Description of a new cave-dwelling species of Claea (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from the Yangtze River basin in Sichuan, southern China

By

Lei, Hao-Tian
He, Li
Huang, Junhao
Zhou, Jia-Jun
He, De-Kui

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-3-26

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

101

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

681--695

Subjects

cavefish , Claea , Morphology , Nemacheilidae , Phylogeny

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.146469

 

Abstract

The first obligatory troglobitic Claea species, Claea scet, is described from a subterranean river in a cave connected to the Yangtze River in Hulu Town, Shawan District, Leshan City, Sichuan Province, southern China. C. scet differs from all congeners by the following combination of characters: Body pale without pigmentation; eye vestigial, diameter of eye 3.8–5.9% SL; short anal fin, anal fin height 7.0–8.4% SL. Molecular phylogenetic analysis supported the validity of the new species and revealed a close relationship between Claea and hypogean Triplophysa species.