Soaring Wings

Miniature sisorid fish in Mizoram. Pic:- Dr Heok Hee Ng

A new miniature sisorid catfish has been described from the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa.

Heok Hee Ng and Lalramliana name the new catfish Pseudolaguvia virgulata, after its distinctively striped colour pattern (virgulata=striped in Latin).

Besides its distinctive colour pattern, which consists of pale stripes running along the entire length of the body, a pale y-shaped marking on the head and brown stripes running through the caudal fin lobes, the new catfish also differs from congeners in other characters.

These include: head width 21.2–24.4% standard length; pectoral-fin length 28.5–29.1% standard length; length of dorsal-fin base 17.2–19.9% standard length; dorsal-spine length 21.5–24.0% standard length; serrated anterior edge of dorsal spine; thoracic adhesive apparatus reaching beyond base of last pectoral-fin ray; body depth at anus 14.5–17.4% standard length; length of adipose-fin base 12.9–15.0% standard length; caudal peduncle length 18.2–20.2% standard length; caudal peduncle depth 7.8–9.7 % standard length; snout length 48.0–54.9% head length; interorbital distance 29.3–35.2% head length; 29–30 vertebrae.

Pseudolaguvia virgulata was collected from clear, shallow, moderately flowing streams with a predominantly sandy bottom.  It is known from the Barak River drainage, which forms the headwaters of the Surma-Meghna river system, one of the three rivers that form the Ganges Delta.

For more information, see the paper: Ng, HH & Lalramliana (2010) Pseudolaguvia virgulata, a new sisorid catfish (Teleostei: Sisoridae) from Mizoram, northeastern India. Zootaxa 2518, pp. 60–68.

Courtesy: Practical Fishkeeping