Channa argus (scientific name: Channa argus) is a fish of the genus Channa. The front of the body is cylindrical and the back is flat. The body color is gray-black, the back and top of the head are darker, the abdomen is pale, there are irregular black patches on the side of the body, and there are black stripes on the side of the head; The odd fin has black and white spots, and the lateral fin is grayish yellow with irregular spots.
The head is long, the kiss is short and blunt, the mouth is big and the teeth are small. Small eyes and two pairs of nostrils. The back and sides of the body are dark black, and the abdomen is lighter. There are many irregular blue-black spots on the side of the body, and there are three vertical black stripes on the side of the head from behind the eyes. The upper one starts from the snout and extends to the upper corner of branchial foramen after passing through the eye. The next two lines start from the bottom of the eye and end at the base of pectoral fin along the head side. There are black and white patterns on dorsal fin, anal fin and caudal fin. The pectoral fin and ventral fin are light yellow; There is a black spot at the base of pectoral fin.
Life habits of snakehead;
Ophiocephalus argus is a benthic fish, which usually lives in still water or micro-flowing water with overgrown aquatic plants and soft sediment, and is distributed in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, ponds and other waters. Often dive to the bottom of the water to swing its pectoral fins to maintain body balance.
Snakehead has strong adaptability to the changes of environmental factors in water, especially to hypoxia, water temperature and poor water quality. When the water is short of oxygen, it can expose its head from time to time. With the help of the suprabranchial device, which is composed of the upper branchial bone on the back of the first branchial arch and the bone piece extended from the glossopharyngeal bone, the oxygen in the air can be directly breathed. Therefore, it can survive for a long time even in humid areas with little water and no water.