Milkfish

Chanos chanos

Milkfish

“ Fishing in the right pond is better than fishing in the wrong river. ”

– Matshona Dhliwayo

Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Gonorynchiformes

Family: Chanidae

Genius: Chanos

Species: Chanos chanos

Descendant: Chanidae

Named by: Peter Forsskal

Year Published: 1775

Size: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) in length; 14 kg (31 lb) in weight

Lifespan: 15 years

Type: Bony Fishes (Milkfishes)

Title: Boneless Fish

Pantheon: Terran/Gaian

Time Period: Cretaceous - Holocene

Alignment: Good

Threat Level: ★★

Diet: Omnivorous 🌿🥩

Elements: n/a

Inflicts: n/a

Weaknesses: Electric, leaf

Casualties: n/a

Based On: itself

Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) - IUCN Red List

Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the sole living species in the family Chanidae during the Cretaceous period to present day, and it is native worldwide as popular seafood.

Etymology

Chanos chanos is the scientific name for milkfish, but this fish was named for milky whitish silver scales, even their rib thorns colored milk. The repeating scientific name (tautonym) is from Ancient Greek khanos (χάνος ‘mouth’). The white, flaky flesh of these fish cooks to a soft texture. Meat that has been seared, pan-fried, or steam-fried has a hue that is almost exactly like milk. Locals started referring to these animals as milkfish as a result.

Physical Appearance

This species is characterized by the following: body elongate and somewhat compressed; mouth small and toothless; single dorsal about mid-level of the body; pectoral fins falcate; caudal fin large and deeply forked; no scutes on belly; branchiostegal rays 4. Colour of the body olive green dorsally; flanks silvery; unpaired fins with dark margins.

Abilities

Milkfish are euryhaline, stenothermic fish. They occur and can be cultured in freshwater, brackishwater, and marine waters, but only in the tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific oceans (rare in the eastern Pacific, from southern California to Peru), where temperatures are >20°C.


Milkfish swim in large schools. When hurt, their body produces an alarm substance that alerts their companions to predators or other dangers. Milkfish have a forked tail. As fish use the caudal fin for propulsion, a forked shape can minimize the drag from water and therefore allow the fish to be fast swimmers. These are part of the fish's sensory system, allowing it to detect tiny changes in the water column. Fortunately, the pin bones are in bundles, so you don't have to deal with each one individually. Unlike the milkfish's distant relative, the carp, these pin bones can be removed before cooking.

Ecology

These fishes generally feed on algae and small invertebrates. They tend to school around coasts and islands with coral reefs. The young fry live at sea for two to three weeks and then migrate during the juvenile stage to mangrove swamps, estuaries, and sometimes lakes, and return to sea to mature sexually and reproduce. Females spawn at night up to 5 million eggs in saline shallow waters. Females spawn up to 5 million eggs which hatch in about 24 hr. The larvae seek out clear coastal and estuarine waters warmer than 23°C with 10-32 salinity and abundant phytoplankton. Spawning and fertilization take place at night.


Its most common predator is the tarpon, a large carnivorous fish species also common in Indo-Pacific waters. Ladyfish, also known as tenpounders, are another species known to prey on young banding.

Behavior

Milkfishes are generic fish, plain and simple. Harmless, they will lazily swim around until provoked. At that point, they will attempt to swim away.

Distribution and Habitat

Milkfish was found elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific: along continental shelves and around islands, where temperatures are greater than 20°C. Red Sea and South Africa to Hawaii and the Marquesas, north to Japan, south to Victoria, Australia. Eastern Pacific: San Pedro, California to the Galapagos. Chanos chanos occurs in the Indo-West Pacific from South Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Seychelles, north to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, northeast to southern Japan, south to Western Australia, New South Wales, and Norfolk Island, east to the Marquesas Islands, north to the Hawaiian Islands and Panama. It is a Mediterranean Sea immigrant.


No information is available for more than very local stocks. While there is a massive body of research results on this species, this is strongly concentrated on domestic stocks, while wild subpopulations, their trends and threats remain unstudied in most parts of its range. On the other hand, there seem to be also no indication of a strong decline of the wild subpopulations, which might be vulnerable to over fishing. This is a marine species entering estuaries and rivers like bull shark.


Tamed

Milkfish can be 'tamed' using Fish Trapper. While they can level, they do eat from the feeder.

Lore

The milkfish occurs in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, from South Africa to Hawaii and the Marquesas, from California to the Galapagos, north to Japan, and south to Australia during the Early Cretaceous. However, there are at least five extinct genera from the Early Cretaceous.


On April 21, 2012, a Filipino fisherman donated a milkfish with yellowish coloring to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which was later called the "golden bangus." A 700-gram golden bangus (milkfish) has brought excitement to fishery stakeholders in La Union province when it was finally caught in a fish cage in Sto. Tomas town on Thursday. However, the fish soon died, allegedly because of a lower level of oxygen in the pond to which it was transferred.

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