The interest in fish was my child hood hobby and I had done my UG and PG in fisheries due to deep rooted passion. Later I joined the department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries as project fellow where I stared my journey towards research. Later I was able to work with many giants in the field of taxonomy that added my knowledge to freshwater aquatic diversity. My research passion ended up with good quality research articles in peer reviewed journals, and was also able to describe some animals new to science. I mainly focus on the taxonomy and ecology of freshwater fish, crabs and prawns. I am also interested in invasion biology on which I am pursuing my PhD
Educational qualifications
PhD (Pursuing) Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala,
MSc Zoology, Mahatma Gandhi University 2007
Research Interest
Taxonomy of freshwater fish, crabs and prawns, conservation biology, molecular taxonomy, population genetics, invasion biology.
Selected Publications
1. Smrithy Raj, Biju Kumar. A. and Peter K. L. Ng (2017). A new species of freshwater crab of the genus Oziotelphusa Muller, 1887(Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Gecarcinucidae) from Tamil Nadu, southern India. Zootaxa, 4363 (2): 225-236 (Impact factor: 0.931)
2. Biju Kumar, A., Smrithy Raj and Peter K. L. Ng (2017). Description of a new genus and new species of a fully arboreal crab (Decapoda: Brachyura: Gecarcinucidae) from the Western Ghats, India, with notes on the ecology of arboreal crabs. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 37(2), 157-167, doi:10.1093/jcbiol/rux012. (Impact Factor: 0.922)
3. Pati. S. K., Rajesh L., Smrithy Raj , Sheeja V.U., Biju Kumar A. and Sureshan P.M. (2017) Karkata, a new genus of gecarcinucid freshwater crab with two new species, and four new species of PilartaBahir and Yeo, 2007 and CylindrotelphusaAlcock, 1909 (Decapoda: Brachyura) from Kerala, India, Journal of Natural History, 51:23-24, 1295-1330, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2017.1324054 (Impact Factor: 0.875)
4. Biju Kumar A. and Smrithy Raj (2015) DNA barcoding and invading suckermouthsailfin catfish Pterygoplichthys (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) in India: issues with possible hybrids. Genome Vol. 58, 240. (Impact Factor: 1.356)
5. Bijukumar, A., Smrithy Raj, Sureshkumar U. and George S. (2015). Invasion of South American suckermouth armoured catfishes Pterygoplichthys spp. (Loricariidae) in Kerala, India - a case study. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(3): 6987-6995; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4133.6987-95
Curriculum vitae
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