Biosystematics and distributional status of spiny eel fish species of the genus Macrognathus Lacepede, (Synbranchiformes: Mastacembelidae) from Northeastern region of India

Abstract

Extensive surveys of entire northeastern India conducted during the last five years indicated the abundance and distributional status of four species of the genus Macrognathus. The evaluation of morphometric, meristic and osteological traits in 185specimens of different size groups resolved the taxonomic status of three distinct species Macrognathus aral, Macrognathus pancalus and Macrognathus aculeatus. However, identification of fourth species Macrognathus morehensis is based on only one specimen collected from Manipur. The abundance and distributional analysis revealed that M. aral is the most common species commercially important and uniformly distributed in all states except Manipur and Mizoram. Whereas, the other two species seem to be confined to fewer states as per the material examined (M. pancalus: Sikkim, Assam and Tripura; M. aculeatus: Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura).