The Zoology department of Jawaharlal Nehru College (JNC) at Pasighat in East Siang district has claimed discovery of a new ornamental fish species - Microphis ignoratus, from a river.
The fish was discovered for the first time in Indian subcontinent from a tributary of Siang River near Sigar village of the district recently, college's Zoology department head Keshav Kumar Jha said in a statement today.
"The presence of this freshwater pipefish in India is a new record and was never observed by any other researchers before even in the freshwater system of the subcontinent," Jha said.
There are 28 different identified fish species of Microphis (pipefish and sea horses) under the Sygnathidae family, both freshwater and marine, which are reported from various geographical corners of the world. Out of these, five species are reported in freshwater system in the Asian continent.
