Aborichthys bajpaii, a New Species of Loach (Nemacheilidae) from Eastern Himalaya, India

Abstract—

A new species, Aborichthys bajpaii, is described from the Siang River, Brahmaputra River drainage, in Arunachal Pradesh, India. It differs from all known congeners by the following combination of characters: a vent closer to the caudal fin base than to the snout tip, body with 17–22 fused bars along the mid-dorsal line, which are bifurcated into 28–36 bars along the flank, vertical bars on the caudal peduncle, an incomplete lateral line that terminates at the tip of the pectoral fin, a long head (20.2–21.5% SL), a deep body (12.2–15.3% SL), 9½ branched pectoral fin rays, dorsal fin origin equidistant between snout tip and caudal fin base, pelvic fin origin closer to the pectoral fin origin than anal fin origin, 2–3 irregular rows of black bands on the dorsal fin, maxillary barbel extending beyond the posterior margin of the orbit and a truncate caudal fin with 2–4 irregular black bands. A key to species of Aborichthys is provided.