Kerala scientists discover Snakehead Gollum Fish, suspected to have survived over centuries

Snakehead Gollum fish with delicate scale-like fins and found to be living in fossil was discovered in Kerala and named after a famous character from The Lord of the Rings.

A new study conducted by scientists in Kerala found that the Snakehead Gollum is different from the rest of its fellow Snakehead fish. It has its own family called Aenigmachanna.

The family name is taken from the epic fantasy novel by British author JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings where it was used for a cave-dwelling character.

Since the discovery of Snakehead Gollum fish, it has been studied by scientists from India, Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The findings were recently published in Scientific Reports last month in 2020.

This unique fish remains isolated from the world as it dwells in the dark groundwaters. They came under the spotlight only after the devastating floods of Kerala in 2018 and were studied by the scientists.

As revealed by molecular analysis, the snakehead fish exhibits a uniqueness of Aenigmachanna and a separate lineage of snakeheads. 

A recent report stated, ''the snakehead fish is estimated to have split from its sister group at least 34 or 109 million years ago depending on the fossil calibration employed.''

''The fish came from an ancient Gondwanan lineage that survived the breakup of the supercontinent and the northward drift of the Indian subcontinent about 100 million years ago,'' mentioned the report.

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