Thackeray’s naturalist son gets Mumbai a mention

Tejas credited with new blind eel discovery

Anew species of a blind swamp eel belonging to the genus Rakthamichthys that is endemic to India was discovered from a suburban Mumbai well by naturalist Tejas Thackeray, officials said in Mumbai yesterday.

“I believe it’s my most remarkable discovery till date... A new species of a blind hypogean freshwater eel from Mumbai, named as ‘Rakthamichthys Mumba’ - after my home city Mumbai,” an excited Tejas Thackeray, the younger son of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, said.

Unlike other species of the genus, ‘Rakthamichthys Mumba’ has no eyes, fins or scales, according to Zoological Society of India scientist Anil Mohapatra, quoted by DownToEarth magazine.

Mohapatra is the coauthor of ‘Rakthamichthys Mumba’ with Tejas, Praveenraj Jayasimhan and Annam Pavan-Kumar, and it has been established as a new discovery. Their research has been published in the Aqua International Journal of Ichthyology.