Dwarf Snakehead

conservation

Conservation. Conservation status in Afghanistan: Unknown. — IUCN: LC (Chaudhry 2010 d). — 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.

Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist

discussion

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

Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist

distribution

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.

Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist

discussion

Remarks. Channa gachua regularly cited in many papers may be erroneous according to Conte-Grand et al. (2017). They propose that the species is involved in a complex of two widespread phylogenetic lineages. They advise that C. gachua should be used for describing specimens encountered in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Rakhine region) and C. limbata should be applied for specimens occurring in Myanmar towards Vietnam, southern China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia. Until further clarification emerges, our checklist adopts C. aff. gachua for specimens found in Perak.

Provisional checklist of freshwater fish diversity and distribution in Perak, Malaysia, and some latest taxonomic concerns