Actinimenes koyas: New Species of Shrimp

April 19, 2022

A new species of shrimp has been discovered by scientists from the ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR). The newly discovered species has been named Actinimenes koyas.

Overview:

NBFGR is focused on the documentation of the country’s aquatic genetic resources and gives special attention to shellfish and fish resources.
The newly-discovered shrimp species was collected at a depth of 1.0–2.0 m from Agatti Island’s coral atoll.
Agatti Island forms a part of the Lakshadweep islands.
The discovery was done by a team comprising A. Dhinakaran, Purushothaman Paramasivam, Kuldeep K. Lal, and T.T. Ajith Kumar.

Name of the new species

The newly discovered species has been named ‘Koyas’ to honour the Lakshadweep Island’s local community. The Koyas are a part of the island’s important ethnic community and have made a significant contribution to the preservation and development of the society’s heritage.

About the species

In morphological traits, this species is related closely to some other species of shrimp. This newly discovered species can be easily distinguished from the other shrimp species by the structural variation in this species’ fourth sternal plate along with a median notch.

Exploration surveys of NBFGR

A lot of exploratory surveys are being conducted by the NBFGR off the Lakshadweep islands and special focus is being shown on shrimp and fish species. The studies conducted by this organization have revealed a great diversity of undescribed and colourful shrimp species. Recently, NBFGR scientists discovered new species of shrimp named Periclimenella agattii in the year 2019 and have been named after the Agatti island and Arabianensis in the year 2020 and have been named after the Arabian Sea.

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