Chitala chitala

Chitala chitala
Conservation status

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Notopteridae
Genus: Chitala
Species: C. chitala
Binomial name
Chitala chitala
F. Hamilton, 1822

Chitala chitala (Bengali: চিতল, Tamil: அம்பட்டன்வாளை, சொட்டைவாளை or அம்புட்டன் வாழ) is a knifefish from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan,[1] where found in the Indus, Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mahanadi River basins.[2] It is sometimes known as the Indian featherback.[3] In the past it frequently included several related Chitala species, but these are now regarded as separate species.[2][4] The main species confused with this species is C. ornata (clown featherback or clown knifefish); a Southeast Asian species seen regularly in the aquarium trade.[3] The true C. chitala is very rare in the aquarium trade.[3]

Description

Chitala chitala in Assam, India. Notice the stripes to the back and the dark spots on the lower rear part of the body (both relatively indistinct)

Chitala chitala reaches a maximum length of 122 cm (48 in), but more commonly reaches about 75 cm (30 in).[2] It is overall silvery in color. Unlike all its relatives, it usually (but not always) has a series of golden or silvery bars along the back, resulting in a faint striped appearance.[3][4] Additionally, it has a series of fairly small, sometimes indistinct, non-ocellated dark spots towards the far rear of the body (at the "tail"). This separates it from C. ornata, which has ocellated spots. The two species have frequently been confused.[2][3][4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 S. Chaudhry (2010). "Chitala chitala". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 3.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Chitala chitala" in FishBase. May 2014 version.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Seriously Fish: Chitala chitala. Retrieved 24 May 2014
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Roberts, T.R. (1992). Systematic revision of the old world freshwater fish family Notopteridae. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 2(4):361-383.

External links