Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Anguilliformes (Eels)
Suborder: Congroidei
Family: Muraenesocidae (Pike congers)
Genus: Muraenesox
Species: M. bagio
Synonyms
Muraena bagio (Hamilton, 1822)
Muraenesox yamaguchiensis Katayama & Takai, 1954
Common/local names
English: Common pike conger
Bangladesh: Kamila (কামিলা)
Distributions: Indo-west Pacific (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).
Morphology: Body extremely elongated and eel shaped, anteriorly cylindrical and posteriorly compressed. Snout long and eye diameter about three times in snout length. Mouth very large, teeth generally large and conspicuous. Anterior nostrils tubular near anterior third of snout, posterior ones are holes in the middle third of snout. Tongue absent. Upper jaw longer and teeth in upper jaw in 2 series and in lower jaw in 3 series, caniniform (Rahman, 1989 and; Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Gill openings moderate. A constriction behind intermaxillary gives the jaw a resemblance to that of a crocodile (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Dorsal originates above gill opening. Pectorals rounded. Anal originates in the anterior half of the body. Dorsal and anal fins with thick layer of skin and continuous with very small caudal (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Head 6.0 in standard, height 15.0 in total length. Eye 11.0, snout 3.0, interorbital 1.0 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Brown or grayish brown with lighter in above and olive bronze in beneath. Dorsal and anal fins with edged with black (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Fin formula: D. 240; P1. 18; P2. absent; A. 222 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Maximum lengths: 88 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 15 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Habitats: Mainly estuarine but entering rivers (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000; Rahman, 1989 and 2005). They live over soft bottom down to about 100 meters (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Found in Hooghly estuary (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Fishery info: Nocturnal fish, not uncommon the in Hooghly estuary of India (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
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REFERENCES
Hamilton F (1822) An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.
IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.
Katayama M and Takai T (1954) A new conger-like eel, Muraenesox yamaguchiensis, from the Inland Sea of Japan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 3: 97-101.
Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 46-47.
Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 61-62.
Talwar PK and Jhingran AG (1991) Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 1, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 91-92.
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