Channa striata-The Haruan

The lure of the Snakehead

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Perciformes

Family: Channidae

Genus: Channa

Species: C. striata

THE search for giant haruan has taken many of my fisho friends to wild ponds in

the interior or secluded places around the country but nothing could match the

size of the fish caught recently on a trip to the southern part of peninsular

Malaysia.

In the outing to Malacca and Johor, both my buddies James Fam and Ah Hock

landed rare, extraordinarily-sized haruan which are difficult to find these days.

They caught a 4kg and 3.8kg specimen, respectively, which was a record of sorts

for them.

They too were surprised by the extra large catch, thinking at first that they had

hooked a toman instead of the haruan or snakehead.

Like the toman, the giant haruan can also give an extraordinary fight to anglers.

Big one: Ah Hock and his 3.8kg haruan.

The fish, which had given a ferocious hit on the plastic frogs used as lures by

James and Ah Hock, had still not been landed after some 15 minutes as it put up

a good fight after the initial strike. The fish managed to put in a run that almost

emptied their spools, followed by a furious tug of war.

It was a hard-fought battle and the brute force from the fish really tested the

medium-heavy rods used by the two anglers. At one point, the rods took a severe

beating, curving to a semi U-shape, as the fish refused to give up but fought back

with brute strength as it struggled to free itself.

While haruan is still a common local fresh water species found in many places

around the country, especially in lakes, paddy fields, irrigation canals and old

mining ponds, catching anything above 1.5 to 2kg is rare these days.

There are many haruan hunters amidst the anglers and when news of such a find

gets to them, you can bet to your last dollar that they would invade the site

sooner or later.

So what is so good about haruan fishing that makes fishos hunt for this fish?

Hooked: James managed to bag a 4kg haruan.

Aside from the adrenaline rush of fighting the fish, perhaps it is its medicinal

value. According to the old wives’ tales, the fish is believed to be an effective

remedy for quite a few ailments.

The Chinese believe that juvenile haruan, cooked in some herbs, is good for

post-operative recovery. Apparently, although it has not been proven

scientifically, the soup and the meat from the fish boiled in this special

preparation would heal the wound quicker.

Taking haruan, according to some, would also prevent scarring and this is,

apparently, highly-recommended for children.

I believe that the many tales of the haruan has encouraged fishos to hunt for the

fish. As the result, the many haruan found in the wild have been constantly

caught, leaving very little opportunity for them to grow bigger.

Aside from its medicinal value, the sheer brute force in the haruan’s fight, the

ability to spot or stalk the species in a pond covered with snags or weeds and tall

grasses, makes the hunt interesting as it gives anglers an adrenaline rush.

Low-cost: Plastic frog lures used to catch haruan these days.

But, unlike those days, where one would use live frogs to lure the haruan from

their hideout, spinner bait like bushwacker and artificial soft plastic frogs are

popular among anglers now. They are not only easy to use, effective and long-

lasting, but cheaper in terms of costing.

I was a bit apprehensive of the effectiveness of artificial lure and prefer the real

thing but after several successful outings using soft plastics, I now have them in

my tackle box.

But despite these changes in catching the haruan, the fishing techniques remain

the same. One would still have to wait for a few seconds to allow the haruan to

hold on to the bait in its mouth before taking the strike.

As for the rod, a long and stiff stick is still the best. As for me, I prefer a seven-

footer fitted to a small reel, the 2000 series, with breaded line to do the job.

Aside from a good and strong rod, one also needs to be extra sensitive to the

surroundings when catching Haruan in the wild. An angler not only must have a

sharp eye to spot the Haruan movements among the weeds and tall grasses

along the bank as it surfaces for a breather but also a good listening ear and

ability to differentiate the splashing sound of the fish as it navigates and lurks for

its prey in the wild.

One also needs to be skillful in casting, to be able not only to draw quickly but flip

the bait accurately or as close to where the haruan had been spotted to taunt it to

take the bait.

Haruan fishing has always been fascinating. However, the challenge now for me

is to be able to catch an even bigger Haruan that James and Ah Hock.

To do this, we are now planning to venture further into the interior, to explore and

find untouched wild ponds to try out our luck. Happy fishing!

THE CROSS STRIPED SNAKEHEAD CHANNA STRIATA (BLOCH, 1793)

Jörg Vierke

Striated snakeheads in South and Southeast Asia, the most common snake heads, they are called "Common Snakehead" called. Although they live in rivers and canals, but more often in ponds, ponds, swamps, marshes, and even in rice fields and in brackish water. Even in the mountains you meet Striated snake heads on. There they achieve lower sizes.

Locations are in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Peninsular India, southern China, Burma, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, the islands of Indonesia, including Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas and Timor. They are also naturalized in the Philippines and Hawaii.

Striated according to the snakeheads are large circulation area stained highly variable. Unlike some other snake heads, the color barely changed depending on the particular mood of the animal. Adult animals usually have 6 to 15 dark transverse stripes on the side, showing the V-shaped forward. The top can be greenish, gray or brown, the sides are white, gray or yellowish.

