Iran. J. Ichthyol. (September 2017), 4(3): 299-304 Received: February 27, 2017 © 2017 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Accepted: September 15, 2017 P-ISSN: 2383-1561; E-ISSN: 2383-0964 doi: 10.22034/iji.v4i3.21102.015 http://www.ijichthyol.org

Short Communication

First record of Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829) from West Bengal, North-East coast of India (Teleostei: Platycephalidae)

Bijay Kali MAHAPATRA*, Alakesh PRADHAN, Debarghya MAJI, Shreya BHATTACHARYA

ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Kolkata Centre, 32 GN Block, Sector-V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700091, West Bengal, India. * Email: [email protected]

Abstract: Spiny whitefin flathead is a minor or less commercially important bycatch trawl landing of India. Although it does not participate in the high commercially important category of landings of the country but has both food and ornamental value. The availability of the species can give an opportunity to utilize it as one of the important marine ornamental fish genetic resource of India. In the present study, the occurrence of Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829), is reported from Digha Mohana, North-east coast of India based on three specimens and its detailed morphometric and meristic characteristics are provided. Keywords: Occurrence, Spiny whitefin flathead, Morphology, Indian Ocean. Citation: Mahapatra, B.K.; Pradhan, A.; Maji, D. & Bhattacharya, S. 2017. First record of Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829) from West Bengal, North-East coast of India (Teleostei: Platycephalidae). Iranian Journal of Ichthyology 4(3): 299-304.

Introduction Indian Seas. Some species contribute significantly to Spiny flathead fish belongs to the family the fish catches especially along the southwest coast Platycephalidae (flatheads or crocodile fishes) under of India. There are several documentations, reports the Order Scorpaeniformes and represents an and studies carried out so far on icthyofaunal interesting and large diverse order of marine habitat diversity of West Bengal (Manna & Goswami 1985; having 41 families, 398 genera and 2092 species Goswami 1992; Talwar et al. 1992; Chatterjee et al. globally (Nelson et al. 2016). The fishes of the family 2000; Das et al. 2007; Sanyal et al. 2012; Platycephalidae are distributed throughout the Venkataraman et al. 2012; Yennawar et al. 2013; tropical Indo-West Pacific region. In Indian coast Yennawar et al. 2015; Mahapatra & Pradhan 2016; only 6 genera are available viz. Platycephalus, Pradhan & Mahapatra 2017) which did not account Rogadius, Wakiyus, Thysanophry, Gramnoplites and the occurrence of Spiny whitefin flathead. During Suggrundu with 14 species. Day (1878) recorded institutional survey around Digha coast, authors seven species from the coasts of India and Ceylon. collected 3 indivituals of fish identified as Munro (1955) recorded eight species from Ceylon Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829). The and de Beaufort & Briggs (1962) described eight present paper reports new distribution record of the species as occurring in Indian Seas. Rao (1964) fish in the coastal waters of West Bengal. described a new species from Visakhapatnam. Murty (1968); George (1970) and Jones & Kumaran (1971) Materials and Methods reported one species each as new records from the Three specimens of K. rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829),

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Fig.1. Spiny whitefin flathead, Kumococius rodericensis, (CIFE/KOL/MW/0233) (SL: 142.36mm).

(SL: 120.39-142.36mm) were collected from the sea ridges on either side of the median line between beach of Digha Mohana (21.6302°N, 87.5432°E), nostrils extend front nasal spines to the beginning of West Bengal, India which were captured by using interorbital space. Preocular with one spine. shore seine. Photographs were taken on the field in Supraorbital ridge spiny, with 6 spines of which the fresh condition and specimens were preserved in last I -2 spines are smaller in size; superior postorbital 10% formaldehyde solution. The specimens were ridge with 2 spines and inferior postorbital with 4 catalogued as CIFE/KOL/MW/0233 (Fig. 1) and spines, the last one at the starting of lateral line. Teeth deposited in the Fish Museum of the ICAR-Central in jaws are villiform and arrange in several rows, Institute of Fisheries Education, Kolkata Centre, Salt those in the inner most row near maxillary Lake, West Bengal. symphysis; teeth in lower jaw are pointed and directed inwards; on vomer they are pointed and Results and Discussion arranged in two patches and on palatines they are The specimens thus obtained has been identified as pointed and arranged in longitudinal band. Two K. rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829) and the distinguishing dorsal fins. First dorsal spine shortest and third spine characters of the specimen are described hereafter. longest. Pectoral fin rounded with a falcate posterior Description: D. IX, 11; A. 11; P. 18; V. I-5; C. 14; margin. Pelvic fin reaches to the anal fin origin. Ll. 54-56; L.tr. 18-20 Lateral line scales ctenoid with 54-56 scales. As percent of standard length: Head 28.56-33.52 Colour: Body and head dark brown above, white (29.6); depth 7.69-8.52 (8.1); predorsal 29.09-32.22 below with two dark bands. One or two black spots (30.9); first dorsal base 17.79-20.91 (19.2); second on the interspinous membrane of the first dorsal. dorsal base 27.39-28.41 (28.1); anal 31.22-32.38 Each ray of the second dorsal fin with 2-3 black (31.3); pectoral 14.83-17.04 (15.8); pelvic 14.37- spots. Pectoral dark, pelvic blackish yellow, fin 16.63 (15.96); caudal peduncle 2.65-3.55 (3.12). membrane with black spots. Anal fin white in colour As percent of head length: Head width 39.57-51.06 and caudal dark. (45.7); eye 10.71-14.19 (12.4); snout 20.38-22.95 Distribution: Members of the family have tropical (21.9); interorbital 5.70-6.02 (5.9). distribution and occur in demersal waters. They bury Body sub-cylindrical, head moderately their body in the sandy or muddy bottoms along the depressed, side of head bicarinate; interorbital space continental shelf, do occur in estuarine and coastal concave. Anterior nostril with a flap. Two nasal region at the depth of 6-75m (Knapp 1999), and spines between anterior pair of nostrils. 1-2 serrated occasionally found in 130 m depth (Froese & Pauly 300 Mahapatra et al.- First record of Kumococius rodericensis

