New species of Moray eel discovered off Cuddalore coast named after Tamil Nadu

New species of Moray eel discovered off Cuddalore coast named after Tamil Nadu

Subject : Environment

Section: Species in news

Context: This is the first ever record of this species and has been named after Tamil Nadu as tamilnaduensis with common name as Tamil Nadu brown moray.

More on the News:

• Researchers have discovered a new species of Moray eel at the Mudasalodai fish landing centre off the Cuddalore coast. The species has been named after Tamil Nadu as Gymnothoraxtamilnaduensis with common name as Tamil Nadu brown moray.
• This is the first ever record of this genus, Gymnothorax, collected through an exploration survey conducted along the coastal waters of Cuddalore district, particularly, Parangipettai and Mudasalodai fish landing centres.
• About 28 species of Gymnothorax have been documented in Indian waters so far. The species discovered off the Cuddalore coast represents India and increases the total amount of species of Gymnothorax to 29.

Gymnothoraxtamilnaduensis:

• A new species of short brown unpatterned moray, is described, based on four specimens ranging from 272–487 mm total length.
• The new species is distinguished by the following combination of characters:
  • origin of dorsal fin at middle of rictus and gill opening,
  • anus just before mid-body,
  • series of lines of small dark spots present on head and
  • a single line of black spot-on mid-line of body, jaw pores with white rim, anal-fin margin whitish, 3 pre-dorsal vertebrae, 56–59 pre-anal vertebrae and 139–150 total vertebrae.
• The new species differs from its known Indian water congeners by having series of lines of small dark spots present on the head and a single line of black spots on the mid-line of the body (vs. absent in all the three congeners in India), serrated teeth (vs. smooth), jaw pores with white rim (vs. black to brown in others) and higher vertebral count (139–150 vs. 134–138 in others).
• Distribution: Indian Ocean: off Cuddalore Coast, Bay of Bengal, southeast coast of India. The species were collected at a depth of about 25–30 metres.