786 {{Kurtiformes-stub