A group of researchers have discovered a new species of stone loach (fish) from Kunthi tributary of Bharathapuzha River inside the Silent Valley National Park in the Southern Western Ghats.
Christened as ‘Balitora jalpalli’, researchers said that the newly found fresh water fish can be distinguished from other known Indian species of Balitora by five major characters: head length, caudal peduncle depth, maximum head width and difference in number and pattern of bands on the dorsal side.
Of the total 12 species of the genus Balitora which are considered to be valid, only four species -- Balitora burmanica, Balitora brucei, Balitora laticauda and Balitora mysorensis --- are so far found in India.
Balitora jalpalli is 61.7mm in size and is yellowish brown in colour. Researchers said that specific name “jalpalli” is derived from the Sanskrit words “jal” meaning ‘water’ and “palli” meaning ‘small lizard’ which refers to the lizard like appearance of the fish, and its habit of clinging to the rocks in fast flowing streams. They also suggest ‘Silent Valley Stone Loach’ as common name for this species. The new discovery was made by a research team consisting of Rajeev Raghavan and Anvar Ali of St Alberts College, Kochi, Josin Tharian of St. John’s College Anchal, Shrikant Jadhav, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Pune and Neelesh Dahanukar, IISER, Pune. The discovery was also been published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
Researchers also said that while new species are still being described from the Western Ghats, the rich diversity of freshwater fishes in this region is under threat due to several anthropogenic agents.
Meanwhile, the description of one more species of freshwater fish from the Western Ghats have once again reiterates the views that the ichthyofauna of the region continues to be poorly known and is in need of increased exploratory surveys and associated taxonomic research to discover more little known species of the region.