Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Chitala chitala

Species of ray-finned fish From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chitala chitala
Remove ads

Chitala chitala (Assamese: চিতল sitawl, Bengali: চিতল, chitol) is a knifefish from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan,[1] found in the Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges and Mahanadi River basins.[2] It is sometimes known as the Indian featherback or Indian knifefish.[3] In the past, it frequently included several related Chitala species, but these are now regarded as separate species.[2][4] The main species confused with this species is C. ornata (clown featherback or clown knifefish); a Southeast Asian species seen regularly in the aquarium trade.[3] The true C. chitala is very rare in the aquarium trade.[3]

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...
Remove ads

Description

Thumb
C. chitala in Assam, India: Notice the stripes on the back and the dark spots on the lower rear part of the body (both relatively indistinct)

C. chitala reaches a maximum length of 122 cm (48 in), but more commonly reaches about 75 cm (30 in).[2] It is overall silvery in color. Unlike all its relatives, it usually has a series of golden or silvery bars along the back, resulting in a faint striped appearance.[3][4] Additionally, it has a series of fairly small, sometimes indistinct, non-ocellated dark spots towards the far rear of the body (at the "tail"). This separates it from C. ornata, which has ocellated spots (dark spots surrounded by a paler ring) and lacks bars along the back. The two species have frequently been confused.[2][3][4]

Remove ads

As food

Chital maasor jul, chital machher jhol, Chital Maccher Muitthya and Chital Maccher Peti are a regional delicacy in Bangladesh and neighbouring Assam and West Bengal in India.[5]

In religion

This species has a place in Hinduism as one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu; in the first incarnation of "Matsya", Vishnu was born as a golden knifefish to kill the demon.[6]

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads