UpbeatSix black stripes and a brand-new name: a river fish new to science in China
In the clear, shallow headwaters of the Lishui River near Zhangjiajie in Hunan, China, a small striped fish has been swimming under a borrowed identity. Researchers who collected 11 of the fish in Bamaoxi Village between 2021 and 2024 have now shown — through close body measurements and DNA tests that agree with each other — that it is a species nobody had ever formally described. Its giveaway is six bold black bars down its sides that stay put into adulthood, unlike its closest relatives. Named Acrossocheilus zhangjiajiensis after its home city, it becomes the 25th known species in its genus, and so far it is known from just this one stretch of gravel-bottomed river — a reminder of how much life still hides in plain sight. The description was published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.
SDG 15 · Life on land