Puntius Sanctus | UPSC | Species In News For UPSC Prelims & Mains

Puntius Sanctus | UPSC | Why In The News ?

Recently, Puntius Sanctus, a new freshwater fish, has been found in Velankanni, Tamil Nadu.
It was found in a small waterbody.

About Puntius Sanctus :

Sanctus means holy (pilgrim town) in Latin.
Species of Puntius are known from India mainly from the Western and Eastern Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas.
The genus shows great species richness in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The species are known locally as Paral in kerala and Kende in Tamil Nadu.
It belongs to the family ‘Cyprinidae’.
It is a silver-hued fish.
It grows only upto to a length of 7 cm.
It is different from other species in terms of protractible (extended) mouth and a pair of maxillary barbels (a sensory organ near the snout).
It is the family of freshwater fish.
It includes the minnows, goldfish, bitterlings, barbs, and carps.
It ranges from small aquarium sized species to huge fish.

Puntius Sanctus has been deposited in the Zoological Survey of India at Pune.

It has also been registered with Zoo Bank of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, the official authority for naming animals.

It is India’s apex organization on animal taxonomy.
Its objective is to promote survey, exploration, research and documentation on various aspects of animal taxonomy in Indian subcontinent.
It also seeks advancement of knowledge on animal taxonomy.
It was established in 1916 and headquartered in Kolkata.
It has been declared as designated repository for National Zoological Collection as per section 39 of the National Biodiversity Act, 2002.

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