The Chel snakehead fish, which is also known as the Channa amphibeus, was recently rediscovered in its native river after nearly nine decades.
The Chel snakehead was last seen between 1918 and 1933 in the Himalayan region of India, according to ABC News, but the search for decades after proved unsuccessful.
The rediscovered fish is recognizable by its yellow stripes and light green scales, but it is known for being elusive and for its “chrome-yellow to orange stripes, a bright neon patch beneath the eye, and a uniquely high number of lateral-line scales—the most among all snakeheads in the Gachua group,” according to the Tribune.
The Chel snakehead fish was found “on the banks of the Chel River in the town of Kalimpong in West Bengal,” ABC News reported.
Scientists rushed to find the Chel snakehead after receiving a tip that native Indigenous tribes in the area had been eating the seemingly-rare fish, to confirm its existence.
Somehow, the largest fish of the snakehead species remained undetected by scientists for nearly a century.
After decades of searching for this snakehead fish, it was officially considered rediscovered in 2024 in article published a few months later by Zootaxa, a self-described “Mega-journal for zoological taxonomists in the world.”
The rediscovery of the Chel snakehead was considered a significant accomplishment: “This long-standing mystery in Indian ichthyology reinforces the importance of continued exploration and highlights the persistence of biodiversity, even in species once thought lost to time,” the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation stated.
However, the tribe that had been eating the fish had known for decades that they were not truly extinct, but scientists had simply been unaware.
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @forrest.galante, Instagram
