The Department of Zoology of Dera Natung Government College of Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh has discovered three new species of fish of genus Aborichthys of family Nemachelidae, according to a recent report.
About the new species of fish of genus Aborichthys
- They have been named Aborichthys uniobarensis, Aborichthys barapensis and Aborichthys palinensis.
- The three fish species are distributed in streams like Senki, Barap and Palin, which are the tributaries of Brahmaputra river system.
About Genus Aborichthys
- Aborichthys is an elongate and slender-bodied bottom dwelling freshwater stone loach that inhabits the moderate-to-fast flowing water of mountain rivers, streams and drainages of the Brahmaputra river basin.
- They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish.
- The species is characterised by narrow oblique bars on the body.
- It is endemic to the eastern Himalayas.
- Eastern Himalaya is endemic to more than 20 per cent fauna of India, including the fish species.
- These species are vulnerable to climate change as it leads to their habitat alteration.
- Previously, 11 species of the genus Aborichthys were discovered in the Eastern Himalayan region across a century, starting from the early 1900s.
- Besides, three of them were outside Arunachal Pradesh — in Bhutan, Meghalaya and West Bengal.
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