This species is clearly unsuitable for the home aquarium given its eventual size and natural behaviour, and we know of only a handful of private aquarists with the facilities required to house it long-term.

The grouping currently contains four species but is in urgent need of review with a number of additional taxa thought to exist and B. yarrelli possibly representing a synonym of B. bagarius.

This species is also referred to as ‘giant’, ‘great’, ‘cobra’, or ‘Indian’ snakehead.

Although currently-considered to be distributed throughout much of southern Asia it is widely-accepted to represent a complex of related species in need of additional research.

A number of geographical variants exhibiting diffe…

It’s one of several genus members to lack pelvic fins and following Chaudhuri (1919) also has 51 lateral line scales, 38 dorsal-fin rays, 28 anal-fin rays, 12 caudal-fin rays, 15 predorsal scales, pectoral-fins with alternating dark and light bands, and white-tipped dorsal…

This species cannot be considered a suitable home aquarium‚ subject given its eventual size plus the fact it can live for‚ several decades.

It can be told apart from most oth…

Members of this assemblage can be told apart from other congeners by possession of 44–46 vertebrae, an adipose-fin with a relatively short base (< 20 % SL), a colour pattern comprising either distinct black spots arranged in vertical columns or irregular black vertical lines running along the flanks, and normally a reddish or orangish caudal-fin in life.

According to Kottelat (2012) L. manipurensis Arunkumar, 2000, which was described from Moreh, Manipur state, northeastern India, close to the border with Myanmar, is a syonym of L. micropogon.

Havird and Page (2010) differentiate the two based on caudal-fin patterning, predorsal length and ver…

Type locality is given as ‘Jiucheng, Yunnan Province, China’ which could refer to one of several places with the same name in southwestern Yunnan.

It’s also been collected in Tengchong and Lianghe districts, Yingjiang county, and all known localities are within the Daying river (Dayingjiang) watershed, a major tributary of the larger Irrawaddy/Ayeyarwady river syst…

Described from ‘Etok stream near Chanderkhong, southern watershed of the Naga Hills, Manipur, Assam’, located within the Chindwin River basin in northern India.

The Chindwin is the major tributary of the Ayeyarwady/Irrawaddy River and most of it flows within Myanmar although two of its own tributaries, the Manipur and Yu rivers, originate in the Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland.

P. chola was retained in Puntius sensu stricto, of which members are defined by the following combination of characters: adult size usually less than 120 mm SL; maxillary barbels absent or present; rostral barbels absent; 3-4 unbranched and 8 branched dorsal-fin rays; 3 unbranched and 5 branched anal-fin rays; last unbranched dorsal-fin ray weak or strong and unserrated; lateral line complete with 22-28 pored body scales…

Known only from a handful of streams in the upper Mali Hka river drainage, Ayeyarwaddy River system, near Putao township in the far north of Kachin state, northern Myanmar.

Type locality is ‘Nan Hto Chaung in Putao, about 1 mile from 46th regiment, close to rice mill’.