Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2021 | 13(12): 19813–19817
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7005.13.12.19813-19817
#7005 | Received 17 December 2020 | Final
received 28 June 2021 | Finally accepted 25 September 2021
New record of the Sewing Needle
Zipper Loach Paracanthocobitis linypha Singer & Page, 2015 (Teleostei:
Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae) from the
Chindwin drainage of Manipur, India
Yumnam Rameshori
1, Yengkhom Chinglemba
2 & Waikhom
Vishwanath 3
1–3 Department of Life Sciences,
Manipur University, Canchipur, Manipur 795003, India.
1 rameshori.yumnam@gmail.com, 2
chinglemba.yengkhom@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 wvnath@gmail.com
Editor: Rajeev
Raghavan, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India. Date of publication: 26 October 2021
(online & print)
Citation: Rameshori,
Y., Y. Chinglemba & W. Vishwanath (2021). New record of the Sewing Needle
Zipper Loach Paracanthocobitis linypha Singer & Page, 2015 (Teleostei:
Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae)
from the Chindwin drainage of Manipur, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(12): 19813–19817. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7005.13.12.19813-19817
Copyright: © Rameshori
et al. 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution
of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and
the source of publication.
Funding: DBT, Government
of India, (BCIL/NER-BPMC/2017/164).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We are very grateful to the
Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, New Delhi (Project No.
BCIL/NER-BPMC/2017/164) for research grant.
Abstract: Paracanthocobitis linypha
Singer &
Page, a freshwater nemacheiline zipper loach, is
reported for the first time from the Lokchao River of
Manipur (headwaters of Chindwin drainage), in northeastern India. The species
is diagnosed in having an incomplete lateral line, flank with 10–14 thin dark
bars, long bars occasionally alternating with short bars extending up to about
lateral mid-line, interspaces broader than bar width. Morphometric and meristic
data of the examined specimens were compared with the original description to
validate the species identity.
Keywords: Freshwater nemacheiline,
Lokchao River, new report, northeastern India.
Fishes of the genus Paracanthocobitis Grant, 2007 are widely
distributed in southern and southeastern Asia, ranging from the Indus drainage
in eastern Pakistan to the Mekong drainage in Cambodia and Laos (Rainboth et al. 2012). The genus is diagnosed in having a
thickened lower lip, swollen medially, densely covered by papillae, the two
halves are in contact anteriorly and globulous
medially, followed laterally up to the rictus by a thin, narrow, and smooth
part; upper lip with several rows of papillae; 9½–15½ branched dorsal-fin rays;
anus closer to anal-fin origin; male suborbital flap is located more
posteriorly with its extremity under the middle of the eye, the lower edge of
the lateral ethmoid is marked by a groove extending forwards beyond the
nostrils (Kottelat & Vishwanath 2021).
Hora (1921) reported the presence
of Paracanthocobitis zonalternans
(Blyth, 1860) from the Chindwin drainage and P. botia
(Hamilton, 1822) from the Brahmaputra drainage of Manipur, northeastern
India. Recently, Kottelat & Vishwanath (2021)
clarified that P. zonalternans, which
Hora recorded from the Chindwin drainage is actually P. marmorata Singer
et al., 2017. Additionally, Vishwanath & Laisram
(2001) also clarified that Hora’s report of P. botia
from Manipur was erroneous as the collection was made from a
place named Ghaspani in the present state of
Nagaland, India, and extended the distribution of P. botia
to the Barak drainage in Manipur.
A recent ichthyological survey in
the Lokchao River of Manipur, Chindwin drainage,
resulted in the collection of 10 specimens of Paracanthocobitis. After detailed examination, the specimens
were identified as Paracanthocobitis linypha Singer & Page, 2015 and the species is
hereby reported for the first time from the Chindwin drainage in Manipur,
northeastern India.
Materials and Methods
Measurements and counts follow
Singer & Page (2015). Measurements were made with digital callipers on the left side of the specimens to the nearest
0.1 mm. Measurements of body parts and head length are presented as proportions
of standard length (SL) and subunits of head, as that of head length (HL). Fin
rays, pores on lateral line and cephalic lateralis system were counted under a
stereo-zoom microscope using transmitted and reflected light. The values in
parenthesis following a count indicate the frequency of that count. Specimens
are preserved in 10% formalin and deposited in the Manipur University Museum of
Fishes (MUMF), Imphal.
Results
Paracanthocobitis linypha
Singer &
Page, 2015 (Image 1)
Common name: Sewing Needle Zipper
Loach
Materials examined: MUMF 18051–18055, 5 ex., females,
09.v.2019, Lokchao River, Tengnoupal
District, Manipur, India, 24.239°N 94.271°E, 261 m, 37.4–43.1 mm SL, coll. Yumnam Rameshori & Achom Darshan; MUMF 18056–18060, 5 ex., males, same data as
above.
Diagnosis: Paracanthocobitis linypha is distinguished from all other
species of Paracanthocobitis by the
following combination of characters: 10–14 thin dark bars on flank, long bars
occasionally alternating with short bars extending up to about lateral mid-line;
interspaces wider than bars; an incomplete lateral line; absence of axillary
pelvic lobe; males with suborbital flap.
Description: Morphometric and meristic data
are presented in Table 1 and 2 respectively. Body moderately elongate, anterior
sub-cylindrical, posterior compressed; body depth greatest at dorsal-fin
origin. Dorsal profile of body arched, rising gently from tip of snout to
dorsal-fin origin, then sloping evenly to caudal-fin base; ventral profile
almost straight up to anal-fin origin, then inclined gently towards end of
caudal peduncle. Head depressed, snout slightly rounded, maximum head width
1.6–1.9 times interorbital width. Eyes almost spherical, situated close to
dorsal profile of head, nearer to tip of snout than to end of opercle, not visible in ventral view. Caudal peduncle
0.9–1.2 times longer than deep.
