Research Article Open Access

Range Extension of an Endemic Ornamental Fish Species Puntius halakkudiensis from Southern Kerala River, India.

Abstract

The ornamental cyprinid, Puntius chalakkudiensis which resembles the popular aquarium fish Puntius denisonii (Day 1865), was described by Menon, Rema Devi & Thobias, 1999 from the upper reaches of Chalakkudy River of the Western Ghats of peninsular India and its distribution was confined only to this system in central part of Kerala except a recent record [1] from Achankoil River, in south Kerala. Major distinguishing character of P. chalakkudiensis from P. denisonii is the presence of a distinct black blotch on its dorsal fin (absent in P. denisonii). The recent record of Puntius chalakkudiensis from Pamba River at Plappally village, Pathanamthitta district of south Kerala is of Ichthyological interest.

Muthukumarasamy Arunachalam, Manickam Raja, Subramaniyam Nandagopal, Appukuttan Chandran

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