Why in the News?
ICAR- National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) researchers in Kochi have discovered a new finless snake eel species, Apterichtus kanniyakumari, named after Kanniyakumari district.
About Finless Snake Eel (Apterichtus kanniyakumari):
- Location: Discovered off the Colachel coast, Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu), at ~100 m depth during deep-sea trawling.
- Etymology: Named kanniyakumari in honour of the district’s cultural, linguistic, historical, and geographical heritage.
- Taxonomy: Belongs to the genus Apterichtus, family Ophichthidae, commonly known as finless snake eels.
- Morphological traits: Golden-yellow body, pale white ventral head with yellow jaw lines, three black blotches (behind eyes, at rictus, behind rictus origin), conical uniserial teeth, 3 preopercular & 9 supratemporal pores.
- Molecular confirmation: Mitochondrial CO1 gene analysis shows it as a distinct clade, closely related to Apterichtus nanjilnaduensis.
- Significance: Marks the 16th new species described from the Indian coast by NBFGR; adds to India’s marine biodiversity records.
| [UPSC 2016] Recently, our scientists have discovered a new and distinct species of banana plant which attains a height of about 11 meters and has orange coloured fruit pulp. In which part of India has it been discovered?
(a) Andaman Islands * (b) Anaimalai Forests (c) Maikala Hills (d) Tropical rain forests of northeast |
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