A new snake eel species of the genus Ophichthus (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae) from the southeast coast of India, Bay of Bengal, with the taxonomic account of Ophichthus chilkensis.

A new species of the ophichthid eel of the family Ophichthidae is described based on five specimens collected from the Mudasalodai fish landing center, off Cuddalore coast, southeast coast of India, Bay of Bengal. Ophichthus naevius sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by having a unique color pattern: dorsal body with numerous dense dark spots or patches, ventral body pale yellowish green, dorsal-fin origin just before pectoral-fin tip, vertebral formula: 12-14/52-53/134-138, and teeth on jaw uniserial and pointed. The study also reports the range extension and molecular evidence of Ophichthus chilkensis from South India. Molecular analyses were performed for both species, and their phylogenetic relationship suggests that the new species exhibits 10.2% genetic divergence with its congener Ophichthus sangjuensis, followed by Ophichthus brevicaudatus (10.4%), and Ophichthus sp. 1 (11.8%) also forms the closest clade in both Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood (ML) tree. Similarly, according to the topology of the ML tree, the species O. chilkensis forms a clade with Ophichthus sp. 5, Ophichthus remiger, Ophichthus frontalis, Ophichthus sp. 6, and Ophichthus rex, suggesting that it would be the genetically closest congener.

The concept of "state fishes of India": Current status, knowledge gaps, and strategic plans for conservation and sustainable utilization.

The concept of "state fishes of India" highlights the importance and significance of the prioritized fish species distributed across various states within the country. This review article systematically documents the current status of state fishes from various perspectives, identifies the prevailing knowledge gaps, and also highlights the issues and strategic plans essential for the conservation and sustainable utilization of these valuable genetic resources. A total of 8357 publications were checked for the consolidated information on state fish species, and the appropriate items were selected under eight categories: biology, physiology and nutrition, aquaculture, habitat and environmental parameters, genetics and biotechnology, harvest and postharvest, fish health management, and others. The synthesized information was used to present the current status of research and development on state fish species. The knowledge gaps that are to be addressed are also depicted under the perspectives of fisheries management and conservation aquaculture. Based on the findings, strategic plans for the targeted conservation programmes are proposed and discussed under various in situ and ex situ conservation measures. Further, the departmental processes involved in the declaration, the importance of stakeholder involvement, namely, local communities and policymakers, in fostering effective conservation measures, and planning for utilization of these valuable fish genetic resources are also indicated.

Ariosoma indicum sp. nov., a new species of congrid eel (Anguilliformes: Congridae: Bathymyrinae) from the Indian waters.

Ariosoma indicum sp. nov. is described herein based on 12 specimens [(335-433 mm total length (TL)] collected off the Arabian Sea of southwest coast of India and 7 specimens from Digha Mohana, off the Bay of Bengal of northeast coast of India. The new species is distinguished from congeners in having the following combination of the characters: anus positioned anterior to middle of total length, pre-anal length 40.0%-43.1% of TL; short wedge-shaped pointed vomerine teeth patch, three or four rows in anterior portion, tapering posteriorly with four uniserial teeth; supraorbital canal with four or five pores; pre-dorsal vertebrae 9-10; pre-anal vertebrae 49-53; total vertebrae 141-146; body greenish-brown in colour; extremities of the lower jaw with minute dark pigmentation patches before the rictus, bicoloured pectoral fin. A. indicum shares few characters with the Indian water species, Ariosoma gnanadossi, but readily differs from the latter in having more pre-anal vertebrae (49-53 vs. 47 in A. gnanadossi); fewer lateral-line pores (130-137 vs. 145); shorter tail (54.9%-57.9% TL vs. 60.1% TL); smaller eye (15.1%-17.7% HL vs. 19.2% HL); smaller interorbital width (11.8%-15.7% HL vs. 18.2% HL); longer upper jaw (26.9%-30.2% HL vs. 19.2% HL). In addition, molecular analysis using partial mitochondrial COI gene suggests that A. indicum is genetically closer to Ariosoma maurostigma and Ariosoma melanospilos with a divergence of 15.0% and 15.8%, respectively, and forms a well-supported monophyletic clade.

Prevalence, Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Resistance Gene Detection in Bacteria Isolated from Goldfish and Tiger Barb from Ornamental Fish Farms of Tamil Nadu.

This study aims to determine the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pattern in freshwater ornamental cyprinids, such as Goldfish and Tiger barb. Molecular characterization of bacterial isolates confirmed the presence of 7 bacterial isolates in Goldfish and 6 in Tiger barb. Antimicrobial susceptibility test using 36 antibiotics revealed a higher resistance pattern for bacitracin, rifampicin, trimethoprim, cefalexin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, nalidixic acid and nitrofurantoin. Sulphafurazole, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin were effective against all the bacterial isolates derived from Goldfish and Tiger barb. Most bacterial isolates exhibited > 0.2 multi-drug resistance index (MDR), indicating the severity of antibiotic use in the culture system. The finding of the present study suggests that ornamental fish may act as the reservoir of MDR bacteria and dissemination of resistance genes to clinical and human commensal bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-022-01023-y.