Gymnothorax andamanensis sp. nov., a new short brown moray eel, is described here on the basis of two specimens collected from Port Mout, Port Blair, South Andaman (11.659327°N; 92.696148°E), caught using baited hand-lines in a sandy habitat at a depth of less than 2 m. The species is characterized in having the dorsal-fin origin before the gill opening, pre-anal length 2.1–2.2, jaw pores with black rim, two branchial pores, predorsal vertebrae 3, preanal vertebrae 57 and total vertebrae 135–136, teeth smooth, three large fang-like median intermaxillary teeth, biserial maxillary and uniserial vomerine teeth, and dentary teeth biserial with two teeth in each side in the second row of the dentary. The new species is compared with all 10 short brown unpatterned moray eels known from the world and two from Indian waters.

Ophichthus chilkensis Chaudhuri, 1916 has long been treated as a synonym of Pisodonophis cancrivorus (Richardson, 1848). O. chilkensis is hereby re-described on the basis of holotype from Chilika Lake, Odisha as well as ten fresh specimens from Talsari, Balasore district, Odisha and Digha, West Bengal. The present study confirms it belonging to the genus Ophichthus and resurrected as a valid species from the east coast of India. It is compared with its closest congener species, particularly with Ophichthus microcephalus Day, 1878, known from India.

Morphological characters and distribution pattern of the snake eel, Bascanichthys deraniyagalai is debatable during the past half-century. Thus, the species is re-described herewith by morphometry, vertebrae, and molecular data. In recent Chilika expedition in India, we have collected 10 specimens and observed a vertebral count dimorphism. The present study distinctly detected two vertebral groups of B. deraniyagalai: first group with 5 predorsal vertebrae, 81-83 preanal vertebrae, 190-196 total vertebrae in females; however, the sex of the second group with 5 predorsal vertebrae, 72-74 preanal vertebrae, 176-178 total vertebrae was not able to confirm. Further, the molecular data of morphologically identified two distinct groups of B. deraniyagalai shows negligible Kimura 2 parameter genetic divergence and cohesive clustering in Neighbor-Joining phylogeny proved to be the two different morphs of the same species. Hence, the present study indicated there might be vertebral count or sexual dimorphism in B. deraniyagalai, which need further sampling and taxonomic revision to unwrap the fact. ARTICLE HISTORY

A new species Rhynchoconger randalli sp. nov. is described herein on the basis of 2 specimens collected from Paradeep fishing harbor, Odisha, India along the Bay of Bengal from a depth of about 36–40 meters. The pentagonal vomerine teeth pattern is unique among all the Rhynchoconger species described to date. The new species is characterized by predorsal vertebrae 7–8 and preanal vertebrae 29–31. The new species closely resembles the recently described Rhynchoconger smithi, but differs in having a larger eye diameter (12.5‒12.9% HL vs. 9.5‒9.7% in R. smithi), smaller interorbital space (13.1‒13.5% HL vs. 15.0‒18.1 in R. smithi), lower dorsal-fin ray count before vent 44‒47 vs. 54‒58 in R. smithi, and unique pentagonal vomerine teeth pattern.

Gymnothorax pseudotile sp. nov., is described based on nine specimens (337–503 TL) collected from the northern Bay of Bengal. The species has intermaxillary teeth in three longitudinal rows, consisting of a median row of three depressible fang-like teeth and a single row of 6 teeth on each side; dorsal-fin origin above the posterior half of the gill opening; both dorsal and anal fin low with pale margin; predorsal vertebrae 12–13, preanal vertebrae 56–59, total vertebrae 126–129 (MVF: 13-58-128). The closely-related Gymnothorax tile, for which a brief description is included, can be differentiated from the new species by having teeth moderately stout, intermaxillary teeth in 5 rows; dorsal-fin origin over or slightly before the gill opening; dorsal and anal fins high with a pale margin, and predorsal vertebrae 9–11.