 |
| Channa torsaensis
Dey, Nur, Raychowdhury, Sarkar, Singh & Barat, 2018
|
ABSTRACT
A new Channa species described from River Torsa of Brahmaputra river basin, West Bengal, India. Channa torsaensis sp. nov. a new species of Channa, is distinguished from congeners by a combination of the following characters namely a dorsal, anal and caudal fins being bluish with a broad dark blue border having a tinge of orange border covering the dark blue border; dorsal fin with numerous back spots; caudal fin with 9-10 black bands; 5-6 oblique greyish-blue bands present on the body; lateral line pored scales 46 in number; dorsal fin rays 36-38; anal fin rays 22 - 25; total vertebrae 44- 45 (16+28).
Key words: Taxonomy, Endemic, Brahmaputra basin, new species of Channa.
Channa torsaensis sp. nov.
New English name: Cobalt Blue Channa
Local name (Bengali): Neel Chang
Diagnosis. Channa torsaensis sp. nov. is
distinguished from all other species of Channa
except C. pomanensis and C. quinquefasciata
by an unique broad dark blue border on the
dorsal, anal and caudal fin and having a tinge
of orange border covering; 5-6 oblique
greyish-blue bands present on the body. ....
 |
| Fig. 2: Different views of Channa torsaensis sp. nov. Holotype, ZSIFF7913, 211 mm SL, Dakshin Barajhar forest, Alipurduar district, West Bengal, India. |
 |
| Fig. 4: A view of River Torsa, Dakshin Barajhar forest, Alipurduar district, West Bengal, India and type locality of Channa torsaensis Holotype. |
Distribution and Habitat At present, known to be distributed from tributary of River Torsa, Dakshin Barajhar forest, Alipurduar district, West Bengal, India (Fig.4). The running river water was transparent, cool, low depth and having various substrata like gravel, pebbles, sand, soil and medium to large boulders.
Etymology. The new species is named after the River Torsa, from where the fish was collected.
CONCLUSION:
Based on the diagnosis, Channa species have been classified into 15 groups from North-East India in the Brahmaputra drainage, India. Channa torsaensis sp. nov. brings the number of Channa species to 16 from in Brahmaputra drainage, North East India. Channa torsaensis is male mouth-brooder and more aggressive in nature than other native Channa species.
Arpita Dey, Ruksa Nur, Basudhara Raychowdhury, Debapriya Sarkar,
Laishram Kosygin Singh and Sudip Barat. 2018. A New Ornamental Species of Snakehead Fish (Teleostei: Channidae) from River Torsa of West Bengal, India. International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience (Int. J. Pure App. Biosci. - IJPAB). 6(6); 497-503. DOI: 10.18782/2320-7051.7131
