New genus of aquatic animals discovered in Thailand's Songkhla Lake

BANGKOK, October 3 (TNA) - Researchers at Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai of Thailand's southern Songkhla province have discovered a new genus of small animals deep in the Songkhla Lake, having named after the place of discovery and acknowledged by experts in many countries for its ecological values despite its handful amount. Professor Dr. Saowapa Angsupanich , an academic at the Aquatic Science Department of Prince of Songkla University's Faculty of Natural Resources, announced on Wednesday that the new genus has now been named "Birdotanais Songkhlaensis". Professor Dr. Saowapa said that an animal of the genus is about two millimeters long and lives 70 centimeters deep in clay sediment in the lower part of the Songkhla Lake close to its estuary, and that such the animals are found in the salinity of 30 permille. According to the academic, Birdotanais Songkhlaensis is in Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Crustacea, Order Tanaidacea and Family Nototanaidae. The genus is named after Dr. Graham Bird, an expert in this field who gave useful recommendations for the classification. The species is named after the place of discovery, the Songkhla Lake.” The academic explained that there was a small number of the newly discovered animals and they were found in deep sections of the lake, showing that the edge of the lake cannot be the habitat of the animals, and that aquatic animals living deep in the lake are the food of other animals which are then eaten by humans. The academic acknowledged that the aquatic animals help eradicate organic sediment by eating it and, thus, reducing pollution in the clay sediment of the lake, and that the animals also help aerate and replace water under sediment because they dig sediment, which facilitates the decay of organic substances eaten by aerobic microbes; so, reducing hydrogen sulfide which harms aquatic animals. The animals living on the Songkhla Lake bed also help filter water in the lake. Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and environment has vowed to keep conserving and rehabilitating natural resources and the environment, particularly forests and wildlife. (TNA)