If you find the concept of a drowning fish strange, remember that snakeheads are not the only obligatory air breathers. Snakeheads are in fact obligatory air breathers and must have air lest they drown. They are primarily able to do so because of their paired suprabranchial chambers which are lined with respiratory epithelia (skin modified to absorb atmospheric oxygen) enabling them to use atmospheric oxygen as sub-adults and adults. One unusual feature is the snakeheads' tolerance of low oxygen levels. 'Kerala five stripe' - have already reached the aquarium trade. There are two genera (Channa, Parachanna) containing 34 species (31 Channa and three Parachanna), although the diversity is much greater and several undescribed species, particularly from India - for example, Channa sp. These fish are naturally distributed from south-eastern Iran and eastern Afghanistan eastwards to China, northwards to Siberia and southwards to Java, and from the White Nile westwards to the Senegal and Chad river drainages and southwards to the Congo river drainage in Africa. Snakeheads are members of the family Channidae, a group of perciform (perch-like) fishes whose affinities are unknown, although recent studies on the molecular phylogeny of bony fishes consider snakeheads as most closely related to the labyrinth fishes (anabantoids) and the synbranchiform eels, which include the spiny eels. They earn their name because their flattened shape and the scales on their heads are reminiscent of the large epidermal scales on snakes. They have been thrust into the limelight because of the picture painted of them as an aquatic invasive species but, whatever your opinion, snakeheads make great aquarium fish if given proper care. Any discussion of predatory oddball fish for the aquarium will invariably feature a snakehead or two.
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