New fish species discovered after decades of popularity in the aquarium
trade

Date:
July 10, 2023
Source:
Florida Museum of Natural History
Summary:
Researchers have described a new fish species that's been popular in
the aquarium trade since the early 2000s. Wild populations are rare
and restricted to a small river basin along the Thailand/Myanmar
border, which has made them difficult to study.


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With just a few clicks of a mouse, you can purchase your very own redtail garra, a type of fish that feeds on algae. Information about the fish's biology, however, is much less easily obtained. That's because redtail
garra, although popular in the aquarium trade since the early 2000s,
has until now been unknown to science.

Researchers were peripherally aware of the fish's existence, but
"discovering" a new species requires scientific description based on
specimens collected in their natural environment. Redtail garras appear to
be restricted to a small stretch of river straddling the border between Thailand and Myanmar. The locality is isolated and difficult to reach,
so wild redtail garras have existed in relative obscurity, despite their
global appeal.

Larry Page, curator of ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural
History, has surveyed fishes in Thailand every year since 2007. He
recently encountered a few redtail garras while conducting fieldwork along
the Kasat River, a tributary of the Ataran River in neighboring Myanmar.

"When we first collected specimens, we thought it must be widespread in
Myanmar because of its popularity in the aquarium trade. But it turns
out it's not.

It's only in the Ataran River basin," he said.

Page and his colleagues published the new species description in the
journal Zootaxa. Redtails take their place among nearly 200 additional
species in the genus Garra, one of the most diverse and widely distributed
fish groups anywhere on Earth. Garra can be found in streams and rivers
from the farthest reaches of western Africa through the Middle East,
India and southern and eastern Asia, including parts of China. Yet
their ubiquity has not resulted in a corresponding amount of research
on the group.

"There's surprisingly little information on their natural history,"
Page said.

There are few studies that broadly assess diversity in the genus, and
little is known about relationships or how various groups within Garra
have diversified.

According to Page, basic information about the fishes' biology is
available, but often in the form of studies on individual species
or regions. "Most of them live in fast-moving water, and they have a
disclike structure formed from a modification of the lower lip, which
they use as an adhesive pad to cling to rocks and maintain their position
in the water column as they feed," he said.

Garra primarily subsist on algae and the occasional arthropod, which they
eat by scraping detritus off rocks with specialized mouthparts. Like other species in the genus, redtails lack stomachs and have a snout encrusted
with modified and hardened scales called tubercles. Similar structures
in other fish groups are temporary; they're used to defend nests but
fall off after the breeding season has ended. Redtail tubercles are
permanently attached and seem to be used as weapons, based on aggressive behavior observed in aquaria.

Redtail garra can be distinguished by their unique, elongated snout,
covered in even more tubercles, which they can raise or lower, ostensibly
as a means of intimidating opponents during combative encounters. And,
as their common name suggests, their tails are emblazoned in red like
a signal fire.

Their unique color pattern and their industrious ability to clear away
algae have made them a coveted component of aquarium tanks, but their late addition to the roster of scientifically described species underscores
a pressing need to take stock of biodiversity in understudied regions.

Page, who is working on a book describing the fishes of the Mae Klong
River basin in Thailand, said the belated description of redtail garra is
part of a larger recurring pattern. "Many of the fishes in Southeast Asia
are referred to by names given to species discovered in India or Indonesia because they look similar." People know particular species exist, Page
said, but they are mistaken for those from other geographic areas,
and their diversity has consequently been drastically underestimated.

Page and his colleagues named the new species Garra panitvongi after
the author of another book on Thailand's fishes, Nonn Panitvong. Lauded
as a biodiversity hero by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
Panitvong is both a businessman and an avid naturalist. He's nurtured
a passion for nature since his childhood days spent translating books
about animals written in English with the help of his mom. He developed
a special appreciation for Thailand's aquatic life from his dad, who
took him on fishing trips.

"Over the years, I found that in many of the places we went fishing,
the environments were getting worse. There were fewer fish overall, and
the fish assemblage changed for the worse, with a decreasing number of
native species and more invasives," he said.

Panitvong obtained a Master of Business Administration at the University
of North Carolina Wilmington so he could effectively run his family's
sugarcane farm, but when it came time for a doctorate, he opted to study environmental science. After returning to Thailand, he created the website Siamensis.org, an open platform on which nature enthusiasts could share information about Thailand's flora and fauna and plan excursions to
wilderness areas.

In 2006, Panitvong and a friend discovered one of Thailand's redtail garra populations and helped introduce the fish to the aquarium trade. Now,
more than 15 years later, he said the official naming of redtail garra
-- and the discovery of species like it -- help bring the world into
clearer focus.

"I like to imagine humanity in a big room, painted in white. As we turned around, we would have no conception of which direction we were facing,"
he said. "With each new discovery, a dot is added, a point made, and we
know more and more about where we stand as a species."
* RELATED_TOPICS
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# Nutrition # Human_Biology # Genes #
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* RELATED_TERMS
o Salmon o Molecular_biology o Fish_farming o Hermit_crab o
Mouse o Crappie o Corn o Anchovy

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========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Redtail_garra ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Weerapongse Tangjitjaroen, Zachary S. Randall, Sampan Tongnunui,
David A.

Boyd, Lawrence M. Page. Species of Garra (Cyprinidae: Labeoninae) in
the Salween River basin with description of an enigmatic new species
from the Ataran River drainage of Thailand and Myanmar. Zootaxa,
2023; 5311 (3): 375 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.3.3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710180503.htm

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