ZSI discovers new catfish species in Myanmar

Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has discovered a new species of catfish in Myanmar, ZSI director Dhriti Banerjee said on Wednesday.

Three specimens of 'Genus Glyptothorax' from the Sagaing division of Myanmar during a survey conducted in Chindwin river drainage in the Indo- Myanmar border areas, Banerjee said.

The specimens were collected by a post-doctoral fellow Bungdon Shangningam through a local fisherman.

After examination of the specimens, these were labeled as 'Glyptothoraxyuensis' after its habitation in the Yu river, which is a tributary of the Chindwin river basin in Myanmar which has many tributaries from India, the ZSI director said.

The 'Genus Glyptothorax' is the most diverse and widely distributed genus known from the Euphrates River drainage of eastern Turkey eastward to the Yangtze river drainage of China and southwards to the Indian subcontinent and the Greater Sunda Islands. It inhabits fast-flowing hill streams, where they live by using the adhesive apparatus on their underside to attach themselves to rocks and prevent being washed away.

There are 15 species of Glyptothorax in the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage of Myanmar, China, and India with the new species. It is a food fish, and local people catch it for their consumption.

According to Laishram Kosygin, ZSI scientist the research finding on the new catfish was published in Zootaxa, Magnolia Press, New Zealand on April 26, 2022, which was authored by him and Bungdon Shangningam.

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