New fish species named Puntius Dolichopterus discovered in Kerala

A new species of cyprinid fish christened as Puntius Dolichopterus was discovered from a small water stream in Alappuzha district’s Kayamkulam city of Kerala.

Puntius Dolichopterus that is found in small and shallow water channels has been included in the fish family Cyprinidae. These fishes are edible and can be utilized as ornamental fish.

The fish was discovered, named and described by Mathews Plamoottil, head of the department of zoology, Baby John Memorial Government College, near Kollam city.

The finding of the discovery was published in the latest issue of ‘International Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology covering July – September 2015 period.

After being examined, this new species also received Zoo bank register number from International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, the official body approving the new names of animals. Six specimens of this fish have been deposited in the Government Museum (Zoological Survey of India) at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

About Puntius Dolichopterus
• Name of the species dolichopterus has been coined from two Greek words ‘dolikhos’ that means elongated and ‘pteron’ that means wing or fin.
• They are between 7.3 and 8.7 cm in length.
• It is characterised by the longer pectoral fin, shorter dorsal fin, unusually elongated dorsal spine, longer head, lesser number of lateral line scales and pre-dorsal scales.
• It can be further differentiated from its relative species in having 3-4 longitudinal lines present below lateral line
• It carries a silvery body with dorsal fin of light orange red, pectoral and anal fin greenish yellow, ventral fin yellow, caudal fin dusky and an inconspicuous dusky spot present on 21 and 22 scales.
• Its spine of dorsal fin is rigid, strong and long and has a pair of small barbels.

Its relative species namely Puntius nigronotus, Puntius viridis, Puntius nelsoni and Puntius parrah are found in Kerala, Puntius dorsalis are found in Chennai and Puntius chola and Puntius sophore resides in the water bodies of the Ganga River.

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