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Indian Chaca
Chaca chaca (Hamilton, 1822)
Also calledchaka indonéská (ces) · Сомик-хака (rus)
Chaca chaca is a species of angler catfish found in the Ganges-Brahmaputra River system of India and the Ayeyarwady River of Myanmar, where it is found in rivers, canals and ponds of grassland, scrubland, deciduous forest and rainforest habitats. It is a bottom-dwelling species that inhabits sandy, muddy, or soft substrates where it buries itself for both protection and ambush predation. In Assam, it is locally known as kurkuri. Chaca chaca is occasionally seen in the aquarium trade as an ornamental species due to its unusual appearance and behavior.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
materials_examined
1 ex.; Bangladesh, Dhaka Division, Dhaka, Sonargaon and adjacent areas, lat: 23.72, long: 90.44, elev: 25; 2013 - 09 - 01 - 2013 - 09 - 30; (Table 6).
Saidabad Water Treatment Plant Project, Phase III
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Chaca chaca has a highly cryptic appearance with a flattened, broad head and body. The fish is well-camouflaged with mottled coloring that helps it blend into muddy or sandy substrates. The previously documented maximum length was 20.0 centimetres (7.9 in), but a specimen of 23.8 centimetres (9.4 in) total length was collected in 2024, representing a new maximum size record for the species.
What it does
Chaca chaca is an ambush predator with several specialized adaptations for its feeding ecology. Unlike most fish species, C. chaca completely lacks gill rakers on the pharyngeal side of the gill arches. This absence is considered an adaptation that facilitates the smooth swallowing of prey items without hindrance, particularly important given the species' ability to consume prey nearly as large as itself. The fish uses a luring and angling behavior to attract prey, and when ready to strike, rapidly opens its large mouth to create a vacuum that pulls water and prey into its capacious oral cavity. The oral and pharyngeal regions contain numerous taste buds, many located at the summit of epithelial protuberances, which enhance gustatory efficiency for food selection before swallowing.
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Chaca chaca in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2337568.