Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Clupeiformes (herrings)
Suborder: Clupeoidei
Family: Clupeidae (Herrings (shads, sprats, sardines, pilchards, and menhadens)
Subfamily: Alosinae (Shads)
Genus: Gudusia
Species: G. chapra
Synonyms
Alausa microlepis Valenciennes, 1847
Clupanodon cagius Hamilton, 1822
Clupanodon chapra Hamilton, 1822
Clupea champil Gray, 1834
Clupea chapra (Hamilton, 1822)
Clupea indica Gray, 1834
Clupea suhia Chaudhuri, 1912
Gudusia godanahiai Srivastava, 1968
Common/local names
English: Indian river shad
Bangladesh: Chapila (চাপিলা) and Khoira (খয়রা)
India: Koroti and Karati (Assam); Coori, Khira and Khoira (West Bengal); Suiya and Suhia (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh); Chappera, Pharanda and Palla (Punjab); and Gudua (Orissa) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Distributions: Bangladesh and India (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).
Morphology: Body deep and laterally compressed. Body depth 2.6-3.2 times in SL with 26-29 scutes along belly (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). 80-110 (Bhuiyan, 1964); 85-105 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005); 77-91 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) scales in lateral series. A single triangular pectoral axillary scale.
Body color brown on back, silvery or golden flanks. A blackish blotch just behind gill-opening (shoulder spot), often followed by a series of spots along flank.
Fin formula:
D. 14-16; A. 21-25; P. 13; V. 8; C. 19 (Bhuiyan, 1964)
D. 14-15 (3/11-12); P1. 13 (1/12); P2. 7; A. 23-25 (2/21-23) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D iv 11-13; A (ii) iii 19-22; P i 12-13; V i 7 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. 17; P. 15; V. 9; A. 18-21; C. 19 (Shafi and Quddus, 2001)
Maximum lengths: 14 cm TL (Bhuiyan, 1964), 20 cm TL (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 15 cm SL (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Habitats: Inhibits rivers (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Rivers and streams of Bangladesh; also in ponds, beels, ditches and in inundated fields (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Migrates to beels and jeels during rainy season (Bhuiyan, 1964).
Food and feeding: Surface dweller (Bhuiyan, 1964; Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Fishery info: Contributes to riverine artisanal fisheries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Caught in abundance from July to September (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).
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REFERENCES
Bhuiyan AL (1964) Fishes of Dacca, Asiat. Soc. Pakistan, Pub. 1, No. 13, Dacca, pp. 11-12.
Chaudhuri BL (1912) XXXV. Descriptions of some new species of freshwater fishes from north India. Records of the Indian Museum (Calcutta) 7(5): 437-444.
Cuvier G and Valenciennes A (1847) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome dix-neuvième. Suite du livre dix-neuvième. Brochets ou Lucioïdes. Livre vingtième. De quelques familles de Malacoptérygiens, intermédiaires entre les Brochets et les Clupes. Histoire naturelle des poissons. 19: i-xix + 1-544 + 6 pp., Pls. 554-590.
Gray JE (1834) Illustrations of Indian zoology; chiefly selected from the collection of Major-General Hardwicke, F.R.S., 20 parts in 2 vols. Illustrations of Indian zoology; chiefly selected from the collection of Major-General Hardwicke, F.R.S., Pls. 1-202.
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.
Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 248-249.
Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 271-272.
Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2001) Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. p. 44.
Srivastava GJ (1968) Fishes of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Vishwavidyalaya Prakashan, Varanasi, India. Fishes of eastern Uttar Pradesh.: i-xxii + 1-163.
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. 96-97.
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