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Giant Murrel Farming an Urgent Need for Indian Fish Farmers

Article · June 2010

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Giant murrel farming, an urgent
need for Indian fish farmers
M.A. Haniffa,1 M. James Milton, Y. Ananth Kumar, S.V. Arun Singh
and R. Arthi Manju

Among air breathing fishes, murrels constitute a unique

group of food fishes fetching high market value because of
their taste, few intramuscular spines and medicinal value
(Haniffa et al 2004). Murrels are air breathers and survive
in oxygen depleted water bodies; hence, they are suitable for
profitable culture in shallow systems. In as much as the head
resembles that of snakes they are termed snakeheads. About
28-30 Channa species have been reported in the global sce-
nario and 8-10 species occur in India (Table 1). As a result
of anthropogenic stresses, murrels are under threat and, ac-
cording to CAMP (1998), captive breeding and river ranch-
ing are urgently needed for conservation of threatened na-
tive fish species.
The giant murrel, Channa marulius, the striped murrel,
C. striatus and the red line murrel, C. micropeltes, are widely
preferred in India as well as Southeast Asia because of their Giant murrel - Channa marulius
large size as food fishes (Ng and Lim 1990). When compared
to the striped murrel, the giant murrel is fast growing and 15 kg for C. marulius. The giant murrel is widely distributed
reaches a maximum size of 5.3 kg with longevity ranging in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, China
from 5-9 years (Parameswaran 1975). There are reports and Thailand. In India it inhabits freshwater in almost all
from Nepal for a maximum length of 2.5 m and weight of the states, including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya

Table 1. Channa species and categories of threat in Indian rivers and reservoirs (IUCN 1994, CAMP 1998).

S. No Species Name Reference Country Status Purpose

1 Channa amphibeus (Chel or Borna McClelland 1845 India Food

snake head) /Ornamental
2 Channa barca (barca or tiger snakehead) Hamilton 1822 India
3 Channa bleheri (rainbow or jewel Vierke 1991 India Ornamental
snakehead)
4 Channa gachua (dwarf, gacha or frog) Hamilton 1822 India Vulnerable Ornamental
5 Channa marulius (bullseye, murrel, Hamilton 1822 India Lower Risk- Near
snakehead) Threatened Food fish
6 Channa micropeltes (giant or red) Cuvier 1831 India Critically endangered Food fish
7 Channa orientalis (Ceylon or ceylones) Schneider 1801 India Vulnerable Ornamental
8 Channa punctata (dotted or spotted Bloch 1793 India Lower Risk – Near
snakehead) Threatened Food fish
9 Channa stewarti (golden snakehead) Playfair 1867 India Ornamental
10 Channa striata (chevron or striped Bloch 1797 India Lower Risk – Least
snakehead) Concern Food fish

42 June 2010
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Orissa, Assam, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka (Chakrabarthy 2006).
Murrel culture is about four decades old in our country
with the first demonstration on the Madras Sunkesula fish
farm (now in AP) by the State Fisheries Department. Fur-
ther attempts made by the State Fisheries Department of
Hyderabad and Bombay and CIFRI Bhadra Centre (Kar-
nataka) have not produced tangible results. Fish farmers in
India are unable to culture murrels because of non-availabil-
ity of fingerlings and lack of feeding and culture techniques.
Fish farmers who have attempted murrel farming have not
succeeded because they have sustained severe mortality from
Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS).
Even though giant murrel culture has a wider scope, it
has not yet become popular for various reasons. Fish farm-
ers in India are not familiar with brood fish nutrition, fin-
gerling production, larval rearing and growout culture. In Striped murrel - Channa striatus
other words fingerlings and feed are the two major problems
in murrel farming. The latter is not yet standardized because
murrels are carnivorous, piscivorous and cannibalistic. A Extension. To popularize giant murrel culture among fish
technology package for striped murrel culture was devel- farmers, the CARE research team collected giant murrel fin-
oped by the CARE research team with financial assistance gerlings from Bhavanisagar reservoir, with assistance from
from the Department of Science and Technology, New Del- fishermen using dragnets. The fingerlings were transported
hi, Government of India (SSP/RD/001/96). The technology to the CARE Aquafarm using plastic containers. They were
developed was successfully transferred to fish farmers with reared in cement tanks, 4.5 m×4 m×2 m, for a period of one
assistance from Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, week during which they were fed beef liver and semi-moist
Government of India (BT/PR1892/SPD/16/137/2000) by the feed dough (Table 2).
research team of the Center for Aquaculture Research and After one week, 200 uniform sized fingerlings were se-

