CreatureData

Featherback

Chitala chitala (Hamilton, 1822)

Status not recordedbony fish

The featherback (Chitala chitala) is a species in the family Notopteridae, order Osteoglossiformes.

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Quick facts about the featherback

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the featherback live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the featherback as introduced in 4 countries.

  1. Mexico
  2. Myanmar (Burma)
  3. Philippines
  4. Sri Lanka

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the featherback endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the featherback classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderOsteoglossiformes
  5. familyNotopteridae
  6. genusChitala
  7. SpeciesChitala chitala (Hamilton, 1822)

Synonyms Chitala cliltula, Mystus chitala, Mystus chitala buchanani, Notopterus buchanani, Notopterus chilata, Notopterus chitala, Notopterus maculatus

Other names and names in other languages (15)
  • Clown knifefishEnglish
  • Indian featherbackEnglish
  • চিতল মাছAssamese
  • চিতলBangla
  • nožovec velkýCzech
  • Pesce coltello indianoItalian
  • インディアン・ナイフフィッシュJapanese
  • ငါးဖယ်Burmese
  • Indische mesvisDutch
  • brzeszczotek czarnoplamyPolish
  • Peixe-faca-indianoPortuguese
  • Индийский спинопёрRussian
  • KitalaSwedish
  • அம்பட்டன்வாளைTamil
  • ปลากรายอินเดียThai

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the featherback

Other species in the same genus Chitala.

CompareFeatherback vs Giant featherbackFeatherback vs Royal knifefishFeatherback vs Clown knifefishFeatherback vs Sumatran featherback

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the featherback an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the featherback as introduced in 4 countries: Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines and Sri Lanka, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the featherback?

The featherback (Chitala chitala) belongs to the family Notopteridae in the order Osteoglossiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Featherback (Chitala chitala). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/featherback

MLA

“Featherback (Chitala chitala).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/featherback.

BibTeX
@misc{featherback_2026,
  title = {Featherback (Chitala chitala)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/featherback},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}