Garra dampaensis LAIRONUNGA, LAINUNTLUANGA & LAIRAMLIANA, 2013

Etymology

Garra: vernacular Gangetic name for a particular species of “sand-digger,” which Francis Buchanan-Hamilton applied as a generic name for bottom-dwelling cyprinids “with no affinity to another genus”.

dampaensis: named for Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram state, northeastern India.

Classification

Order: Cypriniformes Family: Cyprinidae

Distribution

Known only from the Seling River within the boundaries of the Dampa tiger reserve in Mizoram state, northeastern India. The Seling is a tributary of the Khawthlang Tuipui within the Karnaphuli drainage which enters the Bay of Bengal between the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Kolodyne rivers.

Type locality is ‘Seling River, a tributary of Khawthlang Tuipui (Karnaphuli River) in the vicinity of Damparengpui, Mizoram, India, 23040’51”N & 92022’35”E’.

Habitat

Collected from clear, shallow, moderately fast-flowing streams with predominantly rocky substrates. Sympatric fish species include Devario aequipinnatus, Garra cf. annandalei and Schistura spp.

Maximum Standard Length

45 – 55 mm.

NotesTop ↑

This species can be told apart from Indian congeners by the following combination of characters: no transverse groove or proboscis on the snout; tip of dorsal fin falcate; long axillary scale present at the base of pelvic fin, reaching base of last pelvic fin ray; 27–29 lateral-line scales, 10–11 regularly arranged predorsal scales; W-shaped black band across middle of caudal fin; presence of scales on the abdomen.

The genus Garra is a particularly enigmatic grouping with new taxa described on a regular basis, while many of the existing ones may represent cases of misidentification or synonyms of other species. Some of the revisions have also been called into question, which has added further confusion. A full generic review would be ideal but is unlikely to materialise given the extensive distribution of its members which range from southern China across much of southeast Asia, India and the Middle East as far as north/central Africa.

Instead a number of less-extensive works published in recent years have resulted in a gradual, but continuing, improvement in knowledge, and it remains possible that the genus will be broken up into smaller taxa since the current assemblage is almost certainly polyphyletic.

Garra species are usually included in the subfamily Labeoninae/Cyprininae or tribe Labeonini (name varies with author) which by recent thinking is further divided into four subtribes; Labeoina, Garraina, Osteochilina, and Semilabeoina (Yang et al., 2012). The putatively monophyletic Garraina comprises a number of genetic lineages including Garra sensu stricto (which also includes Horalabiosa, Phreatichthys and possibly other genera), a small clade comprising Garra cambodgiensis and G. fascicauda (thus rendering Garra polyphyletic), Paracrossocheilus, and Gonorhynchus (which includes Akrokolioplax).

Two Garra species, G. imberba and G. micropulvinus, are placed in the Semilabeoina assemblage, and the generic name Ageneiogarra Garman, 1912 has been suggested for them, although this does not appear to have been widely followed (e.g. Kottelat, 2013). In addition, some genera which were previously considered to be close relatives of Garra species such as Discogobio, Discocheilus and Placocheilus, are now also placed in this subtribe.

All genera currently included in Garraina possess a lower lip modified to form a mental adhesive disc, allowing the fish to cling to surfaces in turbulent conditions. In most species the upper lip is almost entirely reduced and both the upper and lower jaw margins are keratinised, i.e., horny, and used to scrape food items from the substrate.

Garra species are distinguished from other Garraina members by the first two pectoral-fin rays usually being thickened, fleshy and unbranched, possession of 10-11 dorsal-fin rays, and a combination of internal characters. Some species have evolved particular environmental specialisms such as highly reduced eyes in hypogean forms or the ability to survive in thermal springs.

References

1. Lalronunga, S., Lalnuntluanga, and Lalramliana, 2013 - Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(9): 4368-4377
   Garra dampaensis, a new ray-finned fish species (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) from Mizoram, northeastern India.
2. Arunachalam, M., S. Nandagopal and R. L. Mayden, 2014 - Species 10(24): 58-78
   Two new species of Garra from Mizoram, India (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) and a general comparative analyses of Indian Garra.
3. Yang, L., M. Arunachalam, T. Sado, B. A. Levin, A. S. Golubtsov, J. Freyhof, J. P. Friel, W-J. Chen, M. V. Hirt, R. Manickam, M. K. Agnew, A. M. Simons, K. Saitoh, M. Miya, R. L. Mayden, and S. He, 2012 - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65(2): 362-379
   Molecular phylogeny of the cyprinid tribe Labeonini (Teleostei: Cypriniformes).