Channa marulius

{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{Speciesbox | image = Channa marulia.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Chaudhry, S. |date=2010 |title=''Channa marulius'' |volume=2010 |article-number=e.T172328A6868796 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T172328A6868796.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Channa marulius | authority = (F. Hamilton, 1822) | synonyms = *''Ophicephalus marulius'' Hamilton, 1822 *''Ophicephalus grandinosus'' Cuvier, 1831 *''Ophiocephalus grandinosus'' Cuvier, 1831 *''Ophicephalus sowara'' Cuvier, 1831 *''Ophicephalus leucopunctatus'' Sykes, 1839 *''Ophiocephalus theophrasti'' Valenciennes, 1840 *''Ophiocephalus aurolineatus'' Day, 1870 | synonyms_ref = <ref name = fishbase/> }}

'''''Channa marulius''''', the '''bullseye snakehead''' or '''great snakehead''', is a large species of snakehead native to South Asia.<ref name=fishbase>{{FishBase | genus = Channa | species = marulius | month = January | year = 2006}}</ref> Populations in Southeast Asia are now regarded as separate species.<ref name=Adamson2018>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.</ref><ref name=Adamson2019>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.</ref>

==Taxonomy== thumb|right|upright|A bullseye snakehead in an artificial habitat ''C. marulius''—as traditionally defined—is a species complex. A study published in 2017 showed that ''C. pseudomarulius'', formerly regarded as a synonym of ''C. marulius'', is a valid species from the southern Western Ghats.<ref>Britz, R., E. Adamson, R. Raghavan, A. Ali and N. Dahanukar (2017). Channa pseudomarulius, a valid species of snakehead from the Western Ghats region of peninsular India (Teleostei: Channidae), with comments on Ophicephalus grandinosus, O. theophrasti and O. leucopunctatus. Zootaxa 4299(4): 529–545.</ref> A genetic study published the same year showed that ''C. marulius'' consisted of three clearly separated lineages (not counting the already separated ''C. pseudomarulius'').<ref>Conte-Grand, C., Britz, R., Dahanukar, N., Raghavan, R., Pethi-yagoda, R., Tan, H.H., Hadiaty, R.K., Yaakob, N.S. & Rüber, L. (2017). Barcoding snakeheads (Teleostei, Channidae) re-visited: Discovering greater species diversity and resolving perpetuated taxonomic confusions. PLoS ONE, 12 (9): e0184017.</ref> One of these is ''C. aurolineata'', revalidated in 2018 for the populations in drainages in Myanmar, Thailand, and non-natively in the United States<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Adamson|first1=Eleanor A. S.|last2=Britz|first2=Ralf|date=July 29, 2019|title=The Mae Khlong Basin as the potential origin of Florida's feral bullseye snakehead fish (Pisces: Channidae)|url=https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/app/uploads/2018/11/RBZ-2019-0032.pdf|journal=Raffles Bulletin of Zoology|volume=67|pages=403–411|via=ZooBank}}</ref> (separated from the more western ''C. marulius'' by the Indo-Burman Ranges),<ref name=Adamson2018/> and the other was described as a new species, ''C. auroflammea'', from the Mekong basin in 2019.<ref name=Adamson2019/> 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 (కొర్రమీను)'', 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).

<ref>{{Cite web |title=شاڪر مڇي: (Sindhianaسنڌيانا) |url=http://www.encyclopediasindhiana.org/article.php?Dflt=شاڪر%20مڇي |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=www.encyclopediasindhiana.org |language=sd}}</ref> ''C. marulius'' are also found in Sri Lankan waterways, It is found in the Northern dry zone and where it also have two other subspecies .<ref name=c/>'''''Channa ara''''' and '''''Channa cf. Ara''''' . '''Channa Ara''' which is known as Kalumaha ( Sinhala : කලුමහ ) has a deep black body with numerous white to gold speckles on the underside. C. ara is an endemic species to the Mahaweli River basin.<ref name=c/> It grows up to about 50–65 cm in average. Though specimens with a size around 90–100 cm were recorded in the past. They are threatened mainly due to overfishing and collection for the ornamental fish trade.<ref name=c>Chawin Tanpitayakupt and Chaipat Ngambutsabongsophin, CHANNA CRAZY คนคลั่งช่อน (CHANNA CRAZY), Aquarium Biz, Vol. 4 Issue 42 (December 2013) {{in lang|th}}</ref>

The other subspecies of ''C. marulius'', ''Channa'' cf. ''Ara'', which is found in the Rivers and Tanks of South western wet zone. C. Ara grows to an average length of 55–68 cm in the wild and have a slender body shape unlike its larger subspecies, C. Ara<ref name=c/>

==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== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Wikispecies-inline}} * {{ITIS |id=166663 |taxon=Channa marulius}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081206154128/http://fisc.er.usgs.gov/Snakehead_circ_1251/html/channa_marulius.html Channa marulius] - USGS

marulius Category:Fish described in 1822 Category:Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton