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| Channa rara
Britz, Dahanukar, Anoop & Ali, 2019
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Abstract
Channa rara, new species, is described from the Jagbudi River in Maharashtra, India. It belongs to the Gachua group and differs from all its members by the possession of one or more ocelli in the posterior part of the dorsal fin in adults (vs. ocelli absent or 1, rarely 2–3 ocelli in juveniles only). It is further distinguished from most species of the C. gachua group by having 6–7 dark concentric bands on the pectoral fins. We review recent descriptions of species of the genus Channa and conclude that C. royi is a synonym of Channa harcourtbutleri, that the diagnosis of C. shingon from C. harcourtbutleri is seriously flawed and that C. torsaensis is not sufficiently diagnosed from C. quinquefasciata. The recently described C. amari is a junior synonym of C. brunnea.
Keywords: Pisces, taxonomy, endemism, Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot
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| FIGURE 2. Channa rara, live colouration. (A) BNHS FWF 1003, holotype, 87.6 mm SL, India: Maharashthra: Jagbudi River near Khopi Village, note series of small dark spots along base of dorsal fin, large ocellus-like blotch at posterior dorsal fin. (B) juvenile, not preserved, ca. 30 mm SL, note numerous black blotches in dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. (C) small juvenile released from mouthbrooding male, not preserved, ca. 12 mm SL. |
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| FIGURE 3. Channa rara, variation of live colouration. (A) BNHS FWF 1004-1005, paratypes, 90.3 mm SL (left) and 82.1 (right), note presence of two (left) and three (right) posterior ocellus-like dorsal-fin blotches. (B) BNHS FWF 1004-1005, paratypes, 90.3 mm SL (left) and 82.1 (right) illustrating ventral head colouration. |
Ralf Britz, Neelesh Dahanukar, V.K. Anoop and Anvar Ali. 2019. Channa rara, A New Species of Snakehead Fish from the Western Ghats region of Maharashtra, India (Teleostei: Labyrinthici: Channidae). Zootaxa. 4683(4); 589–600. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4683.4.8
