Metadata

Kryptoglanis shajii

Vincent and Thomas 2011

Kryptoglanis shajii
Kryptoglanis. Photograph by Ralf Britz
ORDERSUB-ORDERFAMILY
SiluriformesSiluroideiKryptoglanidae

Note

Species account reviewed by Ralf Britz.

Synonyms

None.

Country

India

Types

Holotype: ZSI/WGRS/V/2121 59.1mm SL. Paratypes: ZMCC F 0102 35.0mm SL, ZMCC F 0103 54.4mm SL, ZMCC F 0105 35.5mm SL, ZSI/WGRS/V/2121 49.5mm SL [ex ZMCC F 0106].

Distribution

Type locality: a water well at Aloor Village, Thrissur District, Kerala, India, depth of well 5.5 meters. 10°20.30'N, 76°18.37'E. Also known from: a well at Nellayi (Vylore) Village, Kerala, India (10o39’N, 76o27’E), which is 4km north of the type locality (Lundberg, Luckenbill, Subhash Babu and Ng 2014). A further site is at Perambra, Thrissur District (10o34’N, 76o30E), 2km from the type localilty. At the latter site many fish were observed in surface water channels having probably been washed out of the shallow laterite groundwater tunnels it normally inhabits (Binoy, Roshan and Rakesh 2012). The location of the single specimen used by Britz, Kakkassery and Raghavan (2014) was obtained from a public well near the town of Thrissur. The type locality of the clariid fish Horaglanis alikunhii is only 13km from the site described in Binoy, Roshan and Rakesh (2012).

Habitat

The area in which this species (and also Horaglanis and Monopterus) is found is predominantly in laterite.

Systematics

Britz, Kakkassery and Raghavan (2014) used traditional clearing and staining techniques on one individual to reveal the osteological detail. In an almost parallel study Lundberg, Luckenbill, Subhash Babu and Ng (2014) used high-resolution x-ray CT scanning (HRXCT) to examine the osteology of three specimens of K. shajii (specimen details given below). Britz et al. (2014) report on the cartilaginous skeleton, which is something Lundberg et al. (2014) were only able to do only within very confined limits and they also missed several structures. Both studies produced anatomically similar results and conclusions that suggested that this species is highly peculiar and unlike other members of the Siluriformes. In general the anatomical complexity is greatly reduced compared to other species. The conclusion of Vincent and Thomas (2011), that they could see no clear relationship with any family of siluriform fishes, was also supported by both studies. Lundberg, Luckenbill, Subhash Babu and Ng (2014:39) concluded that “…we do not find a simple, nested set of unambiguous synapomorphies that precisely resolve the phylogentic position of Kryptoglanis among catfishes.” Britz, Kakkassey and Raghavan (2014:205) resolved the issue: “Our analysis of the skeleton of Kryptoglanis shows that this unusual catfish cannot be assigned to any of the known catfish families. To highlight its highly unique anatomical structure we have decided to place it in its own family … Kryptoglanidae”. [For an interesting review of traditional and modern methods in fish morphological systematics, exemplified by these two studies, see Hilton, Schnell and Konstantinidis (2015)]. We are still no nearer in knowing which group is sister to Kryptoglanis shajii (though there is some similarity to the Siluridae) and it is probable that molecular data will need to be added to the morphological data in order to get closer to a resolution. [See Genetic resources below, but more will be needed than these small fragments of mitochondrial DNA].

Conservation Status

MuG [NE]

Museum Holdings

BMNH unnumbered 60.0mm SL (Britz, Kakkassery and Raghavan 2014), ANSP 192026 65.0mm SL, ANSP 192452 83mm SL, UMMZ 249918 51.0mm SL (Lundberg, Luckenbill, Subhash Babu and Ng 2014). Five fishes (out of many seen) were collected and preserved by Binoy, Roshan and Rakesh (2012) but their whereabouts was not published. Possibly five specimens in the collection of Moncey Vincent with details in Genetic Resources below.

Internet Resources

GenBank: HG937612.1 mt cytB specimen voucher M-CCI-KS1
GenBank: HG937611.1  mt cytB specimen voucher M-CCI-KF1
GenBank: FN691765.1 mt 16s rRNA  specimen voucher Moncey-CCI-NBFGR-C-KS5
GenBank: FN691764.1 mt 16s rRNA   specimen voucher Moncey-CCI-NBFGR-C-KS4
GenBank: HE801568.1 mt COI specimen voucher M-CCI-KS7
GenBank: HE801567.1 mt COI specimen voucher M-CCI-KS4

 

The osteology of Kryptoglanis shajii (from Lundberg, Luckenbill, Subhash Babu and Ng 2014)

Kerala State Groundwater Department

'Alien' catfish baffles scientists!

