Five New Fish Species Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar, August 18, 2019:

Five new fish species have been discovered in various districts of the frontier state Arunachal Pradesh. The discoveries were made by researchers of the Rajiv Gandhi University led by Professor DN Das.

The scientific names of the newly-discovered fish species are: Mystus prabini, found in Sinkin and Dibang rivers in Lower Dibang Valley district and Exostoma kottelati, found in Ranga river in Lower Subansiri district.

Other discovered species are Creteuchiloglanis tawangensis, found in the Tawangchu river in Tawang district, Garra ranganensis, found in Ranga river and Physoschistura harkishorei, found in Dibang and Lohit rivers in Lower Dibang Valley district.

Majority of the water bodies in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh are still not easily accessible to the researchers due to a difficult terrain that includes rain forests, steep hills besides communication problems.

The researchers, however, are optimistic that meticulous exploration may result in more discoveries of new fish species from the state in the future.

Earlier this year in February, scientists at Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) found a rare frog species in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, according to a recently published journal.

Led by senior ZSI scientist Bikramjit Sinha, the researchers also found out that the frog is endemic to Xizang in China, the journal, 'Records of the Zoological Survey of India', said. According to Bhaskar Saikia, the co-author of the journal, there has been a significant rise in the number of frog species discovered in the tropical forests of Tale Valley over the years.

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