Back From the Depths: Adventurers Rediscover Fish Last Seen in 1912 Expedition

A team of Indian researchers have rediscovered a rare fish species observed for the first time in over one hundred years, following the original route of the 1911-19112 Abor Expedition in the Siang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. The researchers rediscovered the fish species Moringua hodgarti (now reclassified as Ophichthys hodgarti) that had not been observed in the wild, which had been first collected during the British military expedition. 

 

The re-discovery came after a field survey from January-October 2022, where the team followed closely the route taken the 1911 expedition before collecting new specimens around the vicinity of the type locality of specimens collected back in 1913. Through morphological and molecular analysis, the researchers confirmed the aforementioned classification of the specimens, which belong to the swamp eel family (synbranchid eel).

 

It is noteworthy that prior to the recent specimens collected, only six specimens of Moringua hodgarti (now Ophichthys hodgarti) were collected dated back to 1913 and were preserved in the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The new discovery of the fish fills in a massive gap in the scientific understanding of the species, as it has not been observed in the one hundred (>100) years. 

 

The newly collected specimens, that were between 177 mm and 211 mm in size provided researchers the opportunity one comparable one-hundred year later descriptive paragraph of the species and confirmed classification within the genus Ophichthys because of physical characteristics such bodies covered with scales and a changed gill arch skeleton morphology.

 

It is also important to note, that these findings and new specimens provide not just new physical evidence of the fish species and any changes in the species physicality but they also highlight an area with more to be discovered, thus potential more discoveries in the hidden biodiversity located in the remote river valley of India are possible.

 

Source: Hindustan Times