First Report of Conger Eel (Anguilliformes: Congridae) Ariosoma majus (Asano, 1958) From Indian Ocean

A new species of the congrid eel genus Ariosoma (Anguilliformes: Congridae) from the south‐west coast of India

“…absent in A. anago , A. dolichopterum , A. gnanadossi and A. majus ); 136–142 total vertebrae ( vs .143–144 in A. anago , 127–134 in A. dolichopterum , 146 in A. gnanadossi and 141–144 in A. majus ); 129–134 total pores ( vs . 136–140 in A. anago , 121–129 in A. dolichopterum , 145 in A. gnanadossi and 139–142 in A. majus ) (Karmovskaya, 2015, 2018; Roy et al ., 2021; Smith et al ., 2018).…”

“…At present, 34 species of the genus Ariosoma have been described (Fricke et al ., 2021 and this study), at least 74% (26 species) of all species in this genus were described or identified from the Indo‐West Pacific, while seven species were distributed along the Atlantic Ocean and two from the Eastern Pacific Ocean (Fricke et al ., 2021; Karmovskaya, 1991, 2004, 2015, 2018; Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021; Roy et al ., 2021; Shen, 1998; Smith et al ., 2018; Smith & Kanazawa, 1977) and doubtlessly there are many undescribed species that remain to be discovered. Phylogenetic analysis for most of the species of the genus Ariosoma was meagre, hence vast sampling is needed to fulfil the complete genomics of these conger eel groups.…”

“…The genus Ariosoma is a species‐rich group of the congrid eel, with 33 described species to date (Fricke et al ., 2021), but it is obscure due to its small size and its dwelling on unexplorable habitats such as underwater seamounts and continental slope crevices (Karmovskaya, 2018; Shen, 1998). The genus Ariosoma can be distinguished from other congrid genera by having preanal length almost near the mid‐body, 41%–52% TL; caudal fin reduced and the tip of tail stiff and blunt; origin of the dorsal fin at the level of or before the pectoral‐fin base; dorsal and anal fin with unsegmented rays; well‐developed pectoral fin; both jaws with well‐developed flanges; anterior nostril fairly large and tubular, posterior nostril small and elliptical, positioned before eye and at a level of middle of eye; head pores minute; adnasal pores absent; banded maxillary and mandibular teeth, vomerine teeth patch short or moderately elongated; dark streak or marks present on the posterior margins of the eye orbit (Karmovskaya, 2004, 2015, 2018; Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021; Roy et al ., 2021; Shen, 1998; Smith et al ., 2018). Hitherto, five species have been recorded along the Indian waters: Ariosoma anago (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846), Ariosoma dolichopterum Karmovskaya, 2015, Ariosoma gnanadossi Talwar & Mukherjee, 1977, Ariosoma majus (Asano, 1958), Ariosoma melanospilos Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021 (Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021; Mishra & Krishnan, 2003; Roy et al ., 2021).…”

Ariosoma indicum sp. nov., a new species of congrid eel (Anguilliformes: Congridae: Bathymyrinae) from the Indian waters

“…Further, A. indicum differs from A. anago in having more predorsal vertebrae (9-10 vs. 5-8); more predorsal pores (8-10 vs. 3-6); fewer SO pores (4-5 vs. 6); larger pectoral fin (37.5%-46.7% HL vs. 30.4%-34.6% HL); smaller eye diameter (15.1%-17.7% HL vs. 19.7%-22.7% HL); larger gill opening (15.1%-20.7% HL vs. 13.4%-14.7% HL) (Smith et al, 2018). The new species differs from A. majus in having more predorsal vertebrae (9-10 vs. 6-9); larger pectoral fin (37.5%-46.7% HL vs. 27.4%-36.3% HL); smaller pre-anal length (40.0%-42.6% TL vs. 42.4%-47.7%) (Roy et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2018). Ariosoma indicum also differs from A. meeki and A. melanospilos by the absence of black spot or mark on posterior-dorsal and posterior-ventral margin of eye orbit (vs. present in both species) Kodeeswaran et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2018).…”

A new Congrid eel, Rhynchoconger smithi sp. nov. (Anguilliformes: Congridae), from the Bay of Bengal, India

“…(2018) reported the record of monotypic genus and species Diploconger polystigmatus Kotthaus, 1968. Three additional Ariosoma species, namely A. majus (Asano, 1958), A. melanospilos Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021 and A. dolichopterum Karmovskaya, 2015, were added more recently (Kodeeswaran et al ., 2021; Roy et al ., 2021), which brought the total members of Congridae to 13 genera and 21 species. Of these, two species of the genus Rhynchoconger , R. squaliceps (Alcock, 1894) and R. ectenurus (Jordan & Richardson, 1909), were reported from Indian waters previously, R. ectenurus from the west coast of India (Kotthaus, 1968; Manilo & Bogorodsky, 2003; Venu, 2013) and R. squaliceps from the Andhra Pradesh coast (Bay of Bengal; Alcock, 1894).…”