Velankanni in Tamil Nadu has thrown up a new species of small freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae. The silver-hued fish has been christened Puntius sanctus — ‘sanctus’ is Latin for holy — after the popular pilgrim town.

The fish has been identified and named by Mathews Plamoottil, head of the Department of Zoology, BJM Government College, Chavara, in Kollam. His research was funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board of the Department of Science and Technology. Bioscience Research has published an article on the discovery.

The new fish is now deposited in Government of India museum (Zoological Survey of India) at Pune. It has also been registered with ZooBank of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, the official authority for naming animals.