AsianScientist (Jul 18, 2014) – Researchers have identified a new species of fish right under their noses, classifying the commonly caught Tandanus tropicanus as a distinct species. The paper detailing their discovery has been published in the journal Copeia.
Found in the Tully River in North Queensland, T. tropicanus has a large head with small eyes and thick, fleshy lips on a downturned mouth surrounded by whisker-like barbels. It is a solid, almost-cylindrical fish, with the back half of the body tapering to an eel-like tail.
Eel-tailed catfish are quite common in Australia, found in East and West Australia and the Murray-Darling. However, the new species only lives in rivers in the Wet Tropics, but is widespread within the region. Growing up to 40cm in length, the popular catfish is usually good to eat and is often targeted by fishermen.
Researchers have long suspected that the North Queensland catfish is special, but detailed examination was required to prove that it is a unique species. Dr. Damien Burrows, Director of TropWATER at James Cook University, said the discovery of the new catfish species demonstrated how much is still unknown about what’s living in developed or populated catchments.
“There are possibly a hundred new freshwater fish species to be discovered in Northern Australia, including large species that can be fished,” Dr. Burrows said.
Dr. Burrows said that genetic analysis was undertaken first, which indicated that the North Queensland fish is a distinct species. Next, hundreds of measurements of the size and shape of various body parts and sections and comparisons with similar-looking species, verified that it is a separate species.
“It is an especially interesting discovery: the fact that we are still finding new, large species close to population centres, such as Cairns, shows how little we know about northern Australia,” he said.
Dr. Burrows said the new species was caught with electrofishing during the study, and many were caught before being identified as a new species.
“Just because they have only just been described as new, does not mean we were unaware of their presence before that. We suspected they were a new species from the ones we caught, so then did the taxonomic study to prove it.
“Plenty of people have been catching these fish for years and eating them without knowing it was a new species,” Dr Burrows said. “Actually, we are probably finding a new fish species in North Queensland each year on average.”
“The Wet Tropics region, although quite small in area, already hosts 40 percent of the known freshwater fish species in Australia. And yet we keep finding new ones there. Also, many species in the Wet Tropics are only found there and nowhere else.”
The article can be found at: Welsh et al. (2013) A New Species of Freshwater Eel-tailed Catfish of the Genus Tandanus (Teleostei: Plotosidae) from the Wet Tropics Region of Eastern Australia.
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Source: James Cook University.
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