A new species of bagrid catfish has been described from the waters of the Kosi River drainage in eastern Nepal.
Heok Hee Ng and David Edds described the new catfish as Batasio macronotus in the latest issue of the journal Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters.
The fish was discovered by David Edds of Emporia State University in Kansas during an ichthyological survey of Nepal, and was found to be a new fish when it was compared with other existing members of the Batasio genus.
Unlike most other Batasio species, with the notable exception of B. batasio, B. macronotus has a colour pattern of horizontal stripes rather than the usual vertical bands or blotches.
It's also got a shorter dorsal spine than batasio and the base of the adipose fin is slightly longer.
There are 10 species in the genus, including: B. batasio, B. tengana, B. affinis, B. dayi, B. merianensis, B. havmolleri, B. travancoria, B. tigrinus, B. elongatus and B. sharavatiensis, with an eleventh fish, B. pakistanicus, also tentatively considered a member.
For more details see the paper: Ng, HH and DR Edds (2004) - Batasio macronotus, a new species of bagrid catfish from Nepal (Teleostei: Bagridae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, Vol. 15., No. 4. 295-300.