Species Taxonomy-
The gharial is taxonomically classified under:
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Crocodylia Family: Gavialidae Genus: Gavialis Species: gangeticus
The Indian gharial is also known as the gharial, fish-eating crocodile, Indian gavial, gavial, and long-nose crocodile. The name gharial is derived from the Hindi work “ghara” which means pot and refers to the bulb on the end of the crocodile’s snout. There are no taxonomic discrepancies with this species. It is the oldest species of the Order Crocodylia and is the only extant species in the family Gavialidae. Recently genetic studies have shown the false gharial, Tomistoma schlegelii, should be in the Gavialidae family instead of the current classification in the Crocodylidae family. …show more content…
The males grow to more than 6 meters and the females grow to over 4 meters. They have a characteristically long snout, and the males have a prominent large bulb, called the ghara, on the end. The ghara on the male is made of cartilage. This bulb makes sexing very easy in this species because females do not have a bulb or the bulb is considerably less prominent. They are the only crocodilian out of the 23 species with sexual dimorphism. Gharials have 106 to 110 teeth that are specifically adapted to catch slippery freshwater fish. These teeth include 5 pre-maxillary, 23 to 24 maxillary, and 25 to 26 mandibular. To facilitate their aquatic lifestyle, the gharials have extensively webbed feet. Their legs do not have the musculature to support their body weight on land. Thus, they have thick epidermal scales that do not overlap to aid in sliding on land. Adults have dark green and brown coloring with a white colored underbelly. The juvenile gharials have a gray-brown coloring with five irregular distinguishing dark bands on the body and nine on the tail that fade when they mature. (Singaravelan,
The gharial is taxonomically classified under:
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Crocodylia Family: Gavialidae Genus: Gavialis Species: gangeticus
The Indian gharial is also known as the gharial, fish-eating crocodile, Indian gavial, gavial, and long-nose crocodile. The name gharial is derived from the Hindi work “ghara” which means pot and refers to the bulb on the end of the crocodile’s snout. There are no taxonomic discrepancies with this species. It is the oldest species of the Order Crocodylia and is the only extant species in the family Gavialidae. Recently genetic studies have shown the false gharial, Tomistoma schlegelii, should be in the Gavialidae family instead of the current classification in the Crocodylidae family. …show more content…
The males grow to more than 6 meters and the females grow to over 4 meters. They have a characteristically long snout, and the males have a prominent large bulb, called the ghara, on the end. The ghara on the male is made of cartilage. This bulb makes sexing very easy in this species because females do not have a bulb or the bulb is considerably less prominent. They are the only crocodilian out of the 23 species with sexual dimorphism. Gharials have 106 to 110 teeth that are specifically adapted to catch slippery freshwater fish. These teeth include 5 pre-maxillary, 23 to 24 maxillary, and 25 to 26 mandibular. To facilitate their aquatic lifestyle, the gharials have extensively webbed feet. Their legs do not have the musculature to support their body weight on land. Thus, they have thick epidermal scales that do not overlap to aid in sliding on land. Adults have dark green and brown coloring with a white colored underbelly. The juvenile gharials have a gray-brown coloring with five irregular distinguishing dark bands on the body and nine on the tail that fade when they mature. (Singaravelan,