Scientists have named a new redfin discovered in Umzimkhulu River, Pseudobarbus kubhekai.

It was named after Skhumbuzo Kubheka, from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, who, searched tirelessly for the fish in tributaries of the Umkhomazi and adjacent river systems, to finally find it in the Umzimkhulu River system.

The scientific name of the fish is Pseudobarbus quathlambae, a new redfin (Teleostei, Cyprinidae) from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Fatah Zarei, Xiluva Mathebula, Albert Chakona, who documented the rare find, said in an abstract, this discovery was significant because it helped to resolve a longstanding debate on the natural occurrence of redfin minnows in the KwaZulu Natal Province of South Africa.

The discovery also highlights the conservation significance of the headwater tributaries of rivers draining the Drakensberg Mountain.

Once thought to be extinct, populations of Pseudobarbus quathlambae, were reportedly found in Lesotho and South Africa.
One in eastern Lesotho, another in Mohale, central Lesotho, and a third, in the Umzimkhulu (= Mzimkhulu) River, KwaZulu-Natal, adjacent to the Mkhomazana River.

According to Zarei, Mathebula and Chakona, the new species, is a single barbeled redfin, which differs from all currently recognized congeners, because of its scales that are 51–56, in lateral-line series (vs. 60–72 in P. quathlambae and 25–45 in the other species).

These species are distinguished by their bright red fins, which is a notable characteristic setting them apart from other cyprinids from southern Africa.

Pseudobarbus quathlambae (Barnard, 1938) is the only redfin species that is not associated with the Cape Fold Ecoregion, as it is isolated in the Drakensberg-Maloti Highlands and the Southern Temperate freshwater ecoregions (Fig. 1; Skelton 1974, 1988; Kubheka et al. 2017).

Picture: Zoosystematics and Evolution


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