Giant Snakehead

Fascinating facts about the Giant Snakehead

• A fish that can stretch up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) and weigh up to 30 kg (66 lb) makes the giant snakehead one of the biggest members of its family.
• When just two months old, the youngsters flaunt bright red bodies with orange-black stripes, only to shed the colors as they grow and adopt a sleek bluish-black and white pattern, a dramatic makeover that hints at their shifting role from vulnerable fry to top-level hunter.
• Equipped with a primitive lung behind the gills, this fish can gulp air at the surface and crawl short distances across mud, letting it survive in oxygen-poor swamps where other fish would suffocate, a reminder that lungs aren’t just for mammals.
• Introduced by humans, the species now swims in six U.S. states, from Maine to Wisconsin, yet none have formed lasting populations, illustrating how climate barriers and accidental releases can still limit even a hardy invader.
• In Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake, mature females are targeted by a special fishery to curb their spread.

At a glance

About the Giant Snakehead

The giant snakehead, Channa micropeltes, can reach 1.8 m (5.9 ft) and weigh up to 30 kg (66 lb). Juveniles are red with orange and black lateral stripes that fade after about two months, after which adults develop a bluish-black and white pattern on the upper body. In the aquarium trade these juveniles are sold as "red snakeheads," and mature individuals are sometimes called "freshwater great whites." They inhabit murky rivers, swamps, and flood-plain lakes of Southeast Asia’s Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, where they can survive in stagnant, low-oxygen water by gulping air with a primitive lung located behind the gills. This adaptation also allows short trips onto land in muddy areas, though they cannot hunt while on land because their small fins cannot support their large bodies. They are voracious predators that will eat anything that fits in their mouths.

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