[1] The channa barb was first formally described as Barbus (Puntius) ophicephalus in 1941 by the Indian zoologist B. Sundara Raj with its type locality given as "Kaller River, tributary of Pambiyar River, a few miles south of Periyar Lake, Kerala, Travancore, India".

[2] In 1999 Ambat Gopalan Kutty Menon proposed the new monotypic genus Eechathalakenda for this species.

[4] The channa barb is the only known member of the genus Eechathalakenda which is the Tamil nemse for this fish, with kenda being the word for "carp" in that lkanguage.

The specific name, ophicephalus, means "snake head", an allusion not explained by B. Sundara Raj.

[1]This fish is found in deep rocky pools of fast flowing hill streams with a substrate of cobble and gravel.