Pangio bhujia, Anoop & Britz & Arjun & Dahanukar & Raghavan, 2019

Anoop, V. K., Britz, Ralf, Arjun, C. P., Dahanukar, Neelesh & Raghavan, Rajeev, 2019, Pangio bhujia, a new, peculiar species of miniature subterranean eel loach lacking dorsal and pelvic fins from India (Teleostei: Cobitidae), Zootaxa 4683 (1), pp. 144-150 : 145-149

Pangio bhujia , new species

( Figs. 1–3 )

Holotype. BNHS FWF 980 , 25.4 mm SL; India: Kerala: Kozhikode District, Cherinjal , (11°17’42”N, 75°52’7”E), 40m asl; V. K. Anoop & C. P. Arjun, 29 April 2019.

Paratypes. BNHS FWF 981–990 , 10 ex., 22.1–26.4 mm SL, same data as holotype . BNHS FWF 991–996 , 6 ex., 23.1–26.0 mm SL, c&s, same data as holotype .

Diagnosis. Pangio bhujia is distinguished from all other species of Pangio by the absence of the dorsal fin, the presence of only 3 pectoral-fin rays, 6 anal-fin rays and 12–13 segmented caudal-fin rays and a unique count of 23–24 caudal vertebrae. It is further distinguished from all other species of Pangio except P. fusca , P. apoda , P. pulla and P. lidi by the absence of pelvic fins. It differs further from all species of Pangio except P. bitaimac , P. cuneovirgata , P. doriae , P. filinaris , P. fusca , P. lidi , P. longimanus , and P. ammophila by the presence of a long nasal barbel.

Description. A greatly elongate, laterally only slightly compressed Pangio , mid-body with an almost circular to slightly oval cross section, but caudal region strongly laterally compressed. Standard length 10.8–13.3 times body depth; body depth 1.4–1.8 times body width. Caudal peduncle blade-like, its depth 3.3–4.1 times its width, its length 3.6–4.4 times its depth ( Table 1 ). Precaudal adipose keels well-developed, deep and long.

Mouth with six long (ca. 50% of HL) barbels, two pairs of maxillary and one pair of mandibular barbels. Medi- an lobe of lower lip with a wide triangular, distally pointed, short barbel-like extension. Posterior margin of anterior naris developed into a long nasal barbel, 46–57% of head length; of the same length as maxillary and mandibular barbels and like them densely covered in taste buds. Eye tiny, only 5.7–6.7% of head length, covered by thick skin. Suborbital spine with a single recurved tip. Pectoral fin narrow, long, thread-like, 57–84% of head length. Anal fin short with rounded margin. Caudal fin rounded lanceolate. Scales absent.

Pectoral-fin rays 3. Pelvic fin and girdle absent. Dorsal-fin and dorsal-fin pterygiophores absent. Anal-fin rays 6 (6), with 1 rudimentary ray followed by 5 unbranched rays. Caudal-fin rays all unbranched, fin formula (see Material and methods): 2+6+6+2 (1), 3+6+6+2 (1), 2+6+7+1 (1), 2+7+6+2 (1), 2+7+5+3 (2). Ribs on vertebrae 5-38. Epineural and epipleural bones associated with posterior most three abdominal and caudal vertebrae.

Vertebrae. 38–39 + 23–24 = 62–63 (n=6).

Colour in life. Overall colouration pinkish red to light pink. Small black spot on head representing eye. Abdominal cavity of mature females translucent with large yellowish white eggs and large red blood vessel running along them on right side of body. Caudal region translucent rendering caudal vertebrae visible. Pectoral, anal, and caudal fins transparent.

Colour in preservative. Overall whitish beige with tiny black eye spot still visible. Dorsal side of head and body with scattered tiny melanophores only visible at 20x magnification.

Distribution. Currently only known from its type locality, Cherinjal, a village in Kozhikode District, Kerala State, India ( Fig 5 ).

Habitat. The fish was collected from a six-meter-deep homestead well used for drinking and irrigation purposes, as well as from a channel (<0.4m depth) connecting a pond to an adjacent paddy field located ~ 200 m away from the well ( Fig 5 ). The pond which had laterite rock walls had a substrate with a mix of sand and clay and covered with decayed leaves. Individuals with eggs were collected from the channel with reduced water flow. Co-occurring species in the channel and paddy field included Pseudosphromenus cupanus , Channa striata , Rasbora dandia , and Aplocheilus lineatus .

Etymology. The species name bhujia was inspired by the resemblance of this species to the widely known Indian snack ‘Bhujia’, small noodle-like pieces, usually made of moth beans ( Fabaceae : Vigna aconitifolia ), besan and spices.

Genetic analysis. Pangio bhujia differs in the mitochondrial cox1 gene from its Western Ghats congener P. ammophila by an uncorrected genetic p distance of 15.4–15.7%, while it differs from its northern India congener P. pangia by 18.4–19.3% ( Table 2 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pangio bhujia; BNHS-FWF 980, holotype, 25.4 mm SL, adult female; India: Kerala: Kozhikode District: Cherinjal.

FIGURE 2. Pangio bhujia; BNHS-FWF 981–991, two of the paratypes, in life, image reversed.

FIGURE 3. Pangio bhujia; BNHS-FWF 981–991, one of the paratypes, in life, mature female with eggs, image reversed.

FIGURE 5. Pond adjacent to well at type locality from where additional specimens of P. bhujia were collected.

Tables

TABLE 1. Selected morphometric measurements of Pangio bhujia (n=8).

	Holotype	Range	Mean ±SD
Standard Length (SL in mm)	25.4	22.1–26.4
In % SL
Head length Preanal length Body depth Body width	12 68.6 8.3 5.7	11.3–12.3 67.8–75.8 7.5–9.3 4.4–5.8	11.9 ± 0.3 71.3 ± 2.6 8.3 ± 0.6 5.2 ± 0.5
Caudal peduncle depth Caudal peduncle length Caudal peduncle width Pectoral-fin length Snout length Eye diameter	7.1 25.6 1.9 7.3 4.5 0.8	6.2–7.2 25.0–28.5 1.6–2.0 7.0–9.7 4.1–4.7 0.6–0.8	6.8 ± 0.4 26.2 ± 1.2 1.8 ± 0.1 8.4 ± 1.0 4.4 ± 0.2 0.7 ± 0.1
In % HL
Snout length Eye diameter	37.5 6.6	34.7–38.9 5.7–6.7	37.1 ± 1.3 6.2 ± 0.4