{"id":374244,"date":"2026-10-22T15:59:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=374244"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:59:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:29:34","slug":"gitchak-nakana-and-rakthamichthys-anchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gitchak-nakana-and-rakthamichthys-anchi\/","title":{"rendered":"Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Researchers have found two new subterranean fish species, Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi, from wells in Assam.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi<\/strong> are <strong>blind, subterranean fish species found in groundwater environments.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Found in:<\/strong> Both species <strong>were discovered in wells in Goalpara district, Assam<\/strong>, in areas <strong>dominated by alluvial deposits.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\">About Gitchak nakana<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_374251\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-374251\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-374251\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2.jpg?resize=300%2C199&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Gitchak nakana\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2.jpg?resize=768%2C510&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2.jpg?w=846&amp;ssl=1 846w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-374251\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Mongabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gitchak nakana<\/strong> is a <strong>blind freshwater fish (loach).\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> It was discovered in <strong>Goalpara, Assam.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It marks the <strong>first record of a groundwater-dwelling fish in Northeast India.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Similar subterranean fishes<\/strong> were previously known mainly from the <strong>lateritic lowlands of the Western Ghats.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Family:<\/strong> It belonging to a <strong>new genus within the family Cobitidae<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span class=\"w6asjq_TextBase _85PZeG_Text\" data-d-text-flow=\"\" data-d-component=\"text\" data-d-default-strong=\"\" data-d-inline=\"\">Naming:<\/span> <\/strong>The name comes from the <strong>Garo language<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong> <span class=\"w6asjq_TextBase _85PZeG_Text\" data-d-text-flow=\"\" data-d-component=\"text\" data-d-font-style=\"italic\" data-d-inline=\"\">Gitchak<\/span> refers to its striking red colour,<\/strong> while <strong><span class=\"w6asjq_TextBase _85PZeG_Text\" data-d-text-flow=\"\" data-d-component=\"text\" data-d-font-style=\"italic\" data-d-inline=\"\">nakana<\/span> refers to a blind fish.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Features:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Size:<\/strong> It is a tiny fish measuring about <strong>2 centimetres in length.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Appearance:<\/strong> Its <strong>transparent body<\/strong> allows <strong>its blood and internal organs to give it a blood-red appearance.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Skull Structure:<\/strong> It has <strong>no skull roof, leaving an opening covered only by skin.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats:<\/strong> People may <strong>mistake it for a worm or a harmful creature and kill it<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pollution, groundwater extraction and possible exploitation<\/strong> also threaten such species.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\">About Rakthamichthys anchi<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_374254\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-374254\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-374254\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2-1.jpg?resize=300%2C175&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Rakthamichthys anchi\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2-1.jpg?resize=300%2C175&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2-1.jpg?resize=768%2C449&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Mongabay-2-1.jpg?w=854&amp;ssl=1 854w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-374254\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Mongabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rakthamichthys anchi<\/strong> is a newly described<strong> phreatobiotic synbranchid eel <\/strong>belonging to the<strong> family Synbranchidae (swamp eel family).\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is the <strong>second species of this genus<\/strong> recorded <strong>from Northeast India, after Rakthamichthys rongsaw of Meghalaya.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Naming:<\/strong> \u2018<strong>Anchi\u2019 and \u2018Raktham\u2019 mean blood in Garo and Malayalam, respectively,<\/strong> while \u2018<strong>ichthys\u2019 means fish in Greek<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> It <span data-d-text-flow=\"word\" data-d-stream-word=\"\">is <\/span><span class=\"w6asjq_TextBase _85PZeG_Text\" data-d-text-flow=\"\" data-d-component=\"text\" data-d-default-strong=\"\" data-d-inline=\"\"><strong>endemic to <\/strong><span data-d-text-flow=\"word\" data-d-stream-word=\"\"><strong>India.<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It was <strong>discovered in Goalpara district, Assam.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat:<\/strong> It inhabits <strong>groundwater aquifers in alluvial deposits<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Features:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Size:<\/strong> It is measures <strong>approximately 310 mm in length.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Appearance:<\/strong> It has a <strong>slender, eel-like body<\/strong> and <strong>shares characteristics with Gitchak nakana.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Adaptation:<\/strong> These fishes have a <strong>low metabolic rate<\/strong> and can <strong>survive for months without food after feeding.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Phreatobiotic: <\/strong>It<strong> lives exclusively within the groundwater zone of aquifers<\/strong>, particularly in underground, water-filled spaces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats:<\/strong> <strong>Pollution, groundwater extraction and human killing<\/strong> due to lack of awareness pose risks to this species.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Researchers have found two new subterranean fish species, Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi, from wells in Assam. About Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi are blind, subterranean fish species found in groundwater environments. Found in: Both species were discovered in wells in Goalpara district, Assam, in areas dominated by alluvial&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gitchak-nakana-and-rakthamichthys-anchi\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gitchak nakana and Rakthamichthys anchi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,12039,11834],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-374244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}