Indian forehead brooder
Kurtus indicus
- Usual depth17 m
- Water temperature28–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch and December
- How commonRare
About this species
Kurtus indicus, the Indian humphead, is a species of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh, brackish, and marine waters of the coastal regions of southern Asia from India to southeast China and Indonesia. It resembles the closely related K. gulliveri, but is far smaller, only reaching a length of 12.6 cm (5 in). Although it has been suggested that the male carries the egg cluster on a hook protruding from the forehead, available evidence strongly suggests this is not the case in K. indicus: Out of several thousand examined, none carried eggs in this manner and the male's hook is likely also too small. The female lacks the hook entirely. It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kurtus indicus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 0 records
- February: 0 records
- March: 2 records
- April: 1 records
- May: 0 records
- June: 0 records
- July: 0 records
- August: 0 records
- September: 0 records
- October: 0 records
- November: 0 records
- December: 3 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 17 m · Deepest record: 17 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 28–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Indian forehead brooder
Names in 1 more languages
- Thai
- ปลาหัวไข่, ปลาหัวตะขอ
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 21 open-data records from 1934 to 1963.
- Species data updated November 3, 2026.
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