Assam Forest Department officials recently intercepted a smuggling attempt involving over 500 'Channa Barca' fish valued at Rs 4.5 crore at Dibrugarh airport.
About Channa Barca:
Channa Barca, also known as the Barca Snakehead, is a primitive predatory fish and member of the family Channidae.
“Pipli Cheng” or “Cheng Garaka” is the local name for Channa Barca.
Distribution:
It is endemic to the upper Brahmaputra river basin in northeastern India and Bangladesh.
In India, it is restricted to the states of Assam and Nagaland in northeastern India but is scarce andnever collected in numbers.
Habitat:
It inhabits vertical burrowsaround the margins of wetlands, which typically become dry during the winter months.
The fish use them as refuges during the dry winter months, emerging to hunt and breed while the habitat is flooded.
Since it is a rare, ornamental fish, it is in high demand in the international market and is susceptible to illegal trade.
Conservation Status: Overall, it has been assessed as data deficient by the IUCN, and in 2014, it was assessed by the IUCN as critically endangered due to habitat loss.
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