Golden Systomus

This species is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: an unusually elongated body, with body depth at dorsal fin origin 25.0- 28.6 in percent of standard length; flanks with a golden to yellowish golden color while the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins are orange red; pectoral fin long, its tip reaches origin of ventral fin; dorsal fin inserted a little behind ventral origin and nearer to snout tip than to caudal base; lateral line scales 29- 30 and pre-dorsal scales 11 (Ref. 104747).

The type locality, the river bed of Keezhvaipur of Manimala River, is generally occupied by sand and gravel, with bed rocks and black clays occasionally present. This stretch of the river has a width of 40-120 m, depth of the water column in summer season ranges from 0.5 to 7 m and bank height varies from 4 to 7 m with respect to general water level. It is covered by more or less dense riparian vegetation; the flora includes Dendrocalamus strictus, Ochreinauclea missionis, Acacia caesia, Bambusa bambos, B. vulgaris, Hydnocarpus pentandra and others and with Colocasia esculenta, Cynodon dactylon and Nymphaea forming the majority of the stream vegetation. Some fishes co-occurring with this species in this region are: Anguilla bengalensis, A. bicolor, Salmostoma boopis, Barilius bakeri, Rasbora dandia, Osteobrama bakeri, Puntius mahecola, Pethia punctatus, Dawkinsia filamentosa, Gonoproktopterus kurali, Catla catla, Labeo ariza, L. dussumieri, Garra mullya, Horabagrus brachysoma, Mystus oculatus, M. gulio, Wallago attu, Xenentodon cancila, Ambassis commersoni, A. gymnocephalus, Pseudambassis ranga, Pristolepis malabarica, Etroplus maculatus, E. suratensis, and Glossogobius giuris (Ref. 104747).

The golden systomus (Systomus chryseus) is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to India. This species can reach a length of 15.2 centimetres (6.0 in) SL. It is a gold colour and has pelvic and anal fins that are orange red.