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Milkfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Gonorynchiformes Family: Chanidae Subfamily: Chaninae Genus: Chanos Lacépède, 1803 Species: C. chanos
Binomial name
Chanos chanos (Forsskål, 1775)

The milkfish, (Chanos chanos), is an important food fish in Southeast Asia and is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. (About seven extinct species in five additional genera have been reported.)

Milkfish have a generally symmetrical and streamlined appearance, with a sizable forked caudal fin. They can grow to 1.7 m but are most often about 1 meter in length. They have no teeth and generally feed on algae and invertebrates.

They occur in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, tending to school around coasts and islands with reefs. The young fry live at sea for two to three weeks and then migrate to mangrove swamps, estuaries, and sometimes lakes and return to sea to mature sexually and reproduce.

The fry are collected from rivers and raised in ponds where they grow very quickly and are then are sold either fresh, frozen, canned, or smoked.

The milkfish is a national symbol of the Philippines, where it is called bangus. Because milkfish is notorious for being much bonier than other food fish in the country, deboned milkfish, or "boneless bangus," has become popular in stores and markets. MF Sandoval Trading started the boneless bangus business in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. The term boneless bangus was coined by the proprietor to make the product more appealing to its market.

On September 1, 2007, Dagupan Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. ordered that “Dagupan bangus” (milkfish) be properly labeled to distinguish their genuine bonuan bangus (home-grown bangus) from "alien" bangus, which come from other provinces and have an offensive smell and taste of gilik or mud. Dagupan is known as the Bangus Capital of the World.^[1]

• Chanos chanos (TSN 162838). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 11 March 2006.
• "Chanidae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• "Chanos". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• "Chanos chanos". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• Francisco José Poyato-Ariza, A revision of the ostariophysan fish family Chanidae, with special reference to the Mesozoic forms (Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 1996)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Chanos chanos

• FishBase entry for milkfish
• SEAFDEC milkfish hatchery info
• DA, Philippines, About Bangus

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