Genetic Identity of an Endangered Fish Species Tor Mussullah (Sykes, 1839) (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) Revealed from Mitochondrial DNA Markers

Tor khudree and Tor mussullah (Sykes, 1839) (Pisces: Cypriniformes) are the two endangered Mahseer belonging to the family Cyprinidae, inhabited in fast flowing rivers of Western Ghats which has more taxonomic ambiguities. The taxonomy and phylogenetic relationship of genus Tor has more debate due to the different types of morphological variations they exhibit based on the habitat. The taxonomic position of the hump backed mahseer Tor mussullah has been extremely confusing. For many years the species had been treated as Tor mussullah and later Menon (1992) referred this species to under the genus Hypselobarbus and the humpbacked Tor from peninsula so far named as T. mussullah is not T. mussullah and it is considered the same as T. khudree. So far no efforts have been made to differentiate these two species from Peninsular India using DNA barcoding. In the present study, the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 (CO1) gene was used to determine the existence of the two different species. The Tor samples of two species were collected from different rivers of Southern Western Ghats and the tissue samples were sequenced and data were analysed. The present study indicates that the distribution of Tor mussullah and Tor khudree is confirmed in the Southern Western Ghats. The taxonomic ambiguities of the species mussullah have been resolved through DNA barcoding. The species mussullah is belonging to the genus Tor not Hypselobarbus.