Induced Breeding of Rainbow Snakehead (Channa bleheri Vierke, 1991) Under Captive Condition

Abstract

Channa bleheri Vierke, 1991 is an endemic snakehead fish confined to certain pockets of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Brahmaputra basin of Assam and Dikrong River of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Extensive exploitation in aquarium trade through wild catches has resulted in a declining trend in population dynamics of the species, leading to its categorisation in Near Threatened category in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 3.1). The present investigation was conducted to captive breed the species reared under confined condition during June and July, 2019 in Dibrugarh University premises, Assam. A successive increase of hormone dosage (Ovasis) from 0.1 mL.kg -1 body weight was injected intravenously, albeit spawning was experiential with dosage of 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7 mL.kg -1 body weight. Results indicated that the latency period, fertilisation rate and hatching rate with different hormonal dosages varied from 22–32 h, 53–81 % and 65–85 %, respectively. The abiotic factors during breeding trials were monitored and documented. The present investigation highlights the possibility of captive breeding of C. bleheri reared under captivity, which will be pivotal in management and conservation of the species.