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Dresden (dpa / sn) - A Dresden Senckenberg researcher and colleagues from abroad have described a new species of fish: Rakthamichthys.
The blind fish belonging to the family of the gill slit eels lived in subterranean waters in southern India and were colored red, the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden announced on Friday.
The team also added three other fish species to the new genus.
The study was recently published in the journal “Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters”.
According to Senckenberg, the gill slit eels (Synbranchidae) have an elongated body without pectoral, ventral, dorsal, anal and caudal fins.
With the exception of Antarctica, they can be found on all continents.
“There are a total of 26 confirmed species of this bony fish family.
A “hotspot” of six species can be found in the area of the Western Ghats, a mountain range along the west coast of India, ”explained researcher Ralf Britz.
According to Britz, the type species is blind, about 17 centimeters long and lives underground in water-bearing laterite rock layers.
«The very slender animals are colored bright red.
This is reflected in the name of the new genus: Raktham means blood red in the Malayalam language, the addition ichthys is the Greek word for fish. "