Channa harcourtbutleri

Channa harcourtbutleri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Superclass:	Osteichthyes
Class:	Actinopterygii
Subclass:	Neopterygii
Infraclass:	Teleostei
Superorder:	Acanthopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Channidae
Genus:	Channa
Species:	C. harcourtbutleri
Binomial name
Channa harcourtbutleri (Annandale, 1918)
Synonyms
Ophiocephalus harcourt-butleri Annandale, 1918 Channa harbourtbutleri (lapsus)

Channa harcourtbutleri is a species of snakehead endemic to Inle Lake^[1] and surroundings^[2] in Myanmar. Locally called nga ohn-ma, among aquarists it is known as one of the "dwarf snakeheads", but no significant import for aquarists is known. It is one of the smallest species of snakehead and has a length of 20 cm. The specific name honors Sir Harcourt Butler, a British governor in the region^[1].

This was for a long time considered to be a junior synonym of Channa gachua. In fact, both species closely resemble each other. The article on its revalidation^[3] only mentions 3 discriminating features like the missing ocellus in the dorsal fin of juvenile Channa harcourtbutleri. It is suspected to be a mouthbrooder and eats a wide range of foods including arthropods and small fish, but unlike in some relatives no frogs.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Annandale (1918)
2. ^ Roberts (2007)
3. ^ Ng et al. (1999)

References

• Annandale, Nelson Theodore (1918): Fish and fisheries of the Inle Lake. Records of the Indian Museum 14(1): 33-64. HTML fulltext
• Ng, H.H.; Ng, Peter K.L. & Britz, Ralf (1999): Channa harcourtbutleri (Annandale, 1918): a valid species of snakehead (Perciformes: Channidae) from Myanmar. Journal of South Asian Natural History 4: 57-63. HTML fulltext
• Roberts, Tyson R. (2007): The "Celestial pearl danio", a new genus and species of colourful minute cyprinid fish from Myanmar (Pisces: Cypriniformes). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 55(1): 131-140. PDF fulltext

External links

• "Channa harcourtbutleri". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=642753. Retrieved 18 April 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Channa harcourtbutleri" in FishBase. November 2005 version.
• snakeheads.org