Glyptothorax senapatiensis, new catfish species discovered in Manipur by ZSI Scientists

New catfish species named Glyptothorax senapatiensis was recently discovered by scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). It was discovered in Chindwin river drainage in Senapati district of Manipur.
Locally in this region, this catfish species is known as Ngapang and mainly used by people for food.
Glyptothorax senapatiensis is six-cm-long freshwater fish. It is edible fish with high nutritional value and has high oil content.
It has a thoracic adhesive apparatus that helps the fish to cling on rocky riverbed in mountains against strong currents. This is similar to characteristic all Glyptothorax-genus fish.
Northeast India has rich presence of aquatic biodiversity. Around 361 of the 816 fish species found in India are present in this region.  Several important species of catfish are also found.
In case of Manipur, it has a high diversity of aquatic fauna because of the two important river drainage systems i.e. Barak-Brahmaputra.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2015