A new species of sisorid catfish has been described from the tributaries of the Ganges River in India.
The new fish has been named Pseudecheneis suppaetula by Heok Hee Ng in a paper in the systematics journal Zootaxa and is a member of the sisorid subfamily Glyptosterninae.
Pseudecheneis suppaetula, which has the characteristic adhesive disc on its belly which is common to the genus, was found in a shallow, fast-flowing clear water river with a rock and sand bottom. The holotype was collected at Himachal Pradesh in the upper reaches of the Giri River, which forms part of the Ganges River drainage.
Ng says that the new species can be distinguished from other members of the Pseudecheneis genus on the basis of the following characters: "a combination of a long adipose fin base (at least 2.0 times length of anal fin base; 26.6-30.6% SL), small eye (8.1-8.3% SL), the presence of pale spots on the body, and the neural spines of the last 2-3 preanal and first 6-7 postanal vertebrae gradually decreasing in height."
For more information see the paper: Ng, HH (2006) - Pseudecheneis suppaetula, a new species of gyptosternine catfish (Teleostei: Sisoridae) from India.