Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences Vol. 50 (02), February 2021, pp. 156-160 Short Communication An account on the morphological complexities in identification between the two species 4,6 identification and molecular confirmation of A. berda and A. latus have been resolved . Acanthopagrus berda (Forsskal, 1775) from Peters (1855) proposed genus Acanthopagrus as a subgenus of Chrysophrys. There are currently 20 Malabar Coast, Kerala, India recognized species in Acanthopagrus genus4. Acanthopagrus species are high valued fishes that are M T Shilta*,a, P P Suresh Babub, K Vinoda, P K Asokana, S c c caught commercially using hook and line, stake nets, fish Sukumaran & I Joseph a traps, fish pots and trawl nets. They are also targeted in Calicut Regional Station of ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries the recreational fishery, which is becoming increasingly Research Institute, Calicut – 673 005, India popular7. Smith & Smith8 synonymized Chrysophrys bKarwar Regional Station of ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Karwar – 581 301, India vagus Peters, 1852 as Acanthopagrus berda. cICAR- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, The picnic seabream or river bream, Acanthopagrus Kerala – 682 018, India berda (Forsskål, 1775) is globally considered as one of *[E-mail: [email protected]] the prominent sparid fish in commercial fisheries and aquaculture9 because of its high recreational and Received 25 September 2019; revised 18 September 2020 economic value, market acceptance, good quality meat, Family Sparidae is represented by ten species in Indian waters disease resistance, tolerance to sudden variations in of which genus Acanthopagrus encompass three species namely, temperature and salinity, quick adaptation to captive Acanthopagrus berda, A. latus and A. bifasciatus. Present study conditions and fast growth rate. A. berda is an estuary- reveals regular catch of A. berda in different parts of Malabar dependent sea bream with a very wide distributional coast, Kerala from Korapuzha, Kadalundi and Moorad estuaries range throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific and through conventional taxonomic as well as modern molecular 10 approaches, the availability of A. berda at Malabar coast has been region , occurring from South Africa to India and confirmed. Scientific reports regarding the geographic distribution extending to Japan, the East Indies and Northern of A. berda along the Indian coast are sparsely available. Australia6. In India, a rare occurrence of A. berda from Previously, rare occurrence of A. berda has been reported from South east coast (Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh) has South east coast (Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh) of India. been reported11. Till date, only sparse scientific reports [Keywords: Acanthopagrus berda, DNA barcoding, India, are available on the distribution of this species in Kerala, Meristic, Morphometry] Indian waters. Due to similarity in the morphological features, Introduction species characterization is more complicated in Seabreams commonly known as porgies belongs to closely related genera like Acanthopagrus and the family Sparidae and are widely distributed in Sparidentex12. A number of Acanthopagrus species tropical and temperate seas. Most of the Sparidae such as A. akazakii13, A. taiwanensis14, A. omanensis6 fishes are commercially important and they play an and A. pacificus12 have been described as new species major role in artisanal fisheries, industrial fisheries, (initially described as A. berda) collected from 1,2 sport-fishing as well as in aquaculture . Since the different waters. sparid fishes have excellent taste, they fetch high Species identification is one of the important 2 prices in local/domestic and international markets . prerequisites for any biological research programme At present, more than 139 Sparidae species especially for biodiversity and conservation studies15. 3 belonging to 36 genera are recognized . The The current research was an attempt to confirm the complexity in species identification in family identity of A. berda in Malabar coast through both Sparidae has resulted in addition of many more conventional taxonomic and modern molecular species with new descriptions after thorough approaches so that further studies on biology, 4 investigation . The major species complexes are reproduction and standardization of breeding found in the genus Acanthopagrus, which has been programme of the species can be carried out with 5 divided into six morphological forms . Recently the this species. SHILTA et al.: REPORT ON ACANTHOPAGRUS BERDA FROM KERALA, INDIA 157 Materials and Methods of the species, fish muscle tissue (approximately Korapuzha is a short river of 40 km, with a 0.1 g) was preserved in absolute ethanol at 4 °C drainage area of 624 km2, flowing through for DNA analysis. Molecular analysis was carried the Kozhikode district of Kerala state in India. out at the Marine Biotechnology Division of Thirty