Deraniyagala (1952) describes the youth coloring cross Striped snakehead fish from Sri Lanka: Up to a size of 15 mm, they are bright colored orange, then they turn first mainly to back and bottom inconspicuous, so that at 25 mm large animals of the orange color only an indistinct longitudinal stripes remained.The dark horizontal stripes appear only at about 40 mm long animals. With them also an eye-speck-like structure forms at the back edge of the Rükkenflosse. With age, the stain disappears.

Young Channa striata, which I had brought from Thailand (surrounding area of Bangkok), stained exactly as described above animals from Sri Lanka.

The robust animals are neither the water nor on the type of food specific claims. However, they are very voracious and fast-growing, also quite aggressive.In the long run you will not be able to keep more than one animal in just mid-sized pool.

Ch striata also has been repeatedly bred in captivity. But to do this big tank is recommended. The animals should be scheduled at least 20 inches tall.

Detailed reports on the breeding behavior in open water there is of Sri Lanka ( WILLEY ) and the Philippines (HERRE): choose a quiet, lush place, the adult birds and bite them off all water plants. After laying eggs, the eggs float in a thin film under the water surface and sharp guarded by the male. The amber-colored, sometimes bright yellow spawn grains have a diameter of 1.2 to 1.5 mm.

Hatching occurs depending on the temperature after 1 to 3 days. The larvae are then 3.5 mm long. After 4 days they have already reached 6.75 mm and 20 mm total length in the ninth week. Usually both parents seek the young fish that stay together in a dense swarm and old at the same time come up for air at the water surface. From a size of 5 to 6 cm of the swarm cohesion of the boys began to dissolve.

This paragraph is originally published in: Jörg Vierke - band of robbers in the aquarium, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-440-06583-9. The use of synthesis data is acknowledged by the author. We want to Encourage the reader to buy this book, it contains some wonderful photos channa End of month we do not have the publishing permission.

CROSS STRIPED SNAKEHEAD

Rüdiger Riehl

Hans A. Baensch - mergus@t-online.de

Channa striata Bloch 1793

Synonyms

Ophiocephalus striatus , Ophicephalus striatus , Ophicephalus vagus .

Occurrence

Sri Lanka, India, China, Thailand, the Philippines to the Moluccas. Naturalized in Hawaii.

First import

Questionable.

Gender differences

Not known.

Social behavior

Robber, who is soon alone inhabit the basin, as all other residents have become his prey.

Keeping conditions

Good planted aquariums with soft ground. For large animals sufficiently strong filtering because of the high attack of metabolic products. pH 7-8; hardness to 20 GCH

Cultivation

In nature: the parents bites on Laichort off all plants. Male guards the eggs floating on the water surface and later for 4 - 6 weeks the pups. However, these can also be prey to the adult animals. The eggs hatch after 1-3 days. After 9 weeks, the juveniles already reached 17-20 mm in length (after Smith).

Feeding plan

Live food of all kinds

Features

Important food fish in Southeast Asia, but no aquarium fish. Young animals are very tame and curious, during the breeding season, the females may not have been caught because they do not bite! The species can survive for months in self gebuddeIten sump holes, as long as the skin remains moist - even if the water is almost dried up. Is this the explanation for the wide distribution of this species?

Temperature: 23-27 ° C Length: . 90cm bowl length: . 120 cm water region: lower, middle of difficulty: 4 (for food) .

Acknowledgement and source (s)

What this text originally published in: Aquarium Atlas Volume 1 page 830 The publishers have snakeheads.org granted the right to display it on the org's site. The copyright of the text is silent with the authors in full amount.

Common names of Channa striatan = 127

See Market names

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Qأس ثعبانّيQالّر المخّطQط

Global Arabic FAO No

Haal India AssameseVernacula

rNo

Shawl India AssameseVernacula

rNo

Obog Philippines BantonVernacula

rNo

Bado Indonesia Batak TobaVernacula

rNo

Haruting Indonesia Batak TobaVernacula

rNo

Shol Bangladesh BengaliVernacula

rNo

Taki India BengaliVernacula

rNo

Bulig Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Haroan Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Sulbud Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Talosog Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Terebog Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Torabó Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Utan Philippines BikolVernacula

rNo

Bale salo Indonesia BugisVernacula

rNo

Nga-yan Myanmar BurmeseVernacula

rNo

Nga-yau-auk Myanmar BurmeseVernacula

rNo

Stribet slangehovedfisk

Denmark DanishVernacula

rNo

Banded snakehead

India EnglishVernacula

rNo

Chevron snakehead

USA English AFS No

Chevron snakehead

Hawaii EnglishVernacula

rNo

Chevron snakehead

Global English FAO old No

Mudfish Philippines EnglishVernacula

rNo

Murrel Sri Lanka EnglishVernacula

rNo

Murrel Fiji EnglishVernacula

rNo

Murrel Philippines EnglishVernacula

rNo

Pongee Hawaii EnglishVernacula

rNo

Snakehead mudfish

Philippines EnglishVernacula

rNo

Snakehead murrel

Global English FAO old No

Striped snakehead

Australia EnglishVernacula

rNo

Striped snakehead

India EnglishVernacula

rNo

Striped snakehead

USA EnglishVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Striped snakehead

