Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2019-03-27
Page range: 398–408
Abstract views: 226
PDF downloaded: 7

Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae)

Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom. The Fishmongers’ Company, London, EC4R 9EL, United Kingdom.
Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
Department of Community Fisheries Development, Fisheries Administration (FIA), Cambodia.
Pisces Bullseye snakehead Thailand COI DNA Barcoding Freshwater Fishes Genetic Meristic Taxonomy Channa marulius

Abstract

Channa auroflammea is a new freshwater fish species of the Marulius group from the Mekong River system. Previously reported as C. marulius, C. cf. marulius, or C. aff. marulius, C. auroflammea is readily distinguished from C. marulius and other members of the Marulius group by a different colour pattern, and a DNA barcode sequence at least 6.5% divergent from other members of the group. Comparison of counts of vertebrae, dorsal-fin rays, and lateral-line scales reveals that these counts are lower in the Mekong C. auroflammea than in C. aurolineata from the Salween and Irrawaddy-Chindwin, higher than in the Marulius group species C. pseudomarulius and C. marulioides, but similar to those in C. marulius. Channa auroflammea is known from the Mekong river and tributaries in Laos and Cambodia, where it forms a regular component of the wild fisheries catch from the rivers Tonle San and Tonle Srepok. Literature records of Channa marulius from China appear to be based on confusion originating with Cuvier’s description of Ophiocephalus grandinosus.

 

References

  1. Adamson, E.A.S. & Britz, R. (2018) The snakehead fish Channa aurolineata is a valid species (Teleostei: Channidae) distinct from Channa marulius. Zootaxa, 4514 (4), 542–552.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4514.4.7

    Adamson, E.A.S., Hurwood, D.A. & Mather, P.B. (2010) A reappraisal of the evolution of Asian snakehead fishes (Pisces, Channidae) using molecular data from multiple genes and fossil calibration. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 707–717.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2010.03.027

    Baird, I.G., Inthaphaisy, V. Kisouvannalath, P., Phylavanh, B. & Mounsouphom, B. (1999) The Fishes of Southern Lao. Lao Community Fisheries and Dolphin Protection Project, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Pakse, 161 pp.

    Bleeker, P. (1851) Vijfde bijdrage tot de kennis der ichthyologische fauna van Borneo, met beschrijving van eenige nieuwe soorten van zoetwatervisschen. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië, 2, 415–442.

    Britz, R. (2008) Channa ornatipinnis and C. pulchra, two new species of dwarf snakeheads from Myanmar (Teleostei: Channidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 18, 335–344.

    Britz, R., Adamson, E., Raghavan, R., Ali, A. & Dahanukar,N. (2017) Channa pseudomarulius, a valid species of snakehead from the Western Ghats region of peninsular India (Teleostei: Channidae), with comments on Ophicephalus grandinosus, O. theophrasti and O. leucopunctatus. Zootaxa, 4299 (4), 529–545.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4299.4.4

    Conte-Grand, C., Britz, R., Dahanukar, N., Raghavan, R., Pethiyagoda, R., Tan, H.H., Hadiaty, R.K., Yaakob, N.S. & Rüber, R. (2017) Barcoding snakeheads (Teleostei, Channidae) revisited: discovering greater species diversity and resolving perpetuated taxonomic confusions. PLoS ONE, 12 (9), e0184017.
    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184017

    Courtenay, W.R. & Williams, J.D. (2004) Snakeheads (Pisces, Channidae): a biological synopsis and risk assessment. US Geological Survey Circular 1251, Denver, CO, 143 pp.

    Cuvier, G. & Valenciennes, A. (1831) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome Septième. F. G. Levrault, Paris, xxix + 531 pp., 170–208 pls.

    Day, F. (1875–1878) The fishes of India: being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon. William Dawson & Sons, London, 778 pp., 195 pls.

    Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (Eds.) (2018) Catalog of Fishes: Genera, species, references. Electronic version. Available from: http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp (accessed 13 November 2018)

    Gregory, J.W. (1923) The evolution of the river systems of south-eastern Asia. The Scottish Geographical Magazine, 41, 129–141.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/00369222508734474

    Günther, A. (1861) Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. Catalogue of the acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum. Gobiidae, Discoboli, Pediculati, Blenniidae, Labyrinthici, Mugilidae, Notacanthi. Vol. 3. Taylor & Francis, London, xxv + 586 + x pp.

    Hamilton, F. (1822) An account of the fishes found in the River Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh: Constable, vii + 405 pp., 39 pls.

    Jayaram, K.C. (2010) The Freshwater Fishes of the Indian Region, 2nd edition. Narendra Publishing House, Delhi, 616 pp., xxxix pls.

    Kottelat, M. (1985) Freshwater fishes of Kampuchea. Hydrobiologia, 121, 249–279.

    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00017547

    Kottelat, M. (2001) Fishes of Laos. WHT Publications, Colombo, 198 pp.

    Kottelat, M. (2013) The fishes of the inland waters of southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibiography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement, 27, 1–663.

    Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Li, M., Knyaz, C. & Tamura, K. (2018) MEGA X: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis across computing platforms. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35, 1547–1549.

    https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy096

    Menon, A.G.K. (1999) Check list—Fresh water fishes of India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper, 175, 1–366.

    Nichols, J.T. (1943) The fresh-water fishes of China. American Museum of Natural History, New York, xxxvi + 322 pp., 10 pls.

    Rainboth, W.J. (1996) Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong. FAO, Rome, 265 pp.

    Rainboth, W.J., Vidthayanon, C. & Yen, M.D. (2012) Fishes of the Greater Mekong ecosystem with species list and photographic atlas. Miscellaneous publications, Museum of Zoology, University Michigan, 201, 1–173, 121 pls.

    Reeves, C.D. (1927) A catalogue of the fishes of Northeastern China and Korea. Journal of the Pan-Pacific Research Institution, 2, 1–16.

    Rüber, L., Britz, R., Kullander, S.O. & Zardoya, R. (2004) Evolutionary and biogeographic patterns of the Badidae (Teleostei: Perciformes) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32, 1010–1022.

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2004.04.020

    Serrao, N. R., Steinke, D. & Hanner, R.H. (2014) Calibrating snakehead diversity with DNA barcodes: expanding taxonomic coverage to enable identification of potential and established invasive species. PLoS ONE, 9 (6), e99546.

    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099546

    Talwar, P.K. & Jhingran, A.G. (1992) Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. Vol. 2. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi, 1158 pp.

    Ward, R.D., Zemlak, T.S., Innes, B.H., Last, P.R. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2005) DNA barcoding Australia's fish species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 360, 1847–1857.

    https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1716

    Whitehead, P.J.P. (1969) The Reeves collection of Chinese fish drawings. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), 3, 193–233.

    Zhang, C.G., Zhao, Y.H., Xing, Y.C., Zhou, W. & Tang, W.Q. (2016) Species Diversity and Distribution of Inland Fishes in China. Science Press, Beijing, 284 pp.