A new species of erethistid catfish from the Pseudolaguvia genus has been described from the Brahmaputra River drainage in India.
The fish has been named Pseudolaguvia ferula by ichthyologist (and Practical Fishkeeping contributor) Heok Hee Ng of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
The description, which has just been published in the systematics journal Zootaxa, explains that the new catfish was collected in a 1km wide section of the fast flowing Tista River in West Bengal.
Ng says that the new Pseudolaguvia is unusual in the genus in that it has a terete (round and tapering) head rather than a depressed head:
"It can be distinguished from congeners in having a terete (vs. depressed) head and body, manifested in the narrower head width (17.1-19.1% SL vs. 19.4-23.4), a smaller anterior fontanel (about one third the length of the frontals vs. at least half the length), and very faint, poorly contrasting cream bands that are sometimes absent on some individuals (vs. sharply contrasting
cream bands on a brown body)."
The species gets its name "ferula" from the latin word for rod, as the terete head of the fish makes it considerably narrower than other erethistids in the genus.
Three other Pseudolaguvia have also been recorded from the Brahmaputra drainage: P. foveolata, P. ribeiroi and P. shawi.
The species was discovered by Andrew Arunava Rao.
For more details on the new catfish see the paper: Ng, HH (2006) - Pseudolaguvia ferula, a new species of sisoroid catfish (Teleostei: Erethistidae) from India. Zootaxa, 1229: 59-68 (2006).