Synonyms:
Cyprinus bacaila Hamilton, 1822, Fishes of the Ganges, p.265.
Chela bacaila Day, 1878, Fishes of India. p.603.
Chela bacaila Shaw and Shebbeare, 1937, Fishes of Northern Bangal. p.19.
Chela bacaila Bhuiyan, 1964, Fishes of Dacca. p.46.
Oxygaster bacaila Rahman, 1974, Banglaesh J Zool.2(2). p.193.
Samostoma bacaila Banarescu, 1968, Rev. Roum. Biol.Zool.13(1). p. 4.
Samostoma bacaila Menon, 1974, Inland Fish. Soc. India publication No. 1, p. 9.
Common name: Large razorbelly minnow
Local name: Chela, Narkeli chela
Taxonomy position:
Phylum- Chordata
Class-Oesteichthyes
Order- Cypriniformes
Family- Cyprinidae
Genus- Salmostoma
Fin formula:
D. 10(2/8); P1. 12-13; P2. 9; A. 14-15(2/12-13). (Rahman, 2005)
Description of the species:
According to Talwar and Jhingran (1991), body is elongate and strongly by compressed; mouth is oblique, lower jaw with a well developed symphysial knob; scales are very small, dorsal fin inserted well in advance anal fin; a considerable space present between anal and caudal. Lateral line is concave. Body colour is dorsally darkish but the rest of the body silvery. Maximum length is 17.5 cm (Day, 1889), longest specimen in collection 142 mm (Rahman, 1989).
Habit and Habitat:
Widely distributed in rivers, ponds, beels and inundated fields in the study area. It is a surface feeder and is regarded as a useful larvivorous fish.
Economic importance:
Prefer by people as food, costly fish and tasty. This is used as bait and it is good in eating. It is esteemed as food on account of invigorating qualities of its flesh.
References:
Banarescu, 1968, Rev. Biol. (Zool). 13(1). 4p.
Bhuiyan, A. L. 1964. Fishes of Dacca. Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca. 148 pp.
Day, F. 1878. Fishes of India, being a natural history of fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India, Burma and Ceylon. William Dawson & Sons Ltd., London, Vol. I: 778 pp.
Hamilton, F., 1822. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches, Edinburgh & London, Fishes Ganges, 405 p.
Menon, A. G. K. 1974, A Checklist of the Fishes of the Himalayan and the Indo-gangetic Plains. Inland Fisheries Society India, Barrackpore, 136 pp.
Rahman, 1974, Banglaesh J Zool.2(2). p.193.
Rahman, A.K.A. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh. The Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000. 364 pp.
Rahman, A.K.A. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh (Second edition). The Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000. 394 pp.
Shaw and Shebbeare, 1937, The Fishes of Northern Bangal. Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal Science. p.124.
Talwar, P. K. and Jhingran, A. G., 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries. Volume 1 and 2. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, Calcutta. 1158 pp.
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