Schistura densiclava-A new cave fish species

A team of zoologists has recorded Schistura densiclava as a new species of troglophile loach from Krem Mawjymbuin underground cave Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district.

• Schistura densiclava is the sixth cave-dwelling fish recorded from Meghalaya.
• A troglophile animal is essentially a cave-dwelling animal that can thrive and reproduce in epigean, or aboveground, environments.
• Krem means cave in the indigenous Khasi language.
• Belonging to the Nemacheilidae family, Schistura densiclava is adapted to the dark, subterranean environment but can also survive in surface waters.
• According to the authors, it retains pigment and eyesight, unlike other cave-dwelling fishes such as Schistura papulifera or Neolissochilus pnar, also recorded from Meghalaya.
• A 206-metre-high cave, Krem Mawjymbuin, has a surveyed length of about 1.6 km.
• The study was published in Journal of Fish Biology, a peer-reviewed publication of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

(Source: The Hindu)