| Bombay swamp eel | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Synbranchiformes |
| Family: | Synbranchidae |
| Genus: | Ophichthys |
| Species: | O. indicus |
| Binomial name | |
| Ophichthys indicus | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
Amphipnous indicusSilas & Dawson, 1961 Contents | |
The Bombay swamp eel (Ophichthys indicus), also known as the paytop in Marathi, [3] is a species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It is endemic to the state of Maharashtra in India. [1]
It was at first classified in the genus Amphipnous, but it was later moved to Monopterus . However a 2020 study found it to form a distinct clade with about 4 other species also previously classified in Monopterus, and the genus Ophichthys was thus revived to contain them. [4]
This species is thought to be endemic to the northern Western Ghats of India, in the state of Maharashtra. It is currently known from 5-10 localities: Robber's Cave and Dhobi Falls in Mahabaleshwar, Kanheri Falls near Kanheri Caves in Mumbai, and the Tamhini and Tail Baila areas in Pune. However, it is thought to occur in other localities as well. [1]
The species inhabits swamps and marshy areas associated with hill streams. During the early part of the monsoon season, adult individuals migrate upstream to breed. Inside caves, O. indicus is known to hide inside piles of bat guano. [5] In the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, this species is known from small rock-filled puddles that dot the lateritic plateaus such as the Kargaon plateau during the monsoon season. [6] It can also survive in less conventional habitats; in 2012, while workers were cleaning a biogas plant in Pune, a live O. indicus was found in a heap of cow dung even though the plant had been closed for over 8 years at that point, and had almost no water. [7]
They are nocturnal and during the daytime, they stay buried underneath boulders or hang to tree roots along the edges of streams. They are obligate air breathers and prefer to float on the surface of the water to breathe, then dive for 3-5 minutes before returning to the surface. They primarily feed on earthworms by creating a vacuum with their mouths and sucking them in. [8] In an example of Batesian mimicry, if an O. indicus is threatened, it can bare its fangs in a way similar to a snake. [3] They can also burrow into the mud and use a mucus secreted from their body to fully retract inside if a threat is detected. [8]
O. indicus is considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Habitat alterations caused by urbanization, deforestation, and recreational activities on the mountain tops are common in the northern Western Ghats, and can severely affect the fish. Until the 1980s, the species was abundant in the Satara district, but since then there have been no sightings until an individual was found in a closed-down biogas plant in 2012. [7] A 2019 study found the species to be on the verge of extinction, primarily due to roadkills; during the monsoon season, aggregations of O. indicus can form that crawl over the road, making them at risk from oncoming vehicles; this has been implicated in the species being extirpated from some areas such as Lonavala and Tamhini Ghat. Plateau habitats are prime targets for wind farms and deforestation, which can destroy critical habitat. Other plateau populations are affected by blasting to make way for plantations, quarrying for laterite rock, use of plateaus for residential purposes, and use as a dumping site for city waste. Populations can survive on agricultural land, but they are at risk of being affected by fertilizer runoff, and are often mistaken for snakes and killed. Factories also release large amounts of effluent into their habitat. Climate change also affects the species by leading to reduced and/or increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. Major conservation actions will be required to save the species from extinction. [3] [5]
The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri mountain range, is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 km (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to this region. The Western Ghats are older than the Himalayas. They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain called the Western Coastal Plains along the Arabian Sea. A total of 39 areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty of them in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
Synbranchiformes, often called swamp eels, is an order of ray-finned fishes that are eel-like but have spiny rays, indicating that they belong to the superorder Acanthopterygii.
The swamp eels are a family (Synbranchidae) of freshwater eel-like fishes of the tropics and subtropics. Most species are able to breathe air and typically live in marshes, ponds and damp places, sometimes burying themselves in the mud if the water source dries up. They have various adaptations to suit this lifestyle; they are long and slender, they lack pectoral and pelvic fins, and their dorsal and anal fins are vestigial, making them limbless vertebrates. They lack scales and a swimbladder, and their gills open on the throat in a slit or pore. Oxygen can be absorbed through the lining of the mouth and pharynx, which is rich in blood vessels and acts as a "lung".
Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), is an 87 km2 (34 sq mi) protected area in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali.
Tamhini Ghat is a mountain passage located between Mulshi and Tamhini in Maharashtra, India.
Gaganbawada is a town situated in the district of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. It is located 55 km by road from Kankavli. It is one of the taluka headquarters in Kolhapur district.
The word Maharashtra, the land of the mainly Marathi-speaking people, appears to be derived from Maharashtri, an old form of Prakrit. Some believe that the word indicates that it was the land of the Mahars and the Rattas, while others consider it to be a corruption of the term 'Maha Kantara', a synonym for 'Dandakaranya'. Maharashtra is the third largest state in India after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It covers an area of 307,713 km2 and is bordered by the states of Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Telangana to the southeast, Karnataka to the south and Goa to the southwest. The state of Gujarat lies to the northwest, with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli sandwiched between the borders. Maharashtra has coastline of 720 km.The Arabian Sea makes up Maharashtra's west coast. Maharashtra consists of two major relief divisions. The plateau is a part of the Deccan tableland and the Konkan coastal strip abutting on the Arabian Sea.
The state of Maharashtra in India has several major river systems including those of the Narmada, Tapti, Godavari and Krishna rivers. The ecology of these rivers and associated wetlands is covered in this article.
The Liberian swamp eel is a species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It is indigenous to Liberia. It has also been found in Sierra Leone, with an unconfirmed report from Côte d'Ivoire. It was first described by Jacques Pellegrin in 1922 as Typhlosynbranchus boueti, but was later moved to Monopterus. However, a 2020 study revived Typhlosynbranchus. Due to the deficiency in data, the species has not been classified with respect to endangerment.
Monopterus is a genus of swamp eels native to Asia. They live in various freshwater habitats and some have a fossorial lifestyle.
The blind swamp eel is a species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It is endemic to Mexico where it lives in cave systems and is known in Spanish as the anguila ciega. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated this cavefish as "endangered".
The Asian swamp eel, also known as rice eel, ricefield eel, rice paddy eel or white rice-field eel, is a commercially important, air-breathing species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It occurs in East and Southeast Asia, where it is a very common foodstuff sold throughout the region. It has been introduced to two areas near the Everglades in Florida and near Atlanta in Georgia.
M. indicus may refer to:
The Kas Plateau Reserved Forest, also known as the Kaas Pathar, is a plateau situated 25 kilometres west from Satara city in Maharashtra, India. It falls under the Sahyadri Sub Cluster of the Western Ghats, and it became a part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012.
Ophichthys desilvai is a commercially important, air-breathing species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and is the only endemic synbranchid from there.
Rakthamichthys rongsaw is a species of swamp eel discovered in the Khasi Hills in northeast India. The researchers were searching for caecilians, when they uncovered the eel in soil.
Synbranchinae is a subfamily of swamp eel, consisting of six of the ten genera in the family Synbranchidae. The remaining genus, the monotypic Macrotrema is the only one in the other subfamily Macrotreminae. The subfamily occurs in the Neotropics, Afrotropics and Asia.
Rakthamichthys is a genus of swamp eels that are endemic to India. Three species are known from the Western Ghats and one is known from Northeast India.
The Malabar swamp eel is a species of troglobitic swamp eel endemic to subterranean springs in Kottayam in the Indian state of Kerala.
Ophichthys is a genus of swamp eels native to South Asia. They live in freshwater or subterranean habitats, and some have a fossorial lifestyle.
