The snakeheads are members of the freshwater Perciformes fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. They inhabit swampy waters and their gills are adapted to breathe air. They can survive out of water for up to four days, provided they are wet, and are known to migrate up to 400 metres on wet land to other bodies of water by wriggling with their body and fins. They have a pair of air-chambers (suprabranchial cavity), developing from the pharynx, lined by vascular epithelium, take in air and function like lungs
Snakeheads consume plankton, aquatic insects, and mollusks during early life stages and become predatory and cannibalistic as they grow. The snakehead meat has good taste, high nutrient and also has high pharmaceutical values. Snakehead also has all the essential amino acids for wound healing, especially glycine, which is important for the formation of human skin collagen