Do you know about the Recent New Catfish Species Found in Arunachal Pradesh?
By The Space
The state of Arunachal Pradesh is endowed with rich natural
biodiversity and there are plenty of untouched gems in the wilderness which
attracts the people from different background and even the scientist and
explorers.
In the year 2019, A new catfish was discovered by a team of eight scientists working in the northeast from the Sinkin and the Dibang River flowing in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Dibang Valley District.
.“The genus Mystus is a group of small catfishes, which Manipuris called as Ngasep.
Presently, there are around 46 species of Mystus catfish in the world, of which about 21 occur in India, Darshan who have so far described 13 new fishes
Scientists in the Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar played an important role in the taxonomy while the molecular studies were assisted by scientists in the College of Fisheries in Agartala, which is under the Central Agricultural University, Manipur.
In the same year, new species of catfish was found in the Yomgo river in the West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh by a team of ichthyologists from Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU).
The fish was found in the river at a depth of 1999 meters at Mechuka, a release by the team said here today. This was the second such discovery and the new species belong to the genus Creteuchiloglanis. The first one was found at Kalaktang in the West Kameng district of the state in 1966.
The holotype and paratypes of the new species were deposited and preserved in Rajiv Gandhi University Museum of Fishes and Zoological Survey of India, Itanagar.
Photo for representational purpose only. Courtesy: visualphotos.com
Talking about this year of 2021, new species of Catfish was identified at Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang river. Rupir Boli played a major role in the survey of the species. He was instrumental in collecting the specimens for their identification and categorization.
The new species of catfish Glyptothorax rupiri, a new sisorid catfish was collected from the Siang by Laishram Kosygin, Pratima Singh and Shibananda Rathi.
“It differs from its congeners in the Indian subcontinent by a combination of characters such as the presence of plicae on the ventral surface of the pectoral spine and first pelvic-fin ray and a posteriorly serrated dorsal-fin spine.
“The body with two longitudinal pale-cream stripes, densely tuberculated skin and the presence of numerous tubercles on the dorsal surface of pectoral and pelvic-fin rays also differentiate it from other related species,” the researchers wrote in Zootaxa.
It has been reported that this species of fish have been witnessed only at the Jambung stream, a tributary of the Siang river near Hawa Camp in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
However many netizens of Arunachal Pradesh reportedly said, "Hum log yeh sab ko bacchpan se khate aya he"
This indicates that there might be many other unique species across the state of which the locals are acquainted but officially untouched hitherto. Arunachal Pradesh a lawn of dawn-lit mountain has lots to offer to the researchers and Biodiversity explorers.
For more updates Follow the Space:
sources:
The hindustan time
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/scientists-discover-a-new-small-catfish-in-northeast/story-ZwJnqj82ZgktN02cClWwGM.html
The North Easst TOday
https://www.northeasttoday.in/2021/08/23/new-catfish-species-in-arunachal-named-after-forest-official-involved-in-its-survey/
The Deccan Chronicle
The Deccan Herald:
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