By Ifham Nizam ‘The Ecology and Biogeography of Sri Lanka: A Context for Freshwater Fishes’ by Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda and Hiranya Sudasinghe is a guide to the origins of Sri Lanka’s fauna and flora that strings together different fields of research to shed light on Sri Lanka’s remarkable biodiversity, with a history of over 100 […]
Genetic diversity of Sri Lanka’s ‘spa fish’ highlights need for informed conservation
by Malaka Rodrigo on 25 May 2021
An endemic freshwater fish species known as the “stone sucker” (Garra ceylonensis) has six genetically different populations spread in different river basins in Sri Lanka despite managing to sport similar looks, a new study shows.
The research estimates that the ancestor of G. ceylonensis first colonized Sri Lanka around 3 million to 4 million years ago via rivers on the land bridge between India and Sri Lanka and that subsequent climatic events trapped them on the island, causing the fish to evolve as a distinct species along with genetic variances.