Body and belly completely covered
by embedded scales. Lateral line incomplete, ending before end of adpressed pelvic fin, in some specimens reaches up to at
least anal-fin origin. Cephalic lateral line system with 5–7 supraorbital,
3–4+10 infraorbital, 6 preoperculo-mandibular and 3
supratemporal pores. Anterior and posterior nostrils adjacent. Mouth moderately
arched, about 1.7–2.1 times wider than long. Lips thin, fleshy and papillated. Processus dentiformis present.
Lower lip with a deep medial interruption. Barbels 3
pairs; inner rostral barbel slightly extend beyond
base of maxillary barbel, outer rostral and maxillary
barbel reaching slightly beyond vertical to posterior
rim of eye.
Dorsal fin with 8½ (2) or 9½ (2)
or 10½ (6) branched rays, its origin slightly in advance to vertical of
pelvic-fin origin. Anal fin with 5½ (10) branched rays; pectoral fin with 11
(8) or 12 (2) rays; pelvic fin with 7 (2) or 8 (8) rays. Axillary pelvic lobe
absent. Caudal fin slightly emarginate to truncate, lobes equal, with 8+8 (10)
branched rays.
Sexual dimorphism: Males with prominent suborbital flap; dorsal
surface of pectoral fin of males with thick unculiferous
pad covered by small conical tubercles (Image 2).
Coloration: In 10% formalin, body
background pale yellowish with 10–14 thin dark bars on flank, most of them
continuous with saddles on dorsum, long bars occasionally alternating with
short bars extending up to about lateral mid-line; interspaces wider than bars.
Dorsum of head with many dark spots. Dorsal fin with 5–6 rows of black spots.
Pectoral, pelvic, and anal fin hyaline with little pigments on proximal end. An
ocellus with more or less round black spot near dorsal margin of caudal-fin
base. Caudal fin with 6–7 rows of V-shaped dark bands with vertices pointed
towards distal end of caudal-fin.
Distribution: Presently known from the
Irrawaddy and Sittang drainages in Myanmar. The
occurrence of Paracanthocobitis linypha in the Lokchao River
extends the natural occurrence range of the species into the Chindwin drainage
of Manipur, northeastern India.
Discussion
Grant (2007) proposed Paracanthocobitis as a subgenus of Acanthocobitis
Peters, 1861 with Cobitis zonalternans Blyth, 1860 as the type species. However, Kottelat (2012) did not recognize the subgenus Paracanthocobitis stating that the differentiating
characters of Paracanthocobitis from Acanthocobitis are not clear, and the
designation of the subgenus was not on the basis of actual examination of
specimens, except one live individual and few photographs. Subsequently, Singer
& Page (2015) recognized Paracanthocobitis
as a distinct genus and listed 14 species including P. linypha which they described from the Irrawaddy and Sittang drainages in Myanmar.
At present, 18 species of Paracanthocobitis are considered valid
(Fricke et al. 2021). The morphometric and meristic data of the examined Paracanthocobitis specimens collected from Manipur
are in sync with the original morphometric and meristic data as well as
characters in the description, except for few deviations such as body depth and
pre-pelvic length (Table 1). Also, the examined specimens have 8½–10½ (vs.
9½–11½) branched dorsal-fin rays (Table 2). In the original description of P.
linypha, the lateral line was suggested to end
before distal end of adpressed pelvic fin; however,
in some of the specimens examined from Manipur, lateral line reaches up to at
least anal-fin origin. These minor differences may be due to limited coverage
of populations in the original description, and habitat variations. Detailed
analysis is required to assess location-specific threats, and to understand the
status and trends in population of the species.
Table 1. Morphometric data of Paracanthocobitis linypha
(n= 10).
|
MUMF 18051–18060 |
Singer
& Page (2015) |
|
|
Range |
Mean ± SD |
Range |
Standard length (mm) |
37.4–44.8 |
|
26.1–42.9 |
|
|
|
|
% SL |
|
|
|
Body depth |
18.7–20.6 |
19.5±0.7 |
13.7–18.5 |
Head length |
22.9–25.2 |
24.2±0.6 |
18.8–22.9 |
Caudal-peduncle depth |
12.1–14.9 |
13.3±0.9 |
7.9–12.4 |
Pre-dorsal length |
48.0–52.8 |
50.3±1.6 |
40.4–50.7 |
Pre-pelvic length |
54.4–59.4 |
57.2±1.4 |
47.6–54.1 |
Pre-anal length |
76.6–83.3 |
79.9±2.4 |
72.7–79.7 |
Snout length |
8.4–10.0 |
9.5±0.5 |
6.0–9.0 |
Pectoral-fin length |
20.2–25.9 |
23.2±2.3 |
17.5–21.8 |
Pelvic-fin length |
16.9–20.1 |
18.7±1.0 |
15.5–18.0 |
% HL |
|
|
|
Eye diameter |
21.0–25.0 |
23.0±1.0 |
24.0–30.9 |
Interorbital width |
31.0–34.0 |
32.0±1.0 |
24.1–35.3 |
Table 2. Meristic counts of Paracanthocobitis linypha
(n= 10).
|
MUMF
18051–18060 |
Singer
& Page (2015) |
Branched dorsal-fin rays |
8½ (2), 9½ (2), 10½
(6) |
9½–11½ |
Branched anal-fin rays |
5½ (10) |
5½ |
Pectoral-fin rays |
11 (8), 12 (2) |
11–13 |
Pelvic-fin rays |
7 (2), 8 (8) |
8 |
Caudal fin ray count |
8
+ 8 (10) |
8 + 8 |
For
figure & images - - click here
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