Snakehead, Emperor (Channa marulioides)
The Emperor Snakehead is a rarely seen and much sought after member of the Channidae family of fishes which is native to Southern parts of Thailand, the Malay peninsula, Sumatra and Southern Borneo. The Emperor Snakehead is a much rarer capture than its close relative the Giant Snakehead and can be easily distinguished by its blunt almost flattened head.Equipped with large eyes the awesome Emperor Snakehead is a thrust predator which lays in wait for unsuspecting prey fish before launching vicious and deadly high speed attacks.
The Emperor Snakehead reaches lengths around 2ft and has been recorded at world record weights up to 5.15kg’s from Palm Tree Lagoon in Thailand.
This highly predatory Snakehead species favours streams and small rivers in addition to reservoirs where it aggressively hunts on small fish, frogs, insects and even other snakehead species.
Fishing Thailand for Emperor Snakeheads requires lure fishing anglers to travel to some of the densest jungle streams ,rivers and reservoirs in Southern Thailand to find these elusive snakeheads preferred habitat