New species of edible fish found in Pampa river in Kerala

A group of researchers discovered a new species of edible freshwater fish while exploring the waters of the Pampa river in Pathanamthitta in Kerala.

As per the researchers, the newly found fish could possibly be farmed on a commercial scale.

The two researchers, Mathews Plamoottil, Assistant Professor, Government College, Chavara, Kollam, and Primoz Zupancic from the Dinaric Research Institute, Slovenia, Europe, have reported the discovery in the latest issue of an open access research journal Bioscience Discovery.

Key highlights

• The new species belongs to the Labeo genus.

• The species is named as Labeo filiferus. The name filiferus was taken from Latin and refers to the very long dorsal fin of the species.

• The Labeo filiferus was found to be distinct from the other species of the genus in its features including black coloured body and fins, prominent barbels, smaller eyes, longer snout and elongated dorsal and anal fins.

• Their eyes are brilliantly coloured with orange tinge. The specimens were 20 to 40 cm long and weighed four to five kilograms.

• The fish has been collected from the stretch of the Pampa running through Edakadathy in Pathanamthitta.

• As per Mathews, Labeo filiferus had been registered by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature and the holotype deposited at the museum of the Zoological Survey of India at Shillong.

• The fishes in the Labeo genus are widely distributed in the inland waterbodies of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, tropical Africa and Syria.

• The fishes in the Labeo genus are medium- sized elongate fishes with rounded abdomen, swollen snout, finged lips and a straight lateral line.

• As many as 31 species of Labeo are reported to be present in India, with L.rohita, commonly known as Rohu, extensively used in aquaculture. The only other Labeo species reported from Kerala is L.dussumieri.

Source: The Hindu