INDIANANGLER

For Guys (Including Me )who thought Toman (Channa micropeltes ) is not found in India.....

The discussion ws on this Thread ( http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.p ... ight=toman ) & http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.php?t=789

There's a Good News.....

One of My friends from Thailand had caught couple of Medium size Toman from Around Mangalore Area yesterday....

When told abt this ....Didn;t believe him ....thought it could be a Common Snakehead (Channa marulius)....

But when he sent the Pics.....Had to believe.....

Earlier was told that He had caught some Big Tomans from that Area,but didn;t have the pics...

So All the Snakehead Anglers who wanted to Target Toman ,
Don't Have to go to Thailand ,Malaysia or Hongkong anymore....

Attaching Pics

Hi,

THis is just too crazy. Thanks for the info. Considering the fact that there are so many different types of Murrels I wouldnt be surpried if this one is a variant / or a new one!


Jeen

There are well documented reports of Toman from Kerala but the fish in the photo's doesn't have the colours to convince me just yet.
That said, I don't know at what size the colours start to show and this could be a juvinile.

Hi Ken .....

As per the Pics that i have seen of the Toman caught in Thailand & South East Asia, shows different colorations of the Fish,

am not sure what age if they change colors or it depends upon Maturity or water color,
but attaching Pic's of a Bigger specimens caught by Jean-Francois Helias that share the same colors ,& Even the Pectoral & Caudal Fin & Eyes Look the same with the Pics i Posted above.,

But again I cud be also be wrong....

hey viper,

great going..

is that caught on a popper..

regards,
pranav..

Yes Pranav...

it was caught using Skitter Popper...

Hi guys,

Colour is never a reliable feature for a fish species. They can vary greatly. The main difference between a murrel and toman is in the shape of the mouth. These pics show that it's probably a toman, although there's one or two other snakehead species that can be very similar.

The largest toman I have ever encountered was about 5 ft long. Spotted it in a large impoundment. I estimated it to be at least 35 or 40 kg.! River or small stillwater toman will not grow as big, depending on avaiable bait fish stock. 10 kg is a specimen.

One interesting anecdote. I was fishing at Mysore pool at Galibore, when I spotted a small snakehead in the shallows (about 10-in. long), which I'd swear was a toman! Alien fish?

JB
><<:>

The mystery has finally been solved!
I've seen pics of other Giant Snakehead that were almost black like this one. The teeth and head are a give away, thats no murrel.

Just a word of caution: Toman are top predators. They can grow fast because of their gluttonous nature. Do not introduce them to new waters!!

Toman protect their eggs and hatchlings, so more of them survive, so their population can increase fairly fast. Thus toman can dominate a given fishery. You may soon lose some of the local species!

We have this problem, here in Malaysia, with introduced toman, though it's not as bad as other alien species like peacock bass (cichla monoculas).

The Cauvery already has tilapia and striped cichlids, I pray that species like toman do not get into the system.

Regards,
JB

><<:>

Thats Interesting

Maybe we are too late & Toman might be already in our River systems,

Couple of weeks back...had been to Upstream of galibore with My friend to do some spinning for Murrals & he had hooked onto a Gaint Fish, was a very Big Snakehead fish of more than 4ft length.....right in the Middle of the River near a Big Rock,had straighten all the trebles of the Size 6 spinner with custom Hooks.....He swears that its not a Mahseer, But ws the Big Murral with Funny Colors,not the usual....

Hey guys,

Read this..
[Channa marulius: This species is a large snakehead with adults commonly reaching lengths of 120-122 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1992). In Maharashtra State, India, it can reach a length of 1.8 m and a weight of 30 kg, and was observed to reach a length of 30 cm in 1 year (Talwar and Jhingran, 1992).]

Link: http://fisc.er.usgs.gov/Snakehead_circ_ ... inued.html

Santosh

the snakeheads on the top post are channa micropeltes, the second one is a Marulioides, it's a marulius, the big ones from India actually but as the Malaysian one.
Marulius and Marulioides is actually the same species, but with some colour difference ^^ and they live in different regions.

Micropeltes in India..Well now I'm back on that topic again.
There's a FEW micropeltes breeded in India, and most of the snakeheads down in the southern state is Channa Diplogramma, and it's a Micropeltes but the Indian one.
The difference is that the indian "giant snakeheads" get a few cm smaller! ;<
AND they only exist in South India. SO FAR! And..Very rare!

Aircut,

Thanx for the info!

So, that small "toman" I saw in the Cauvery could be the real McCoy?!

And judging from your info, toman may NOT be dominant in India?!

It's a real wonder, how the same species thrive differently in different regions. And I dont think it's to do with food supply alone. Some facts I'd like to share:

- The goonch (Bagarius bagarius/yarelli) in Malaysia is far smaller than it's India brother: 16 kg is about tops.

- The Malaysian mahli (Wallago attu) gets far bigger than its India brother: 110-kg in my books, with 20 - 40 kg being typical.

- The marulloides (called "flower toman, here) in Malaysia grows to only 5 kg. But its India and Pakistan brothers (cousins?) grow far bigger.

How big do catla grow, incidentally? There's a local record here in Malaysia, of a fish of some 40-kg landed from an impoundment.

Regards,
JB

http://img32.imageshack.us/i/picture249hi.jpg/

http://img33.imageshack.us/i/picture250y.jpg/

1 more Toman/Giant Snakehead

"tomans" can be found in In, but it's not the Micropeltes who can be found in India.
The "Toman" species which can be found in India is Channa Diplogramma. Diplogramma and Micropeltes are almost the same.
But Diplogrammas are worth more and more rare.
The tiny difference is that, Micropeltes get a little bit bigger than the diplogramma, otherwise they're the same. They'll give you the same fight while you're fishing

The ones caught in india are the channa diplogramma the ones with the fame Thai fisherman Jean Franco helias are the channa micropeltes
The difference between the 2 the ones in India have blue tinge finnage and the spots clearly see with the picture where the fish is on the ground on the top of the fish they are smaller and less aggressive than the micro peltes . I hope this helps .

Beautiful murrel loved the color on the first pic.

Thanks for sharing Viper

Want to see more catches of this type...

Thanks and Regards
Arish

I may have got there first . And distribution definitely in the Muvattupuzha river draining south of cochin. Read the full story right here !
http://www.indianangler.com/viewtopic.php?p=58869#58869

She was just below 3 feet and 4.55Kgs.