A new species of dwarf catfish has been found in Nagaland

It was thought to be a juvenile specimen of some large catfish. But after due diligence, researchers have found it as a new species of beautiful dwarf catfish discovered in Nagaland.

The team of researchers, J. Praveen Raj, Balaji Vijayakrishnan, Lima Akum and Gurumayum Devi discovered a new species of dwarf catfish, Pseudolaguvia Vespa, in the Sucha River at Khar village in Mokokchung district of Nagaland. The discovery was published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed taxonomy journal Zootaxa.

Sucha is a tributary of the river Milak, on the south bank of the Brahmaputra.

“It was in April 2021, when my colleague Lima Akum, who works as an assistant professor at Fazal Ali College in Mokokchung, shared a picture of a tiny catfish from the Sucha River. Initially, we thought it was a juvenile specimen of some large catfish. I asked Lima Akum to send me the same sample. Further investigations have revealed that it is a new species of Pseudolaguvia, “said Praveen Raj Eastmojo, a scientist at the Central Island Agricultural Research Institute in Port Blair.

“It was an opportunity to discover,” he said. The fish is edible. There are about 197 species of catfish in India, of which 125 are found in the Northeast.

The team also contacted Dr. Gurumayum Devi, a scientist at the Zoological Survey of India in Arunachal Pradesh, to conduct a comparative study with other species of Pseudolaguvia to assist them.

Dr. Gurumayum tells Eastmojo that the habitat of Pseudolaguvia is not the large flowing rivers, but they are usually found in small streams or streams that are usually found at the bottom of large river rivers.

Pseudolaguvia is a small catfish that lives in mountain streams and large rivers. The northeastern states of India and neighboring countries (Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar) harbor a total of 21 species of Pseudolaguvia, with two species known from the Western Ghats of India.

A new species of dwarf catfish has been found in Nagaland

Balaji Vijayakrishnan, an expert on Indian catfish, said: “Pseudolaguvia species are found in habitat shoals, sometimes multiple species coexist in the same habitat.”

Nagaland is known as the least explored northeastern state in terms of ichthyology – a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of fish – and current findings indicate this, the team said. The specific name Vespa comes from Latin, meaning wasp, a chrome-yellow alternative on the body, and a stripe in reference to the brown stripe.

Pseudolaguvia vespa may be recognized by the presence of two yellow and brown stripes on the body, a small dorsal-fin spine and other significant menstrual symptoms.

“The discovery of P. vespa from Nagaland is significant because it is the first record of this species in the state, and the number of Pseudolaguvia species has risen to 24,” he said.

“Named after their distinctive barbells, which resemble a cat’s brass, catfish change their shape. For example, Gooch catfish from India grow up to 2 meters in size and the smallest genus Pseudolaguvia is less than 4 centimeters. That is,” explained Praveen Raj.

Catfish are valued as a food fish and are also traded for hobby aquariums. Pseudolaguvia species is also a high demand product which is exported from India.

In Nagaland, people use ichthyotoxins – compounds that are toxic to fish – to catch large food fish in rivers, and small fish such as pseudolaguivia bycatch. “We have a lot of new species from Nagaland to describe in the coming years,” says Praveenraj.