First Blind Aquifer-Dwelling Fish Discovered in Northeast India

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An international team of taxonomists discovered a new genus and species of blind, aquifer-dwelling fish named Gitchak nakana from a dug-out well in Assam. This marks the first such record in Northeast India and the Eastern Himalayan landscape.

The name comes from the Garo language, where 'Gitchak' means red due to its striking color, and 'na-tok kana' translates to 'blind fish' because it lacks eyes completely.
Taxonomically, it belongs to a new genus within the Cobitidae family, which comprises true loaches.
It is a highly specialized groundwater-dwelling fish found in very low numbers in a single dug-out well, and researchers withheld its exact location to protect the vulnerable population.

This discovery offers the first concrete proof that the Eastern Himalayas harbor highly specialized subterranean aquifer-dwelling fauna.
Before this discovery, scientists primarily knew such evolutionarily distinct subterranean fish only from the lateritic lowlands of the Western Ghats in southern India.
Subterranean fishes, such as Kerala's Blind Catfish (Horaglanis krishnai), are among the world's most evolutionarily unique creatures because they adapted specifically to underground aquatic environments.

Researchers emphasized the urgent need to prioritize conservation for subterranean species that live in restricted geographic areas.
Experts raised alarms about Neolissochilus pnar, a cave mahseer from Meghalaya recognized as the world's largest cavefish. It faces severe threats from the international aquarium pet trade despite a lack of data on its population.