Overview
- Researchers began investigating after a short TikTok clip showing an unusual borewell fish prompted fieldwork that traced the animal to wells on the India–Nepal border.
- Field teams manually pumped thousands of litres from candidate borewells and recovered a damaged specimen that died before an intact individual was obtained for study.
- Laboratory micro-CT scans and genetic analysis confirmed the specimen is a previously unknown species and a new genus named Gangaichthys indonepalicus within the Chaudhuriidae family.
- This is the first stygobitic (fully subterranean) fish recorded from the Gangetic Basin, a finding that expands the known range of groundwater-adapted fauna in northern India.
- The species is tiny, pale and translucent with reduced eyes and an apparent lack of ribs, and researchers say the discovery points to major gaps in India's subterranean biodiversity that merit more targeted surveys and conservation attention.