Chanidae, Günther, 1868

Family Chanidae View in CoL

Milkfish

The milkfish is a living representative of an ancient fish group ( Gonorynchiformes or Anotophysi) related to Otophysi fishes,such as Characiformes,Cithariniformes , Cypriniformes , Gymnotiformes , and Siluriformes . Beside the milkfish, Gonorynchiformes only include Gonorynchidae and Kneridae. The milkfish is easily identified by its compressed and oblong body, small, toothless, terminal mouth, deeply forked caudal, complete lateral line,and small cycloid scales. Milkfishes have lateral pouches on the posterior part of the branchial chamber, forming an epibranchial organ, which allows them to breathe air. West Asia is the distribution border of the milkfish, where it occurs in the Persian Gulf.

The milkfish is one of the most important aquaculture species in the world. It is a primary consumer of plants and detritus, so it can be produced with much less energy input than most other aquaculture species. Milkfish aquaculture first began around the 12 th century in the Philippines. Larvae are collected from rivers and grown in ponds into juveniles, which are marketed fresh, smoked, canned, and frozen. Since the 1980s, broodstocks have been raised and spawned in captivity to produce larvae in hatcheries. No milkfish is kept in aquaculture in West Asia, likely due to low winter temperatures. In Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines, more than a quarter of a million tonnes of milkfish are harvested annually in brackish ponds, contributing roughly 60 % of the total fish production from Southeast Asian aquaculture. Further reading. Juario et al. 1984, Lee et al. 1986 (aquaculture); Carpenter et al. 1997 (identification, distribution); Nelson et al. 2016 (phylogenetic position).