Country Species Summary

Chitala chitala in Nepal
Clown knifefish

Chitala chitala (Hamilton, 1822)
Family:	Notopteridae (Featherbacks or knifefishes)	picture (Chchi_u1.jpg) by JJPhoto
Order:	Osteoglossiformes (bony tongues)
Class:	Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name:	Clown knifefish
Max. size:	122 cm SL (male/unsexed; Ref. 4832)
Environment:	demersal; pH range: 6 - 8; dH range: 5 - 19
Climate:	tropical; 24 - 28°C
Global Importance:	fisheries: minor commercial; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: commercial
Resilience:	Very low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.)
Distribution:	Asia: Indus, Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mahanadi river basins in India. No valid records from Irrawaddy, Salween or other river basins of Myanmar. Reports of Chitala chitala from Thailand and Indo-China were based on Chitala ornata and those from Malaysia and Indonesia on Chitala lopis.
Diagnosis:	Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9-9; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft rays: 117-127. The only species in which subadults and adults have a series of transverse gold or silver bars on the dorsum, but this color feature is not always present (Ref. 7431). Differs from C. ornata in never having ocellated spots and from C. blanci and C. lopis in never having a black spot on the pectoral fin base (Ref. 7431). Young with 13 to 15 dark broad oblique cross bars on side of body. Pelvic fins uniting together at their base. Anal fin continuous with caudal fin (Ref. 4792).
Biology:	Inhabits freshwater rivers, lakes, beels, nullahs in the plains (Ref. 41236), reservoirs, canals and ponds (Ref. 1479). Feeds on aquatic insects, mollusks, shrimps and small fishes (Ref. 1479). Lays eggs usually on stake or stump of wood, male fans them with tail, keeps them aerated and silt-free, guards them against small catfish and other predators; complete give-away to fishermen; female not observed at egg posts; moderately important food fish (Ref. 2686). Spawns once a year during May to August (Ref. 6459)
Threatened:	Not Evaluated, see IUCN Red List , (Ref. 36508)
Dangerous:	harmless
Coordinator:
Main Ref:	Roberts, T.R.. 1992. (Ref. 7431)
Update \| Add

Nepal country information
Common names:	[ No common name ]	Ref:
Status:	native	Ref: Shrestha, T.K., 1990
Salinity:	freshwater
Uses:	no uses
Comments:	Found in plain rivers of Terai. Also Ref. 4832, 6351.
Country Information:	www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/np.html
Occurrences:	Occurrences Point map
Main Ref:	Shrestha, J., 1994
Update

More information:

Countries

FAO areas

Occurrences

Introductions

Ecosystem

Ecology

Diet

Food items

Food consumption

Ration

Predators

Ciguatera

Fish loss

Common names

Synonyms

Pictures

Sounds

Reproduction

Maturity

Spawning

Eggs

Egg dev.

Larvae

Larval dynamics

References

Growth

L-W relationship

L-L relationship

Length frequencies

Recruitment

Max. age & size

Metabolism

Morphology

Morphometrics

Gill area

Brains

Vision

Collaborators

Genetics

Allele frequencies

Heritability

Strains

Aquaculture

Aquaculture profile

Diseases

Ecotoxicology

Processing

Speed

Swim. type

Stamps

Note: No data are available if label is black .

Tools:

Internet sources:

Note: use the Back button of your browser to return to FishBase.

Modified: Froese, Rainer

Entered: Torres, Armi G.

CGNET - US

Page created by: Eli, 20.10.03, last modified by Eli, 26.06.07

	Ref.:		Glossary
		(e.g. 9948)		(e.g. cephalopods)
ThisFishForum Comments & Corrections Sign our Guest Book
Back to Search