New Record of Monopterus albus (Zuiew, 1793) in Vellayani Fresh Water Lake, Kerala, Southwest Coast of India

The Asian swamp eel is a commercially important, air-breathing, freshwater eel-like fish belonging to the family Synbranchidae. It originating in the waters of East and Southeast Asia and has been identified as an invasive species in the North American Everglades. Vellayani Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Thiruvananthapuram district, and is the second largest fresh water lake in Kerala. About 42 species of freshwater fishes have been documented from the lake by various authors, primarily from the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala. A report on the occurrence of the Asian swamp eel, Monopterus albus (Zuiew, 1793), from this lake is presented in this paper. Morphological study (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) was used for the fish identification.