CIFRI Awards
A new species of cyprinid fish has been discovered from the Brahmaputra River, Dibrugarh, Assam, during a freshwater faunal survey of the Brahmaputra River by a team
of Scientists from ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Regional Centre, Guwahati; ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore and Manipur University. The new species is named as Pethia dibrugarhensis, after its type locality ‘Dibrugarh’.
The new species is distinguished from its congeners based on the combination of following characters: an incomplete lateral line; a black blotch with more or less distinct extension to dorsal and ventral sides of caudal peduncle; absence of humeral mark and barbels.
Pethia dibrugarhensis is presently known from Brahmaputra River, Maijan village, Dibrugarh district, Assam, India. The fish species is found in moderately fast running water with bottom consists of mud mixed with sand and stones. Other species co-occurring with Pethia dibrugarhensis include the small indigenous fishes.
The findings were published in a peer-reviewed international journal, National Academy Science Letters by the Springer Nature.
The fish discovery was conducted by Dr. Basanta Kumar Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI; Dr. Niti Sharma, Scientist, and Dr. Simanku Borah, Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI RC, Guwahati in association with Prof. W. Vishwanath, a well-known freshwater taxonomist and Dr. M. Dishma, Pethia specialist from Manipur.
