The World Wildlife Fund for Nature released a new discovery of more than 200 new species in Himalayas between 2009 and 2014. This new discovery range from monkeys to millipedes -walking fish is one of those.
The discovery was documented by the Hidden Himalayas: Asia's Wonderland, in which they officially described the new species that they have encountered over the past six years in the eastern Himalayas.
Himalayas was described by the Word Wildlife Nature as "one of the biologically rich areas on earth." It is a mountain range in South Asia and East Asia that separates the Indo-Gangetic Plain from Tibetan Plateau. This is also the home of nine of the ten highest peaks on Earth, which includes Mount Everest.
Moreover, one of the discovery was the Vibrant Blue Dwarf 'Walking' Snakehead Fish or scientifica name as Channa andarao, found from Lefraguri swamp, West Bengal, India.
Blue Walking Fishzilla is different and can be distinguished from other snakeshead through their colour pattern, number of vertebrae, dorsal and fin rays, and as well as their lateral-line scales. They are considered as valued food fishes in their native habitats. This new species has been collected only from West Bengal.
This type of new species is relatively air breathers, which can survive on land up to four days. It moves like a clumsy-looking snake, which can writhe and wriggle its way up to a whole quarter of a mile on wetland between bodies of water.
National Geographic named this type of snakehead fish as "Fishzilla" due to its aggressive traits. Each of its spawning-age female can release at one up to 15,000 eggs. They can often mate five times a year, which mean a single female can release up to 150,000 eggs in just two years. It can also grow up to 1.2m, in its maximum length and is very important in aquaculture and often used in rice-fish farming.
Moreover, the new discovery emphasizes these mountain regions of the Eastern Himalaya are significantly a biodiversity hotspot for freshwater species. Additional new snakeheads species in the future is not far as there will be more exploration will take place in the remote areas of India, Nepal and Myanmar.
