A new short brown unpatterned moray eel (Anguilliformes, Muraenidae) from the southeast coast of India, Bay of Bengal

By

Kodeeswaran, Paramasivam
Kantharajan, Ganesan
Mohapatra, Anil
Tt, Ajith Kumar
Sarkar, Uttam Kumar, 1963-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

99

Series / Issue

Issue: 1

Pages

253--260

Subjects

Elopomorpha , molecular analyses , Tamil Nadu , unpatterned moray

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.99.100461

 

Abstract

Gymnothorax tamilnaduensis sp. nov., a new species of short brown unpatterned moray, is described, based on four specimens ranging from 272–487 mm total length collected from the trawl bycatch landings at Mudasalodai fish landing centre, off Cuddalore coast, Tamil Nadu, southeast coast of India. 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). Our morphological and molecular analyses show that the new species forms a distinct clade from its congeners and these data support the status as a new species.