A new species of freshwater shark from the Labeo genus has been discovered in the West Africa.
The new labeonine cyprinid was collected recently in the Yela rapids and in rapids on the lower Congo River near the mouth of the Foulakari River. The Foulakari is a large north bank tributary of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The fish has just been named Labeo fulakariensis by Sinaseli Tshibwabwai, Melanie Stiassny and Robert Schelly in a paper in the systematics journal Zootaxa.
It can be told apart from other Labeo species from the Congo by its plicate (folded) lips, the dark spot on the base of the caudal peduncle and the distinctive stripes it bears on its flanks.
The authors say it could be confused with two other Congolese Labeo, greenii and reidi and provide some details on how to differentiate the fishes.
The Labeo genus in Africa is divided into two groups based on the structure of the lip. The papillate lip group contains three species (L. lineatus, L. weeksii and L. maleboensis) while the plicate lip group, to which fulakariensis belongs, contains 13 species, including L. annectens, L. barbatus, L. chariensis, L. cyclorhynchus, L. degeni, L. falcipinnis, L. greenii, L. longipinnis, L. macrostomus and L. nasus.
For more details on the new Labeo species see the paper: Tshibwabwai SM, Stiassny MLJ and RC Schelly (2006) - Description of a new species of Labeo (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from the lower Congo River. Zootaxa 1224: 33-44 (2006)