mangaluru filament barbs are a group of small freshwater fishes found in the rivers of peninsular india and sri lanka from where around nine species are currently known under the genus dawkinsiacollaborative research by scientists from the bombay natural history society bnhs the kerala university of fisheries and ocean studies kufos and the indian institute of science education and research iiser pune has unravelled unexpected diversity in the charismatic filament barbs of the western ghatsthe first species which occurs in the sita and sowparnika rivers has been named dawkinsia apsara after the beautiful celestial nymphs in hindu mythology the second species discovered from the muvattupuzha river in kerala has been named dawkinsia austellus referring to the latin word for south and refers to the distribution range of the species in southern kerala and the third new species has been named dawkinsia crassa after the latin word for roundthick referring to the rounded appearance of the fish which is found in the netravati river of coastal karnatakadawkinsia austellusfilament barbs are popular among aquarium hobbyists around the world and are both wildcollected and captive bred for the trade new research employing an integrative approach of evidence gathering using morphological and genetic analysis and based on fresh collection of dawkinsia specimens from throughout the western ghats the scientific paper has been published in the international journal vertebrate zoology published from the senckenberg museum in germanydawkinsia crassathis research has also cleared longstanding taxonomic confusions associated with the small cyprinids of the genus dawkinsia paving way for improved conservation prioritisation and attention for these species it took almost eight years of extensive field work examination of historic specimens in museums both within and outside india and genetic analysis to understand the true diversity of these charismatic freshwater fishes which are much sought after globally as aquarium pets said unmesh katwate fish scientist at the freshwater research unit of the bombay natural history and phd student at kufos who led the studythe research has also helped stabilize the identity of dawkinsia assimilis and dawkinsia lepida two species of filament barbs described by british ichthyologists in the 1800sthis study on filament barb is a remarkable contribution to indian ichthyology this new study will help us in delineating important freshwater key biodiversity areas and help prioritise conservation initiatives for western ghats freshwater biodiversity this study also highlights the urgent need to conserve the western ghats freshwater resources as several unknown and plausibly narrow endemic species are still getting described said deepak apte director bombay natural history societydespite this updated publication the taxonomy of fishes of the genus dawkinsia remains poorly known and further intensive explorations and research will no doubt yield more new species from this group said rajeev raghavan assistant professor kufos and the south asia coordinator of the iucn freshwater fish specialist group who cosupervised the projectthis study has also highlighted the importance of using an integrative approach for understanding the taxonomy of complex groups of fishes especially those that are cryptic and difficult