''Pristolepis pentacantha'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of fish in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pristolepididae ''Pristolepis'' is a genus of fish in the family Pristolepididae sometimes classified in the order Anabantiformes native to freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia and India's Western Ghats. This genus is the only member of its family, a family wh ...

described from Kabani River of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India. It can be distinguished from its relative species by the following combination of characters:

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s are larger and closely set,

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

carries 15–16 spines and 11 soft rays, anal fin carries 5 spines and 7 soft rays. The fish species was discovered by Mathews Plamoottil, Assistant Professor in Zoology at the Government College, Chavara, Kollam, from Bavali, near the Karnataka border, in January 2012. Based on scientific studies and comparison with other fishes of the same species found in Kerala, it was found that ''P. pentacantha'' was a new species. Known as aattuchemballi in local parlance, fish of the family Pristolepididae are edible. They can also be reared as an ornamental fish. The name ''"pentacantha"'' is derived from two Greek words, ''"pente"'' meaning five and ''"akantha"'' meaning thorn, referring to the five spines in the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

of the fish. While the body is grayish green, the dorsal fin is reddish orange in colour.

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Pristolepididae Freshwater fish of India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats Fauna of Kerala Taxa named by Mathews Plamoottil Fish described in 2014 {{Rayfinned-fish-stub