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Teleostei (teleosts) > Anabantiformes (Gouramies, snakeheads) > Aenigmachannidae (Gollum snakehead fishes)
Etymology: Aenigmachanna: Name from Latin word 'aenigma', for enigma, and Channa, the genus name of Asian snakeheads; gollum: Named after the character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s books ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Gollum is a creature that went underground and during its subterranean life changed its morphological features; noun in apposition.
Eponymy: The genus and these species are named after the fictional character, Gollum, in J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Asia: India.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 9.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 120401)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

This species is distinguished from species of Channa and Parachanna by the following unique characters among channids: very slender with maximum body depth only 11.1-11.3% SL; eel-like body with head length only 20.8-21.6% SL; a large mouth with jaw length 60.4-61.1 % HL; A 43-44; absence of a body lateral line with pored scales; scales in a lateral series 83-85; colour pattern and absence of buoyancy; differs from other channids by having 64 vertebrae, D 56-57, and absence of pelvic fins (Ref. 120401).

Collected from a paddy field (Ref. 120401).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Britz, R., V.K. Anoop, N. Dahanukar and R. Raghavan, 2019. The subterranean Aenigmachanna gollum, a new genus and species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Kerala, South India. Zootaxa 4603(2):377-388. (Ref. 120401)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Vulnerable (VU) (B1ab(ii,iii)+2ab(ii,iii)); Date assessed: 28 February 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = No PD50 data [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.4 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Aenigmachanna gollum Britz, Anoop, Dahanukar & Raghavan, 2019