Geography & BiodiversityImportant2025-06-30

Discovery of Deep-Sea Eel Facciolella smithi

Q: Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the newly discovered Facciolella smithi and its exploring agency?

1 only — Statement 1 is correct: Facciolella smithi is a deep-sea eel discovered off the Kerala coast at depths of 260-460 meters. Statement 2 is incorrect: The ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) operates under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), not the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

In News

What Happened

In June 2025, researchers from the ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) discovered a new deep-sea eel species named Facciolella smithi. The species was found off the Kerala coast in the Arabian Sea at depths ranging from 260 to 460 meters. Belonging to the Nettastomatidae family, the eel is morphologically distinct due to its unique duckbill-like snout.

Why It Matters

This discovery highlights the vast and largely undocumented biological richness within India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It also underscores the importance of deep-sea exploration in cataloging unique genetic resources and understanding the fragile ecosystems of the Arabian Sea's benthic zones.

Background

History & Context

The ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) was established in 1983 in Lucknow to catalog, conserve, and manage the nation's fish genetic resources. Historically, marine exploration in India focused on commercially valuable species in shallower pelagic zones, leaving the deep-sea ecosystems largely unexplored. With recent pushes under initiatives like the Deep Ocean Mission and enhanced deep-water trawling capabilities, scientific mapping of the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones in India's EEZ has accelerated.

What Changed

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BEFORE: Deep-sea eel biodiversity in the Arabian Sea's 260-460m depth range was largely undocumented with significant taxonomic gaps. NOW: The discovery of Facciolella smithi adds a confirmed, geographically specific baseline for the Nettastomatidae family in this habitat.
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BEFORE: India's fish genetic resource catalog lacked complete data on unique morphological adaptations of deep-sea species off the southwestern coast. NOW: The inclusion of this species adds novel functional traits, such as the duckbill-like snout adapted for deep-water feeding, to the national database.
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BEFORE: EEZ biodiversity assessments were heavily skewed towards commercially viable fisheries. NOW: There is an expanding scientific framework that actively catalogs non-commercial, deep-sea benthic and demersal species to assess overall oceanic ecological health.

Prelims Angle

NCERT Connection

This discovery directly connects to Class 11 Geography Chapter 13 - 'Water (Oceans)'. It serves as a real-world application of oceanic depth profiling, demonstrating how physical characteristics like pressure, temperature, and light penetration in deeper oceanic layers drive unique evolutionary adaptations (such as the duckbill snout) in benthic zone organisms.

Practice Questions

Q1

Correct Statement(s)

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the newly discovered Facciolella smithi and its exploring agency?

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