Rare fish species discovered in Asifabad district

This is the first spotting of the fish - Ganges River Sprat in peninsular India.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A team of researchers from Osmania University discovered a Ganges River Sprat in a hilly stream at Talai village, Bejjur mandal in the district. This is the first spotting of the fish in peninsular India.

The record of this rare fish species was published in a recent issue of an international research journal – Journal of Threatened Taxa, an open access and print, peer-reviewed, monthly, international journal on conservation and taxonomy.

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This species was spotted and recorded by Kante Krishna Prasad of the Department of Zoology and Mohammad Younus of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Studies of Osmania University. It is so far known to inhabit only river Ganges and its tributary from Uttar Pradesh in the west to Bangladesh in the east. This species was also reported once from Ponnani Estuary in Kerala. Other than India, it has also been recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Prof Chelmala Srinivasulu, a Senior Assistant Professor at Osmania University who headed the research, said: “The discovery of the Ganges River Sprat, known as Kechki in Bengali, in Godavari river basin of Telangana State is interesting, and indicates that more scientific surveys and studies are needed to detect the rich species diversity occurring in the State.”

The researchers discovered this rare species of fish along with many native species including Telangana endemic Bakalu fish, Rita bakalu. They team is conducting research on fish diversity in Telangana State.

In November last, a team of researchers from the OU discovered a new fish species called Indoreonectes Telanganaensis in a stream locally known as Maisamma Loddi flowing from the mountains in Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR). They named it Telangana Loach, and it is the first vertebrate species to be named after the State.

Also read:

Fisherman nets rare ‘Amazon Sailfin Catfish’ in Khammam

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