New Electric Ray Species Discovered In Arabian Sea, Named Tetronarce Ramanamurthy

A new species of electric ray fish has been discovered from the deep waters of southeastern Arabian Sea in the northern Indian Ocean, according to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). This is the first confirmed record of the genus Tetronarce in the northern Indian Ocean, shedding light on the poorly explored biodiversity of India's deep-sea ecosystems, the ZSI further said. Electric rays, like their bigger sibling manta ray, are cartilaginous fish. They are slow moving bottom-dwellers that live on sandy or muddy seabeds. These fish can generate electric shocks ranging from eight to 220 volts to stun preys and ward off threats.

The discovery was part of a research carried out by the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Deep Ocean Mission project. It has been published in the international taxonomy journal Zootaxa.

"Deep-sea marine habitats remain among the most difficult ecosystems to study," the research team said in a statement.

The newly discovered electric ray has several unique physical and genetic traits:

• A uniformly dark bluish-black to dark-brown dorsal coloration, absence of papillae around the spiracles, a disc wider than its length, relatively large endolymphatic pores, and small electric organs.
• A total vertebral count of 99.
• DNA sequencing of mitochondrial COI and ND2 genes confirmed a distinct evolutionary lineage.

The species has been named Tetronarce Ramanamurthy in honour of Dr M V Ramana Murthy, Mission Director of the Deep Ocean Mission, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Electric rays have rounded, thick bodies with stubby tails. They generally range from small to medium in size. They are much smaller than manta rays, which can have a wingspan of 29 feet and weigh thousands of pounds.