Fish
Milkfish
Chanos chanos · also called bangus
Somewhere in the fossil record, the milkfish’s family once had considerably more members. Today there is exactly one: a silvery, herbivorous fish that has been farmed across Southeast Asian coastal ponds for centuries, celebrated in the Philippines as bangus, the country’s unofficial national fish.
Overview
The milkfish, Chanos chanos, is the sole living species in its family, found throughout tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific waters. It spawns in the open ocean before juveniles move into coastal estuaries and mangroves to grow.
A relict with a long farming history
Long before modern aquaculture, coastal communities across Southeast Asia were already collecting wild milkfish juveniles and raising them in ponds, a tradition stretching back centuries that has grown into one of the region’s most significant fish farming industries today.
Status
Least Concern — wild populations remain widespread and stable across the Indo-Pacific, supported further by a large, long-established aquaculture industry.
Milkfish: common questions
Why is the milkfish considered an unusual fish evolutionarily?
The milkfish is the only living species remaining in its entire family, Chanidae, a lineage that the fossil record shows was once considerably more diverse, making the modern milkfish a genuine evolutionary relict, a single surviving representative of a family that has otherwise disappeared over a long span of geological time.
Why is the milkfish so important in the Philippines?
The milkfish, known locally as bangus, is widely considered the national fish of the Philippines, where it holds significant cultural and culinary importance and appears prominently in numerous traditional Filipino dishes, reflecting the species' long history as both a wild-caught and farmed food fish across the country.
How long has milkfish farming been practised?
Milkfish aquaculture has been practised across parts of Southeast Asia for centuries, historically based on collecting wild-caught juveniles and raising them in coastal ponds, a traditional practice that has since developed into a significant and technologically advanced modern aquaculture industry across the region.
Can a milkfish really jump out of the water?
Yes, a milkfish is capable of leaping clear out of the water when startled or pursued, a behaviour that can genuinely surprise handlers and researchers given how unremarkable the species' typical day-to-day swimming behaviour otherwise appears.