{"id":53279,"date":"2025-07-03T11:25:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T05:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=53279"},"modified":"2025-07-03T14:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T08:34:22","slug":"facciolella-smithi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/facciolella-smithi\/","title":{"rendered":"Facciolella Smithi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Facciolella Smithi Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian scientists recently discovered a new deep-sea eel species, Facciolella smithi (Smith\u2019s witch eel), in the Arabian Sea.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>About Facciolella Smithi<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facciolella smithi (Smith\u2019s witch eel) is a <\/span><b>new species of deep-sea eel.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was discovered by the <\/span><b>scientists at the ICAR\u2013National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The specimen was collected at a depth ranging from 260 to 460 meters o<\/span><b>ff the Kerala coast in the Arabian Sea.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It belongs to the family Nettastomatidae.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The eel <\/span><b>likely inhabits the seafloor or burrows<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into soft sediments, <\/span><b>navigating the pitch-black waters with the help of its sensory adaptations rather than sight.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The species has been <\/span><b>named in honour of eminent ichthyologist Dr. David G. Smith<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for his significant contributions to eel taxonomy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Facciolella Smithi <\/b><b>Anatomical Characteristics<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Body Structure:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The eel has an <\/span><b>elongate, ribbon-like body<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that reaches just over <\/span><b>two feet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in length. This <\/span><b>slender shape allows it to glide smoothly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through deep-sea waters.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Coloration: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most striking visual features is its <\/span><b>two-tone body<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The <\/span><b>upper half is a rich brown,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while the <\/span><b>underside <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is described as <\/span><b>\u201cmilky white.\u201d <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This contrast may <\/span><b>aid in camouflag<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e in the dim oceanic depths.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Head and Snout:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The eel has a notably <\/span><b>large head with a duckbill-like snout, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">giving it a peculiar, almost prehistoric look.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Eyes and Vision:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Despite its large head, the <\/span><b>eyes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of Facciolella smithi are <\/span><b>relatively small,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an adaptation to the low-light environment of the deep sea where visual cues are limited.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Teeth: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mouth contains <\/span><b>cone-shaped teeth,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> likely used to grasp slippery or soft-bodied prey.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Gills:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The <\/span><b>gill openings are crescent-shaped<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, positioned behind the head, consistent with many species of the eel family.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Tail Regeneration:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Remarkably, most of the specimens showed <\/span><b>evidence of regrown or regenerated tails, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">indicating either predator encounters or natural loss due to environmental factors. <\/span><b>This regenerative trait is crucial for survival<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the harsh and competitive deep-sea ecosystem.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/krishijagran.com\/animal-husbandry\/a-new-deep-sea-marvel-discovering-smith-s-witch-eel-off-the-coast-of-india\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KRISHI<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facciolella smithi, or Smith\u2019s witch eel, is a newly discovered deep-sea eel species known for its unique features and habitat in ocean depths. Read more about Facciolella Smithi, Characteristics, Discovery, Family, Latest News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":53287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1314,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-53279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-facciolella-smithi","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}