An international team of researchers has made an unusual discovery: a new species of rare fish living in underground aquifers was found thanks to a TikTok video. The find was made in the state of Bihar in northern India, near the border with Nepal, reports the website infohub.kz.
The story began in 2024 when scientists saw a TikTok video of a tiny fish that flew out of a water well. This prompted biologists from the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation in Mumbai, Shivaji University, and the Zoological Survey of India to travel to Bihar to search for specimens.
The researchers had to obtain permission from pump owners and manually pump out thousands of liters of water. After pumping 2,000 liters, the first damaged fish flew out of the column, and after another 500 liters, an intact specimen was retrieved.
The new species has been named Gangaichthys indonepalicus. The fish, about four centimeters long, is fully adapted to life in darkness: it is transparent, lacks pigmentation, has no ribs, and its eyes are hidden under the skin. Analyses confirmed that the specimen belongs to a new genus of the family Chaudhuriidae.
This is the first such subterranean creature found in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Scientists hope that the find will help in the study of hidden bioresources in the region.