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| Pangasius icaria Ayyathurai, Kodeeswaran, Mohindra, Singh, Ravi, Kumar, Valaparambil, Thangappan, Jena & Lal, 2022 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14258 |
Abstract
A new species of the genus Pangasius, is described based on 17 specimens collected from the Cauvery River, India. It can be distinguished from its sister species from South and Southeast Asia, by its widely placed, small and rounded vomerine and palatine tooth plates, longer maxillary and mandibular barbels, greater vertebrae count 50 (vs. 44–48), and smaller caudal peduncle depth (6.5–8.2% SL vs. 9.89–13.09% SL). The tooth plates of the new species closely resembles that of Pangasius macronema but can be clearly distinguished from the latter by having lesser gill rakers (16–19 vs. 36–45); a smaller eye (2.4–4.4% SL vs. 5.2–9.6% SL); and larger adipose-fin base (1.5–2.9% SL vs. 0.1–1.2% SL). The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene sequence of the new species shows the genetic divergence of 3.5% and 5.1% from P. pangasius and P. silasi respectively, the two sister species found in South Asia and India. The species delimitation approaches, Poisson Tree Processes (PTP) and assemble species by automatic partitioning (ASAP) clearly resolved that the P. icaria is distinct from its sister species. Phylogenetic position of the species with its sister species was evaluated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian analysis. The discovery of this previously unknown species of genus Pangasius from the Cauvery River of peninsular India indicates important biogeographical insight that this genus migrated till the southern division of Western Ghats.
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| Pangasius icaria, holotype, NBFGR/ PANPTAM, 211.6 mm SL. (A) Lateral; (B) dorsal; (C) ventral views Tamil Nadu, Salem district, Mettur Dam, Cauvery River. |
Pangasius icaria, sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Pangasius icaria differs from all the sister species of south Asia by by the following combination of characters: a set of widely placed, small and rounded vomerine and palatine tooth plates, moderately rounded snout on dorsally viewed, maxillary barbel reaching beyond the base of the pectoral spine, eye diameter 2.4–4.4% SL, smaller-interorbital distance 10.1–12.4% SL, caudal peduncle depth 6.5–8.2% SL, filamentous first dorsal- and pectoral-fin ray, gill rakers 16–19, 50 vertebrae and a reddish dorsal-, anal- and pectoral-fin base.
Habitat and distribution. Presently known only from Cauvery River basin collected from two locations, at Mettur Dam, and in the upstream of Shivanasamudra Falls, Chamarajanagar, Karnataka. The species was collected using a gill net at a depth of 5–15 m during the discharge of water from the main dam (Fig. 6).
Etymology. The species is named after the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and used its abbreviated form. ICAR is the parent organization for NBFGR, which has conducted this research.
Conclusions:
A new species of the genus Pangasius is described that was collected from the Cauvery River, Tamil Nadu, India. This new discovery of P. icaria clearly highlights the native presence of genus Pangasius in peninsular India and is represented by two recorded divergent species. Future research and explorations are needed to ascertain the distributional range of this endemic species for devising conservation and management of the species and also to evaluate for its aquaculture utilization potential.
Kathirvelpandian P.V. Ayyathurai, Paramasivam Kodeeswaran, Vindhya Mohindra, Rajeev K. Singh, Charan Ravi, Rahul Kumar, BasheerSaidmuhammed Valaparambil, Ajith Kumar Thipramalai Thangappan, Joykrushna Jena and Kuldeep K. Lal. 2022. Description of A New Pangasius (Valenciennes, 1840) Species, from the Cauvery River extends Distribution Range of the Genus up to South Western Ghats in peninsular India. PeerJ. 10:e14258. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14258
ICAR-NBFGR discovers a new catfish species of genus Pangasius, from river Cauvery and named after ICAR as Pangasius icaria.
ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow has discovered and described a new catfish species of the genus Pangasius (Valenciennes, 1840), from the river Cauvery, in peninsular India and named as P. icaria.
The species is described based on specimens collected through exploration of the river from Mettur dam, and in the upstream of Shivanasamudra falls, Chamarajanagar, Karnataka. Pangasius icaria is named after the parent organization Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and uses its abbreviated form. The fish is known among the fisherfolks as ‘Aie Keluthi’ in the vernacular Tamil language.
https://icar.org.in/content/icar-nbfgr-discovers-new-catfish-species-genus-pangasius-river-cauvery-and-named-after-icar
https://twitter.com/icar_fish/status/1575346267248480256
