Aenigmachanna gollum

It belongs to an old family of fish, called dragon snakeheads

• It belongs to an old family of fish, called dragon snakeheads.
• The researchers say that the area where Aenigmachanna was collected is part of the Western Ghats – Sri Lanka Hotspot — which is among the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world.
• It looks like a dragon, swims like an eel, and has remained hidden for a hundred million years.
• It lives in underground aquifers.
• The name has been inspired from the character Gollum, who always stays underground, in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’.
• It has been spotted recently in Kerala.
• The scientists came to know about the fish through social media in 2018.
• It is assumed that they originated in the Gondwanalandwhich later split into the continents of Asia and Africa.