MeetKryptoglanis shajii , a subterraneous species of wolffish that wasdescribedonly a few long time ago . It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India ; an field known for its unbelievable biodiversity . However , for a animal that live on among so many other species , scientists are having an improbably difficult time happen the fish ’s place in all of it . John Lundberg of Drexel University , who is one of the world ’s leading experts in catfish , has been studying the Pisces the Fishes since its discovery . Though many aspects ofK. shajiidefy compartmentalization , Lundberg ’s latest analysis has focalize on the pearl construction of this freaky Pisces . The result of the study were published in theProceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia .
Lundberg and his team used CAT scan and digital radiography to get a detailed look at the skeleton of this small-scale Pisces the Fishes , which had some anomaly that were n’t very obvious from the exterior . “ The more we looked at the frame , the stranger it got , ” Lundberg tell in apress release . “ The feature of this animal are just so different that we have a unvoiced time agree it into the house tree of mudcat . ”
Though many subterranean Pisces the Fishes lack sure bony features , K. shajii has bones with morphologies that Lundberg does n’t recognize among siluriform fish or any other group of Pisces . The Pisces itself has a face that depend kind of smushed flat , like a bulldog . This Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe must have come about due to some incurred welfare , but researchers are n’t sure what that could have been quite yet . “ In dogs that was the result of selective breeding , ” Lundberg explained . “ InKryptoglanis , we do n’t fuck yet what in their natural development would have led to this modified configuration . ”
The fish have four rows of astute conical teeth , which investigator believe are used to eat little invertebrate and insects . The fish itself is relatively small at less than ten centimeters long and it is veryquick and agile .
A specimen of Kryptoglanis shajii that was scan in Lundberg ’s team ’s study . citation : Kyle Luckenbill , Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
In accession to what has caused this odd facial shape , investigator are n’t exactly certain where the Pisces the Fishes fit out in with others , as there are no obvious candidates to airless sustenance relative . DNA analysis is n’t that break , because individuals within this species , as with many catfish coinage , have shown to have drastically different sequences , which is n’t especially helpful when trying to liken with other fish .
At the same time that Lundberg ’s squad was analyzing the os complex body part using CAT scans and digital radiometry , Ralf Britz and his squad from the Natural History Museum of London were investigating the systema skeletale through staining . The results from the London team , which were put out inIchthyological Exploration of Freshwaters , were remarkably exchangeable to Lundberg ’s team . Neither group was able-bodied to determine what the relatives to this Pisces the Fishes might be , and the London team even suggested that it belonged to its own family .
