What does anabas mean?
Anabas is a noun naming a small but remarkable freshwater fish of the genus Anabas, found in rivers, ponds, and rice paddies across southern and southeastern Asia and best known by its common name, the climbing perch. What sets the anabas apart from most fishes is its ability to breathe atmospheric air, using a specialized structure called a labyrinth organ located above its gills. This adaptation allows it to survive long periods out of water — even hours if kept moist — and it exploits this tolerance to make overland journeys between shrinking pools, hauling itself along with the help of spiny gill covers and strong pectoral fins. Because of this hardiness, the anabas is valued as a food fish in parts of India and Bangladesh, where it can be kept alive for days after capture. The word comes from Greek roots meaning 'to walk up', a nod to early accounts of the fish's supposed tree-climbing habits. It appears mainly in scientific writing and natural history, rather than everyday conversation.
nounA small freshwater fish of the genus Anabas, native to southern and southeastern Asia, notable for its ability to breathe air and to travel over land between bodies of water; also called the climbing perch.
- Any fish of the genus Anabas (family Anabantidae), an air-breathing Asian freshwater fish known as the climbing perch, capable of moving overland between waters.
"After heavy rain, the anabas wriggled across the paddies to reach the flooded ditch beyond."
"Fishermen in Bengal prize the hardy anabas, which survives for hours out of water if kept moist."
"Naturalists have documented the anabas using its opercular spines and fin rays to clamber over damp ground at night."
As a Latinized scientific name, the plural is typically left unchanged when referring to specimens collectively, but 'anabases' is an acceptable anglicized/Latinate plural.
"Several anabases were collected from the floodplain pools during the survey."
The anabas can walk — it leaves the water and hauls itself overland on its spiny fins, breathing air the whole way thanks to a special labyrinth organ above its gills.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of anabas
The word anabas derives from the Greek 'anabatēs' or related forms built on 'ana-' ('up') and 'bainein' ('to go'), literally meaning something that goes up or ascends — an allusion to reports that the fish climbs trees and vegetation near water's edge. The genus name was established in scientific nomenclature during the late 18th century as European naturalists described Asian fishes. It shares its Greek verbal root with words such as 'anabasis' (a going up or inland expedition), 'basis' (a step or foundation), and 'acrobat'.
How anabas is actually used
Anabas is chiefly a scientific and natural-history term; in everyday speech the fish is more often called the climbing perch. The plural may be either the Latinate 'anabases' or, treating the name as a collective/genus term, unchanged 'anabas'.
Easily confused with anabas
Anabasis is a military expedition advancing inland (famously Xenophon's account), while anabas is a genus of air-breathing freshwater fish.