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Issue: Vol. 4571 No. 3: 27 Mar. 2019
Type: Article
Published: 2019-03-27
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4571.3.7
Page range: 398–408
Abstract views: 265
PDF downloaded: 8

Channa auroflammea, a new species of snakehead fish of the Marulius group from the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia (Teleostei: Channidae)

Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom. The Fishmongers’ Company, London, EC4R 9EL, United Kingdom.
Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
Department of Community Fisheries Development, Fisheries Administration (FIA), Cambodia.
Pisces Bullseye snakehead Thailand COI DNA Barcoding Freshwater Fishes Genetic Meristic Taxonomy Channa marulius

Abstract

Channa auroflammea is a new freshwater fish species of the Marulius group from the Mekong River system. Previously reported as C. marulius, C. cf. marulius, or C. aff. marulius, C. auroflammea is readily distinguished from C. marulius and other members of the Marulius group by a different colour pattern, and a DNA barcode sequence at least 6.5% divergent from other members of the group. Comparison of counts of vertebrae, dorsal-fin rays, and lateral-line scales reveals that these counts are lower in the Mekong C. auroflammea than in C. aurolineata from the Salween and Irrawaddy-Chindwin, higher than in the Marulius group species C. pseudomarulius and C. marulioides, but similar to those in C. marulius. Channa auroflammea is known from the Mekong river and tributaries in Laos and Cambodia, where it forms a regular component of the wild fisheries catch from the rivers Tonle San and Tonle Srepok. Literature records of Channa marulius from China appear to be based on confusion originating with Cuvier’s description of Ophiocephalus grandinosus.

 

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