Integrative taxonomy reveals a new species of snakehead fish, Channa stiktos (Teleostei: Channidae), from Mizoram, North Eastern India

Authors

Lalramliana1*, John Daniel Marcus Knight2, Denis Van Lalhlimpuia1 & Mahender Singh3
1 Department of Zoology, Pachhunga University College, Aizawl-Mizoram, India, 796001; lrl_zoo@yahoo.co.in; cc.sined@gmail.com 2 Flat ‘L’, Sri Balaji Apartments, 7th Main Road, Dhandeeswaram, Velachery, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600042, India; jdmarcusknight@yahoo.co.in
3 Molecular Biology & Biotechnology Division, ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow 226002, Uttar Pradesh, India; dr.mahendersingh29@gmail.com — *Corresponding author: lrl_zoo@yahoo.co.in

Accepted July 09, 2018.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on July 27, 2018.
Editor in charge: Uwe Fritz



Abstract

Channa stiktos, a new species of snakehead fish, is described from the River Kaladan and its tributaries, Mizoram, North Eastern India based on comparison of morphological and molecular features with closely related species. Channa stiktos is morphologically similar to C. ornatipinnis described from the Rakhine State of Myanmar, however, differs from it in having black spots on dorsal and ventral sides of the head (vs. no spots on dorsal and ventral sides of the head, but rather spots restricted to the post-orbital lateral region of the head), and lacking dark spot on the anal fin of juveniles (vs. presence of series of upto 10 dark spots). The molecular analysis, based on cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences, shows that C. stiktos is distinct from other close Channa species, except clade 3 of C. ornatipinnis, available in the GenBank (interspecies distance ranges from 8.24–25.33%). Channa stiktos clustered cohesively with clade 3 of C. ornatipinnis (only 1.43% genetic distance) indicating that they are conspecific. The genetic distance between Channa stiktos and C. ornatipinnis(from the type locality and another locality in the Ayeyarwaddy basin) are 8.24–8.59%, and between C. stiktos and C. pulchra is 12.92%, supporting the conclusion that they are different species.

PDF zum runterladen
[[File:05_vertebrate_zoology_68_2_lalramliana_et_al_165-175.pdf]]