2019/06/27 by J. Praveenraj, A. Uma, Nallathambi Moulitharan +1 · 2 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Fish Biology and Ecology Studies #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
paper · doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4624.1.4
openalex publication_date 2019/06/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Channa brunnea, a new species of snakehead fish lacking pelvic fins, from West Bengal, India, is distinguished from its pelvic fin-less congeners by possessing an uniform dark brown body, ochre to bright-orange blotches on the caudal fin, fewer dorsal and anal-fin rays (35-37 vs. 47-51 and 24 vs. 28-32, respectively), fewer vertebrae (43 vs. 45-57), and fewer lateral-line scales (43-46 vs. 51-63). Though Channa brunnea superficially resembles C. bleheri, it can be distinguished from the latter by possessing dark-brown oblique markings on the upper half of the body; transverse scale rows (4½-5½ vs. 3½); pre-anal scales (22-26 vs. 17-20); 2 rows of teeth in the fifth ceratobranchial, the outer row with 16 large conical teeth (vs. 3 rows of teeth, the outer row with 13 large conical teeth); dentary with 20 large, stout, conical teeth in the inner row (vs. 32 medium-sized conical teeth); and a Kimura's two parameter (K2P) distance of 9.8-10.6%.