Channa gachua ( Hamilton, 1822 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Eagderi, Soheil, Sungur, Sevil, Coad, Brian W & Hamdard, Mohammad Hamid, 2023, Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist, Zootaxa 5305 (1), pp. 1-69 : 45

Channa gachua ( Hamilton, 1822)

[N]—Dwarf snakehead

Taxonomy. Original description: Ophicephalus gachua Hamilton, 1822: 68 , 367, pl. 21, fig. 21 (ponds and ditches of Bengal; no types known).— Afghanistan synonyms: Ophiocephalus aurantiacus Hamilton, 1822 ; Ophicephalus coramota Cuvier, 1831 ; Ophicephalus fuscus Cuvier, 1831 ; Ophicephalus marginatus Cuvier, 1829 ; Ophicephalus montanus McClelland, 1842 .—Revisions: None.—Illustration: Hamilton (1822: pl. 21, fig. 21) as Ophiocephalus gachua ; Britz (2019: pl. 43).

Status in Afghanistan. First record from Afghanistan by Day (1876b: 367); confirmed by Balon and Hensel (1970), Coad (1981: 17 as Ophicephalus gachua ; 2014: 312; 2015: 229).—Afghanistan materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Afghanistan: Kabul River.—General distribution: South Asia: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India (West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goalpara, Visakhapatnam), Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Introduced in Yunnan ( China).—Habitat: This species is present in almost all wetlands. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Valuable for the aquarium trade.

Reasons of introduction. Ornamental fish industry.

Conservation. Conservation status in Afghanistan: Unknown.—IUCN: LC ( Chaudhry 2010d).—Threats: Threats are not expected, but further investigation is required following taxonomic revision.—Low sensitivity to human activities.—Not considered as a keystone species.—Decline status: Stable.—Low priority for conservation action.