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Chitala chitala (Hamilton, 1822)

Clown knifefish
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Chitala chitala
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Osteoglossiformes (Bony tongues) > Notopteridae (Featherbacks or knifefishes) > Notopterinae
Etymology: Chitala: Bangladesh local name; chitala: From rivers of Bengal & Behar.
More on author: Hamilton.

Issue
new combination

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

Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 6.0 - 8.0; dH range: 5 - 19. Tropical; 24°C - 28°C (Ref. 2060)

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

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.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 75.5  range ? - 91 cm
Max length : 122 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4832); common length : 75.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2686)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9; Anal spines: 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).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Facultative air-breathing (Ref. 126274); Adults inhabit freshwater rivers, lakes, beels, nullahs in the plains (Ref. 41236), reservoirs, canals and ponds (Ref. 1479). Feed on aquatic insects, mollusks, shrimps and small fishes (Ref. 1479). Females lay eggs usually on stake or stump of wood, males fan them with tail, keep them aerated and silt-free, guard them against small catfish and other predators; complete give-away to fishermen; females not observed at egg posts; moderately important food fish (Ref. 2686). Spawn once a year during May to August (Ref. 6459).

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

The male tends the clutch (Ref. 2060).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Roberts, T.R., 1992. Systematic revision of the old world freshwater fish family Notopteridae. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 2(4):361-383. (Ref. 7431)

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

  Near Threatened (NT) ; Date assessed: 28 May 2010

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
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Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
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References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5166   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01288 (0.00527 - 0.03148), b=3.05 (2.84 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.7   ±0.59 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 3.7 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=2).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (48 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 72.1 [24.2, 211.9] mg/100g; Iron = 1.51 [0.55, 3.74] mg/100g; Protein = 17.4 [15.7, 19.1] %; Omega3 = 0.358 [0.132, 0.991] g/100g; Selenium = 104 [32, 279] μg/100g; VitaminA = 17.1 [3.8, 70.3] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.686 [0.386, 1.490] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.