Glyptothorax malabarensis, a new catfish (Teleostei: Sisoridae) from the Western Ghats of Kerala, India

Abstract

Glyptothorax malabarensis, a new species of the Asian catfish family Sisoridae, is described from a hill stream of an upper tributary of the west-flowing Valappattanam River drainage of Kerala State, India. It is distinguished from its congeners in Peninsular India by the following combination of characters: body depth 19.6–9.9% SL, caudal peduncle length 14.3–14.7% SL and caudal peduncle depth 12.4–12.7% SL (caudal peduncle depth 86.4–88.1% of its length); thoracic adhesive apparatus approximately pentagonal, as long as broad, without a median depression; skin of head and body minutely granulated; and a coloration in life consisting of a black background with three flesh-red or orange transverse bands on body, in preservative changing to dark grey with black mottling and three yellowish-white transverse bands.