World Aquaculture 43
 Red line mur-
rel - Channa
micropeltes
EUS affected murrel
Table 2. Biochemical composition of semi moist
dough. Values are reported as percentage
of body weight.
Ingredient Protein Carbohydrate Fat
Anchovy 50 4.9 7.2
Chicken intestine 62 5.2 10.8
Soy flour 52 32 1
Wheat flour 12 65 1.5
Tapioca flour 10 60 1.3
lected (length = 8.05 ± 0.52cm, weight = 5.08 ± 0.26g) were
introduced into a culture pond. The culture pond was rect-
angular (15 m×5 m) 1 m deep. All four sides were covered
with cement, whereas the bottom was filled with clay to
a depth of 25 cm. Cow manure and lime were added one
week before the introduction of the fingerlings. To adjust
for water loss from seepage and evaporation, water was sup-
plied from a nearby bore well to maintain the water depth.
Water temperature ranged from 27-29ºC, dissolved oxygen
from 6.5-7.1 ppm, pH from 7.0-7.2, salinity was 1.77±0.005
ppt, and ammonia was measured at 0.26±0.02 mg/L during
the culture period. The fingerlings were fed semi-moist feed
dough (Table 2) along with minced chicken intestine during
the first four months. Afterwards they were fed exclusively
on minced chicken intestine. Every month fish samples were
collected from using the drag net. Length and weight mea-
surements were recorded periodically after which the fish
were returned to the pond.
During the six month study period water was completely
drained from the pond only once, after 3 months, and all the
murrels were measured for length and weight and observed
for diseases and deformities. In our previous study with
striped murrel, we documented deformities in the thoracic
and tail regions. In this study one murrel showed a verte-
bral deformity, whereas all the other murrels were normal,
healthy and showed no signs of EUS.
44 June 2010
Fingerlings of giant murrel
After six months, the pond was completely drained and
all the murrels were harvested and measured for length and
weight. No dead fish was observed during the culture period
and we suggest that cannibalism was avoided because equal
size fingerlings were introduced and food was supplied ad
libitum.
In the present study, C. marulius increased from 8 cm and
5 g in the first month to 34 cm and 280 g after six months of
culture (Table 3). In Bangalore under excellent forage condi-
tions C. marulius attained a size of 45 cm in derelict tanks
in 7 months (Murugesan et al. 1978). Devaraj (1973) studied
the length-weight relationship of C.marulius in Bhavanisa-
gar reservoir. In a study on the length-weight relationship of
C. marulius between CARE-cultured and Bhavanisagar-cap-
tured fish, Devaraj (1973) showed that C. marulius cultured
at the CARE Aquafarm attained 83 percent better growth
(R²= 0.8325) than the captured fish (70 percent; R²= 0.7032;
Figures 1 and 2). From the present study we suggest that 50
kg of giant murrel could be produced from a small earthen
pond of 75 m² within skix months (15,000kg/ ha/year). The
results of this study suggest that murrels can be cultured
more profitably than carp.
Notes
1
Centre for Aquaculture Research and Extension (CARE),
St.Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai- 627002,
TamilNadu, India. E-mail: haniffacare@gmail.com
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by CSIR Emeritus Scientist
Grant (No.21(0670)/07/EMR-II) to Dr.M.A.Haniffa. We
are grateful to Rev. Dr. Alphonse Manickam, S.J., Principal,
St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai for providing necessary
facilities.
References
CAMP (Conservation Assessment and Management Plan). 1998.
Report of the Workshop on Conservation Assessment and
Fig. 1. Length-weight relationship of C.marulius cultured at
CARE Aquafarm.
Harvest of giant murrels

Table 3. Length and weight of C.marulius cultured

at CARE Aquafarm.

Month Length (cm) Weight (g)

1 8.05 ± 0.52 5.08 ± 0.26
2 10.5 ± 0.72 7.15 ± 0.86
3 15.7 ± 0.19 28.09 ± 0.97
4 21.3 ± 4.42 129.1 ± 6.84
5 27.6 ± 6.3 203.3 ± 4.63
6 33.9 ± 2.60 277.5 ± 3.56

Fig. 2. Length-weight relationship of C.marulius captured from

Bhavanisagar Reservoir (Devaraj 1973).

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World Aquaculture 45
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