Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Wednesday issued orders declaring Murrel (Channa striatus) as the state fish. Principal secretary of fisheries department Suresh Chanda issued orders to this effect. Murrel, also known as Korrameenu or Korramatta in Telugu, was also the state fish of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

After bifurcation, it was necessitated for the Telangana government to declare its own state fish. And after considering several options, it finally zeroed in on the Murrel, a commercial fish for “cultural, culinary and historical” reasons.

Telangana Biodiversity Board brought to the notice of the government that many delicacies are cooked in the state with Murrel. It is used as a traditional medicine here, and suggested that it be declared as the state fish.

The state fish concept was proposed by the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow in 2008 with an aim to boost conservation measures.