14 November, 2023, Lucknow
A newly identified species of snake eel, discovered along the coasts of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, has been officially described. This novel species, christened Ophichthus “naevius,” a Latin term meaning 'spotted' or 'marked with moles,' earns its name from the distinctive dark spots adorning its dorsal surface. The principal specimen (holotype) of this species is now housed and catalogued at the National Fish Museum and Repository of the ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic resources (NBFGR) in Lucknow. Additionally, the species name has been formally registered in ZooBank, which is the official online repository for nomenclature under the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).
The discovery of this snake eel, which enriches the diversity of the genus Ophichthus in Indian waters to a total of 14 species, was detailed in a recent publication in the “Journal of Fish Biology,” a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
(Sources: ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic resources, Lucknow)
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