specimens of A. berda were caught from ICAR-CMFRI, Cochin. The standard Korapuzha estuary (11°39.858 N and 75°74.294 E) phenol/chloroform extraction protocol was used (Fig. 1) using cast net operated at 10 m depth for carrying out the DNA extraction. Using a during November to December 2015 and universal primer, 650 bp region of the Cytochrome were brought to Calicut Regional Station of ICAR- C oxidase 1 was amplified employing a Biorad Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute T100 Thermocycler (Biorad, USA) following (CMFRI). The morphometric characters of standard protocol18. The PCR products were then the specimen were measured using a scale of sequenced with the primers using the BigDye 1 mm accuracy. The preservation of collected Terminator Sequencing Ready Reaction v3.0 kit specimens were done using 4 % formaldehyde and (Applied Biosystems, USA). The partial sequence representative samples were deposited in of Acanthopagrus berda CO1 was deposited in the Natural History Museum of Western Ghat NCBI, GenBank with the accession no: Regional Centre (WGRC) of Zoological Survey KY615237. The revised sequences were compared of India at Calicut (Accession no. to reference sequences in the GenBank database ZSI/WGRC/IR.V.3005). for species identification using the BLAST For species identification based on traditional algorithm (http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/ methods, counts and measurements were taken genbank/). 16 following Hubbs & Lagler and the identification was carried out according to FAO Fish Results and Discussion 17 Identification sheets . For molecular confirmation Morphometric measurements and meristic counts of 30 A. berda samples collected from Korapuzha, Calicut, India (Fig. 2) are given in Table 1. The prominent characters observed in the specimens were as follows: Body fairly deep and compressed with a pointed snout; 4-6 large compressed teeth in front followed by 3-5 rows of molar teeth in both upper and lower jaws. Gill raker count of first gill arch includes 6-8 on upper limb; 1 in the middle; and 7-9 on the lower limb. Single dorsal fin with 11 spines (broad and narrow spines arranged alternately with 4th, 5th and 6th spines longest) followed by 11 to 12 soft rays. Fig. 2 — Acanthopagrus berda (Standard length: 28 cm) Fig. 1 — Location map showing the sampling area specimen collected from Korapuzha estuary 158 INDIAN J GEO-MAR SCI, VOL 50, NO 02, FEBRUARY 2021 Table 1 — Morphometric and meristic counts of Acanthopagrus Pelvic fin with a single strong spine followed by five berda collected from Korapuzha estuary, Calicut, Kerala (n = 30) soft rays along with long pelvic axillary process. Anal Characters Counts fin consist of three spines (first anal spine shorter than Dorsal-fin rays XI, 11- 12 eye diameter, second anal spine longer than the third) Anal-fin rays III, 9-10 followed by 9 to 10 soft rays. Slightly forked round Pectoral-fin rays 15 lobed caudal fin. Large scales, 43-45 scales in lateral Pelvic-fin rays I,5 line; 31/2 scale rows between 5th dorsal spine base and Pored lateral-line scales 43-45 lateral line and 31/2 to 4 scale rows between 9th dorsal Scale rows between fifth dorsal-fin spine 3 ½ spine base and lateral line. Dark silver or grey colour base and lateral-line body with silvery reflections; darker shade on the Scale rows between ninth dorsal-fin spine 3 ½-4 base and lateral-line upper part of the body, base of scales and along the Scale rows above/below lateral-line 11-15 opercle edge. Soft dorsal, anal and pelvic fins black; Scale rows on cheek 4-5 dorsal spines often silvery with dark edges; pectoral Scale rows on opercle 4-5 fin with yellow shade at tinge and caudal fin with Gill-rakers (upper +angle+lower) 6-8+1+7-9 dark grey shading. Standard length (mm) 184 (111-280) The morphometric and meristic characters match As % of Standard length Average (Range) with the characters given in FAO fish identification Body depth (highest) 49 (36-59) 17 Body depth at first anal-fin spine origin 42 (30-62) sheets . A. berda reported from the Red Sea (Yemen) Head length 30 (23-36) were characterized by fairly deep body with silvery- 1/2 Body width at pectoral-fin base 31 (24-39) grey colour; anal fin rays rounded posteriorly; 3 Snout length 10 (6-14) scale rows between the middle dorsal fin spine base Orbit diameter 8 (6-11) and the lateral line8,19. One of the unique character Bony inter-orbital width 11 (6-15) observed in the holotype of A. berda collected from Inter-orbital width with membrane 11 (8-15) the Indo-Pacific were the presence of a strong Upper jaw length 9 (6-11) concavity above the posterior end of the maxilla, on Caudal peduncle depth 14 (8-24) the ventral edge of the first two infra-orbitals. Caudal peduncle length 17 (11-26) 6 Pre-dorsal length 32 (23-42) Iwatsuki & Heemstra also reported that in A. berda, Pre-anal length 66 (51-88) specimens over 13 cm SL, the strongly curved Pre-pelvic length 37 (30-54) concavity above the posterior end of the maxilla were Dorsal fin base length 56 (45-65) particularly obvious.