Global English FAO No

Stripped snakehead

Bangladesh EnglishVernacula

rNo

Raitakäärmeenpää

Finland FinnishVernacula

rNo

Tête de serpent strié

Global French FAO No

Quergestreifter Schlangenkopf

Germany GermanVernacula

rNo

I'a pâkç Hawaii HawaiianVernacula

rNo

Morl India HindiVernacula

rNo

Morrul India HindiVernacula

rNo

Soura India HindiVernacula

rNo

Gabus Indonesia IbanVernacula

rNo

Dalag Philippines IlokanoVernacula

rNo

Bayong Indonesia JavaneseVernacula

rNo

Deluk Indonesia JavaneseVernacula

rNo

Gapuran Indonesia JavaneseVernacula

rNo

Kapuran Indonesia JavaneseVernacula

rNo

Kutuk Indonesia JavaneseVernacula

rNo

Koochinamari India KannadaVernacula

rNo

Kuchheu India KannadaVernacula

rNo

Kuchhu India KannadaVernacula

rNo

Pooli-kuchi India KannadaVernacula

rNo

Bundaki Philippines KapampanganVernacula

rNo

Dolla India KashmiriVernacula

rNo

Phtok Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Ptuok Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Ros Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Trey phtuok Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Trey ras Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Trey raws Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Trey ros (or ras) Cambodia KhmerVernacula

rNo

Lawag Philippines KuyunonVernacula

rNo

Pa kaw Laos LaotianVernacula

rNo

Pa kho Laos LaotianVernacula

rNo

Pba kaw Laos LaotianVernacula

rNo

Aruan Malaysia MalayVernacula

rNo

Delak Indonesia MalayVernacula

rNo

Gabus Indonesia MalayVernacula

rNo

Haruan Indonesia MalayVernacula

rNo

Haruan Malaysia MalayVernacula

rNo

Ruan Malaysia MalayVernacula

rNo

Telak Indonesia MalayVernacula

rNo

Toman Malaysia MalayVernacula

rNo

Toman paya Malaysia MalayVernacula

rNo

പു�ള്ളി� വരാ�ല് India MalayalamVernacula

rNo

Chotiyan India MalayalamVernacula

rNo

Kaunan India MalayalamVernacula

rNo

Varal India MalayalamVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

线鳢 China Mandarin ChineseVernacula

rNo

線鱧 China Mandarin ChineseVernacula

rNo

纹鳢 Global Mandarin Chinese FAO No

Aluan PhilippinesMaranao/Samal/

Tao SugVernacula

rNo

Amanu PhilippinesMaranao/Samal/

Tao SugVernacula

rNo

Dalag PhilippinesMaranao/Samal/

Tao SugVernacula

rNo

Dalak PhilippinesMaranao/Samal/

Tao SugVernacula

rNo

Dekhu India MarathiVernacula

rNo

Dok India MarathiVernacula

rNo

Mangsha India MarathiVernacula

rNo

Sohr India MarathiVernacula

rNo

सो�रा� India NepaliVernacula

rNo

Helae Nepal NepaliVernacula

rNo

Saura Nepal NepaliVernacula

rNo

Sola India OriyaVernacula

rNo

Guelue-guelue Philippines PangasinanVernacula

rNo

Żmijogłów pręgowany

Poland PolishVernacula

rNo

Carrodh India PunjabiVernacula

rNo

Dhoali India PunjabiVernacula

rNo

Sowl India PunjabiVernacula

rNo

Loolla Sri Lanka SinhaleseVernacula

rNo

Cabeza de serpiente cabrío

Global Spanish FAO No

Randig Ormhuvudfisk

Sweden SwedishVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Anak dalag Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

Bakuli Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

Bulig Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

Bundaki Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

Bundalag Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

Dalag Philippines TagalogVernacula

rNo

வி�ரல் வி�ர�ல் India TamilVernacula

rNo

வி�ர�ல் India TamilVernacula

rNo

Karuppu veral India TamilVernacula

rNo

Viral wrahl India TamilVernacula

rNo

Vraal India TamilVernacula

rNo

Korra matta India TeluguVernacula

rNo

Korramenu India TeluguVernacula

rNo

Sowrah India TeluguVernacula

rNo

ปลาช่�อน Thailand ThaiVernacula

rNo

Pla chon Thailand ThaiVernacula

rNo

Cá Ló, cá Sộp Viet Nam VietnameseVernacula

rNo

Cá lòc Viet Nam VietnameseVernacula

rNo

Cá lót (lóc) Viet Nam VietnameseVernacula

rNo

Cá quả Viet Nam VietnameseVernacula

rNo

Cá träu Viet Nam VietnameseVernacula

rNo

Aluan Philippines VisayanVernacula

rNo

Haluan Philippines VisayanVernacula

rNo

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Haruan Philippines VisayanVernacula

rNo

Market names of Channa striata

Common Name

Used in Language Type Official Trade Name

Snakehead Thailand English Market No

Striped snake head murrel

Myanmar English Market No