Key References

Mercy, T.V.A. Journal Article 1981 On the unique disposition of the valvula cerebelli in Horaglanis krishnai (Teleostei)
Mercy, T.V.A. Thesis 1981 Biology of the blind catfish of Kerala, Horaglanis krishnai Menon
Mercy, T.V.A. Journal Article 1982 On the presence of a forked barbel in the blind catfish Horaglanis krishnai Menon
Mercy, T.V.A., Padmanabhan, K.G. and Pillai, N.K. Journal Article 1982 Morphological studies on the oocytes of the blind catfish Horaglanis krishnai Menon
Mercy, T.V.A. Journal Article 1983 Studies on the air bladder of blind clariid Horaglanis krishnai Menon
Mercy, T.V A., Pillai, N.K. and Balasubramonian, N.K. Journal Article 1984 Studies on the oxygen consumption of the blind catfish Horaglanis krishnai
Mercy, T.V.A. and Pillai, N.K. Journal Article 1984/5 The anatomy and histology of the alimentary tract of the blind cat-fish Horaglanis krishnai
Mercy, T.V.A. Book Section 2000 Biology of an endemic blind catfish Horaglanis krishnai Menon
Ponniah, A.G. and Gopalakrishnan, A. Book 2000 Endemic fish diversity of Western Ghats
Mercy, T.V.A. and Pillai, N.K. Journal Article 2001 Studies on the cranial osteology of the blind catfish Horaglanis krishnai menon (Pisces, Clariidae)
Mercy, T.V.A., Pillai, N.K. and Balasubramonian, N.K. Journal Article 2001 Studies on certain aspects of behaviour in the blind catfish Horaglanis krishnia Menon
Biju, S.D. and Bossuyt, F. Journal Article 2003 New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles
Bossuyt, F., Meegaskumbura, M., Beenaerts, N., Gower, D.J., Pethiyagoda, R., Roelants, K., Mannaert, A., Wilkinson, M., Bahir, M.M., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Ng, P.K.L., Schneider, C.K., Oommen, O.V. and Milinkovitch, M.C. Journal Article 2004 Local endemism within the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot
Roelants, K., Jiang, J. and Bossuyt, F. Journal Article 2004 Endemic ranid (Amphibia: Anura) genera in southern mountain ranges of the Indian subcontinent represent ancient frog lineages: evidence from molecular data
Gunawardene, N.R. et al. Journal Article 2007 A brief overview of the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot
Subhash Babu, K.K. and Sivasankaran, B.N. Conference Paper 2010 The hypogean fauna of selected ecosystems of Kerala, India, with two new records
Vincent, M. and Thomas, J. Journal Article 2011 Kryptoglanis shajii, an enigmatic subterranean-spring catfish (Siluriformes, Incertae sedis) from Kerala, India
Vincent, M. and Thomas, K.J. Book Section 2012 A preliminary survey on the subterranean piscine diversity in Thrissur District, Kerala, India
Binoy, V. V., Roshan, KS and Rakesh, VB Journal Article 2012 Occurence of Kryptoglanis shajii, an enigmatic subterranean-spring catfish (Siluriformes, incertae sedis) in channels of paddy field
Britz, R., Kakkassery, F. and Raghavan, R. Journal Article 2014 Osteology of Kryptoglanis shajii, a stygobitic catfish (Teleostei: Siluriformes) from Peninsular India with a diagnosis of the new family Kryptoglanidae
Lundberg, J.G., Luckenbill, K.R., Babu, K.K.S. and Ng, H.H. Journal Article 2014 A tomographic osteology of the taxonomically puzzling catfish Kryptoglanis shajii (Siluriformes, Siluroidei, incertae sedis): description and a first phylogentic interpretation
Varma, A. Book 2017 Groundwater resource and governance in Kerala: status issues and prospects
Pavan-Kumar, A. Journal Article 2017 Molecular phylogeny of genus Horaglanis (Indian blind catfishes) within Family Clariidae
De Grave, S., Arjun, C.P. and Raghavan, R. Journal Article 2018 The discovery of Euryrhynchidae (Crustacea: Decapoda) in India, with the description of a new genus and species
Britz, R., Anoop, V.K., Dahanukar, H. and Raghavan, R. Journal Article 2019 The subterranean Aenigmachanna gollum, a new genus and species of snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Kerala, India
Anoop, V.K., Britz, R., Arjun, C.P., Dahanukar, N. and Raghavan, R. Journal Article 2019 Pangio bhujia, a new, peculiar species of miniature subterranean eel loach lacking dorsal and pelvic fins from India (Teleostei: Cobitidae)
Sidharthan, A., Raghavan, R., Anoop, V.K., Philip. S. and Dahanukar, N. Journal Article 2020 Riddle on the riffle: Miocene diversification and biogeography of endemic mountain loaches in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot
Britz, R., Dahanukar, N., Anoop, V.K., Philip, S., Clark, B., Raghavan, R. and Rüber, L. Journal Article 2020 Aenigmachannidae, a new family of snakehead fishes (Teleostei: Channoidei) from subterranean waters of South India
Raghavan, R., Britz, R. and Dahanukar, N. Journal Article 2021 Poor groundwater governance threatens ancient subterranean fishes