Muzhu Fish or African Sharptooth Catfish

African Sharptooth Catfish are originally from Middle East and Africa. I'm not sure when and how they made their way to Kerala and other parts of India. They are a very hardy species and are quite adaptive to its surroundings.

On a recent trip to Kerala, I had gone to a local fish farm to show my kids the country side. While spending time in the farm, we saw a farmer waiting out with a white bucket for a long time. He was waiting for the farm owners to come to work so that he can hand over his catch. Looks like the Catfish fetches a good sum as the man with the white bucket was quite thrilled that he could hand in his priced catch to his boss.

Second Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarias_gariepinus

Large scale farming of Clarias gariepinus is banned as they are a threat to local fishes. The African catfish can survive in the toughest conditions including sewers. Once they enter a water body it is very difficult to control their numbers. According to a report, One individual of the exotic species can produce upto 4 lakh eggs in just one season. While the native species lags behind at 7000 to 15000 eggs per season.

The African catfish has become a pest in India. Bengal, Kerala, Karanataka too face the same problem. In fact a drive was organised in Kerala against the exotic fish in order to control the problem. As a child I've gone for Muzhu fishing and it's quite an exciting mode of fishing. They very rarely take your bait. And if they don't take your bait, you lose all your patience and jump in the pond and search for them with your bare hands. You go looking for them under rocks and the slush under the pool. The meat of this fish is tasty but beware, they are extremely slimmy and known to be showing cannibalistic tendencies sometimes.

The Muzhu Fish featured in the photo was spotted near Kappad - I've written about Kappad in more detail in another blog.

Just outside the farm