Macrognathus aral

{{Short description|Species of fish}}

{{Speciesbox

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Vishwanath, W. |date=2010 |title=Macrognathus aral |volume=2010 |page=e.T12596A3363924 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T12596A3363924.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}

| image = Macrognathus aral.jpg

| taxon = Macrognathus aral

| authority = (Bloch & J.G Schneider, 1801)

| synonyms = *Rhynchobdella aral Bloch & Schneider, 1801

• Rhynchobdella dhanashorii Hora, 1921
• Macrognathus jammuensis Malhotra & Singh Dutta, 1975

| synonyms_ref =

}}

Macrognathus aral, the one-stripe spiny eel, is a small fish from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. It usually is found in running and stagnant waters of freshwater and brackish waters. It is {{convert|63.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length.

After mating, eggs are deposited by attaching on to algal masses.{{FishBase species |genus= Macrognathus|species= aral | month = April | year = 2013}}

In 2008, researches showed that what was once considered to be Macrognathus aral in Sri Lanka, is actually a separate species, Macrognathus pentophthalmos.{{cite web|url=http://biodiversityofsrilanka.blogspot.com/p/freshwater-fish-diversity-of-sri-lanka_29.html|title=Biodiversity of Sri Lanka: Freshwater Fish diversity of Sri Lanka|publisher=biodiversityofsrilanka.blogspot.com|accessdate=2015-02-05}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/z01931p048f.pdf|date=12 November 2008|title=Zootaxa, The Sri Lankan spiny eel, Macrognathus pentophthalmos (Teleostei: Mastacembelidae), and its enigmatic decline |vauthors=Pethiyagoda R, etal |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1931.1.3 |issn=1175-5326|accessdate=2015-02-05}}