Channa stewartii (Playfair, 1867)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Channa stewartii is a species of dwarf snakehead in the family Channidae, which is native to Nepal and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It may also be found in Bangladesh. This freshwater fish mostly inhabits hill streams, but can also be found in ponds. It is of little value as a food fish but common in the aquarium trade.
It reaches up to 25 cm (10 in) in length.
The specific name honours Major Robert Stewart who was the Superintendent of Cachar in Assam, the type locality. Stewart gave Playfair a collection of specimens of fishes from Cachar, including the type of this one.
Wikipedia contributors, Channa stewartii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:17:16.486339+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Channa stewartii (Playfair, 1867)
- Name authority
- (Playfair, 1867)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anabantiformes
- Family
- Channidae
- Genus
- Channa
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnabantiformes
- suborderChannoidei
- familyChannidae Fowler, 1934
- genusChanna Scopoli, 1777
- speciesChanna stewartii (Playfair, 1867)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Channa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Channa hoaluensis Nguyen, 2011 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa bipuli Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Bleher, 2018 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa brahmacharyi Chakraborty, Yardi & Mukherjee, 2020 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa lipor Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Singh, 2019 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa quinquefasciata Praveenraj, Uma, Knight, Moulitharan, Balasubramanian, Bineesh & Bleher, 2018 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa rara Britz, Dahanukar, Anoop & Ali, 2019 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa stiktos Lalramliana, Knight, Lalhlimpuia & Singh, 2018 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa brunnea Praveenraj, Uma, Moulitharan & Kannan, 2019 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa aristonei Praveenraj, Thackeray, Singh, Uma, Moulitharan & Mukhim, 2020 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa amphibeus (McClelland, 1845) | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Channa andrao Britz, 2013 | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| snakeheadChanna argus (Cantor, 1842) | ChannidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ophiocephalus stewartii Playfair, 1867 Playfair, 1867 | synonym |
| Channa stewartius (Playfair, 1867) (Playfair, 1867) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1020816 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:TM4C. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.