Gora chela, Securicula gora (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes (Carps)
Superfamily: Cyprinoidea
Family: Cyprinidae (Minnows and carps)
Subfamily: Rasborinae (= Danioninae)
Genus: Securicula
Species: S. gora

Common/ local names
English: Gora chela
Bangladesh: Ghora chela (ঘোড়া চেলা), Gora chela (গোরা চেলা), Boro chela (বড় চেলা) and Chela (চেলা)
India: Selkona and Chelekona (Assam); Ghora-chela (West Bengal); Chelhul and Chelua (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh); Bounchi and Kandul (Punjab); and Humcatchari (Orissa) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Synonyms
Chela gora (Hamilton, 1822)
Cyprinus gora Hamilton, 1822
Leuciscus cultellus Valenciennes, 1844
Opsarius pholicephalus McClelland, 1839
Oxygaster gora (Hamilton, 1822)
Pseudoxygaster gora (Hamilton, 1822)

Distributions: Bangladesh, Nepal (?), northern and eastern India and Pakistan (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN, 2000).

Morphology: Morphologically, its abdominal edge keeled from below pectoral to anus.Directed mouth with longer lower jaw having prominent symphyseal knob. Dorsal originate in advance of anal. Strong and well-built pectorals and pelvics having well-developed axillary scales and lower lobe of caudal longer. Lateral line complete and curved downwards. 140-160 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Shafi and Quddus, 2001); 120-160 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) scales on lateral line. And the bright body uniformly silvery in color.

Head 4.0-4.5 in standard, 5.0-5.4 in total length. Height 4.8-5.0 in standard, 5.8-6.0 in total length. Eye 6.0, snout 1.8, interorbital 1.4 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fin formula:
D. 9(3/7); P1. 13-14; P2. 8; A. 15-18 (2/13-16) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D iii 7; A ii-iii 13-15; P i 12-13; V i 7 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. 9 (2/7); P. 13-15; V. 8; A. 15-18 (2/13-16); C. 19 (Shafi and Quddus, 2001)

Maximum lengths: 24.5 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005), 23 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 22.8 cm (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Habitats: Beels, rivers and canals (Rahman, 2005). More common in water bodies of northern districts of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Recorded from Chalan Beel (Galib et al., 2009 and 2010) and Padma river (Samad et al., 2010).

Food and feeding: Surface feeder (Shafi and Quddus, 2001), predatory in nature and feeds regularly on insects, insect larvae and crustaceans (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Fishery info: Used as food fish in Bangladesh. Of no interest to fisheries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

__________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

Cuvier G and Valenciennes A (1844) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome dix-septième. Suite du livre dix-huitième. Cyprinoïdes. Histoire naturelle des poissons. 17: i-xxiii + 1-497 + 2 pp., Pls. 487-519.

Galib SM, Samad MA, Hossain MA, Mohsin ABM and Haque SMM (2010) Small Indigenous Species of Fishes (SISF) in Chalan Beel with Reference to their Harvesting and Marketing, Bangladesh Journal of Progressive Science and Technology, 8(2): 251-254.

Galib SM, Samad MA, Mohsin ABM, Flowra FA and Alam MT. 2009 Present Status of Fishes in the Chalan Beel- the Largest Beel (Wetland) of Bangladesh, Int. J. Ani. Fish. Sci. 2(3):214-218.

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.

McClelland J (1839) Indian Cyprinidae. Asiatic Researches 19(2): 217-471, Pls. 37-61.

Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 79.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 95-96.

Samad MA, Asaduzzaman M, Galib SM, Kamal MM and Haque MR (2010) Availability and Consumer Preference of Small Indigenous Species (SIS) of the River Padma at Rajshahi, Bangladesh, International Journal of BioResearch 1(5): 27-31.

Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2001) Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. pp. 153-154.

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. 329.

 

Visitors' Opinions