milkfish

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milkfish

fish

Also known as: Chanos chanos, bandeng, bangos

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Also called:: bandeng, or bangos

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milkfish, (Chanos chanos), silvery marine food fish that is the only living member of the family Chanidae (order Gonorhynchiformes). Fossils of this family date from as far back as the Cretaceous Period (145.5 million to 65.5 million years ago). The milkfish is often collected when young and raised for food in brackish or freshwater tropical ponds. It is a toothless herbivore 1 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 feet) or more in length with a deeply forked tail. It is found throughout warmer regions of the Pacific and Indian oceans and can withstand very shallow, warm (88 °F [31 °C]) lagoon water. From March to May, it lays up to several million eggs in shallow, brackish water.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.