AENIGMACHANNA GOLLUM

Subject : Environment

Context :Aenigmachannagollum, a dragon snakehead fish that lives in underground aquifers, and which first announced its surfacing in social media posts in 2018.

Concept :

• Aenigmachanna Gollum has a surprisingly large number of primitive characters, and detailed molecular phylogenetic analyses including of its Mitochondrial DNA suggested an ancient separation from Channidae.
• Many such species were earlier found in the aquifers of Kerala.
• Many of these species are blind, pigment-less, and have peculiar morphological characters that are otherwise not seen in species occurring in surface waters.

Significance of the discovery

• The presence of two unique endemic families of freshwater fish in a small region like Kerala is unparalleled and indicates the exceptional diversity and endemicity of fishes in this part of the world.
• The members of Aenigmachannidae are “living fossils” and comprise an ancient Gondwanan lineage that survived the break-up of the supercontinent and the northward drift of the Indian subcontinent.