Apparently native to Peninsular Malaysia plus the Greater Sunda Islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. Reports of this species from the Mekong, Chao Phraya, and other rivers in Indochina refer to the congener L. rubripinna (see ‘Notes’).

Type locality is ‘Indonesia: Borneo: Kalimantan Selatan: Banjarmasin’.

Has been recorded in fast-flowing environments but most commonly associated with peat swamp forests and associated blackwater streams.

Many such habitats have suffered degradation of some kind but in unaltered cases the dense canopy of branches above means very little light penetrates the surface of such environments, and riparian vegetation also tends to grow thickly.

C. micropeltes is also referred to as ‘Indonesian’, ‘red’, or ‘redline’ snakehead, the latter names in reference to the appearance of juveniles which often appear in the ornamental trade despite its unsuitability for home aquaria. It is somewhat hyperbolised in the media as a fearsome, invasive “monster” fish with a reputation for killing more fish than it can eat, and even the occasional human, although in reality…