Feed Converted Murrel Fish Seed

Freshwater aquaculture is an economy generating and rural development tool. Murrel is considered to be the most economical freshwater fish species which can be cultured. They belong to the family “Channidae” and is also called as snake-head fish. Murrel is one of the indigenous air breathing fish; there is a suprabranchial accessory respiratory organ in the murrel head. It can even survive in lower dissolved oxygen levels. This fish is identified by its dark brown colour with light black stripes over the body. Murrel fish is one of the popular freshwater and tasty fish in India. The fish has a lot of regional preferences. While it is the State fish of Telangana, people prefer murrel over any other fishes in many States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar and North Eastern Region. Andhra Pradesh is the second largest fish farming region in the country with 0.8 million hectares of inland water bodies producing 1.24 MT annually. Murrel is predatory inhabit and feed on variety of fauna present in the water. However, the high demand and high market value and their capacity to withstand in adverse weather conditions make them suitable candidate species for aquaculture. The most important aquaculture species of murrel in India is the striped murrel (Channa striatus), the great snakehead murrel (Channa marulius) and the spotted snakehead (Channa punctatus). The culture technology is standardized for striped murrel. Murrel has high demand and high market value in India. It has a huge potential for murrel culture in freshwater areas when it is cultured with best management practises. Local names of murrel fish in India Murrai (Hindi), Korameenu, Koramatta (Telugu), Viral meen (Tamil), Korava, Vatton, Varal (Malayalam), Cheng, Shol (Bengali), Maral (Marathi), Hal (Assamese) and Gadisha (Oriya)