Table 1. Morphometric (in mm) and meristic counts of Kumococius rodericensis (n=3), collected from Digha fish landing center

Morphometric variables Measurement (mm) Standard length (SL) 120.30-142.36 % SL Body depth (BD) 7.69-8.52 Head length (HL) 28.56-33.52 Head width (HW) 13.27-14.58 Intra orbital length (IOD) 1.72-1.91 Snout length (SnoL) 6.55-6.83 Opercular long spine length (OLSL) 1.85-2.08 Eye diameter (ED) 3.59-4.05 Lower jaw length (LJL) 4.79-4.90 Upper jaw length (UJL) 3.81-4.52 Pre Orbital length (POL) 8.67-8.75 Pre Dorsal length (PDL) 29.09-32.22 Dorsal fin length 1st 17.79-20.91 Dorsal fin length 2nd 27.39-28.41 Pectoral fin length (PFL) 14.83-17.04 Pelvic fin length (PVL) 14.37-16.63 Anal fin length (AFL) 31.22-32.38 Caudal fin length (CFL) 12.09-13.27 Caudal base length (CBL) 2.25-2.51 Caudal Peduncle length (CPL) 2.65-3.55 % HL Head width (HW) 39.57-51.06 Eye diameter (ED) 10.71-14.19 Intra orbital length (IOD) 5.70-6.02 Snout length (SnoL) 20.38-22.95 Opercular long spine length (OLSL) 6.20-6.49 Meristic counts Dorsal fin count IX + 11 Anal fin count 11 Pelvic fin count I + 5 Pectoral fin count 18 Caudal fin count 14 Lateral line scale 54-56 Lateral line transverse scale 18-20

2016). Therefore, they are rarely taken by beach Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Disputed Territory seines during day time and usually caught by bottom (Paracel Island; Spratly Island), Indonesia, Iran, trawls. They are distributed in Indo-West Pacific: Islamic Republic of Iraq, Korea, Republic of Kuwait, mainly from the Persian Gulf (Randall 1995). Malaysia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kumococius rodericensis is native to the Western Aden, Chagos Archipelago, Indonesia, Myanmar, Indian Ocean and continental shelf of northern Great Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Reunion, Barrier Reef and Torres Strait, Queensland. Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Widespread internationally from Mascarenes to the Province of China, Ryukyu Islands, Mariana and Philippines, north to southern Japan, south to Marshall islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United northern Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Arab Emirates, Viet Nam, New Caledonia Fiji and

301 Iran. J. Ichthyol. (September 2017), 4(3): 299-304

India (Kapoor et al. 2002). From Indian waters, the Das, P.; De, S.P.; Bhowmik, R.M.; Pandit, P.K.; species is reported from East Coast of India-Orissa: Sengupta, R.; Nandi, A.C.; Thakurta, S.C. & Saha, S. Chilika (Barman et al. 2007; CDA 2014; Mohapatra 2007. Piscine diversity of West Bengal. Fishing et al. 2014), Andhra Pradesh (Murty et al. 2017), Chimes 27(5): 15-28. Tamil Nadu (Joshi et al. 2016); West Coast of India- Day, F. 1878. The Fishes of India. The Fauna of British India. Including Ceylon and Burma Fishes, Barnard Karnataka, Kerala (Bijukumar & Raghavan 2015); Quaritch, London 2: 274-278. Indian Union Territory-Andaman Island (Rajan et al. Froese, R. & Pauly, D. 2016. FishBase. World Wide Web 2011). electronic publication.www.fishbase.org, version Conservation status: Kumococius rodericensis seems (06/2016). to be comparatively rare, and little is known about its George, K.C. 1970. Note on two species of flatheads’ population status. Oceanographic data suggests that a Platycephalidae: Pisces) from the trawl grounds of the rescue effect through the Strait of Hormuz is southwest coast of India. Journal of the Marine negligible. There are no known major threats and Biological Association of India 10(2): 187-196. species-specific conservation measures to Goswami, B.C.B. 1992. Marine fauna of Digha coast of K. rodericensis. However, there are several marine West Bengal, India. Journal of the Marine Biological protected areas within its distribution. The whitefin Association of India 34(1-2):115-137. Jones, S. & Kumaran, M. 1971. New records of fishes flathead is listed as Least Concern as per IUCN from the seas around India Journal of the Marine status. For sustainable management of the resources Biological Association of India 12: 187-196. K. rodericensis population status needs to be Joshi, K.K.; Sreeram, M.P.; Zacharia, P.U.; Abdussamad, determined and more species-specific accounts of E.M.; Varghese, M.; Mohammed Habeeb, O.M.M. J.; landings are needed in order to determine if the rate Jayabalan, K.; Kanthan, K.P.; Kannan, K.; Sreekumar, of exploitation for K. rodericensis is within a K.M.; George, G. & Varsha, M.S. 2016. Check list of manageable level to sustain the population. fishes of the Gulf of Mannar ecosystem, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of Acknowledgments India 58(1): 34-54. Authors are very thankful to the Director, ICAR- Knapp, L.W. 1999. Platycephalidae. Flatheads. In: K.E. CIFE, for providing necessary facilities to carry out Carpenter, V.H. Niem (Eds.), FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living the works. marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to References Carangidae). FAO, Rome. pp: 2385-2421. Barman, R.P.; Mishra, S.S.; Kar, S.; Mukherjee, P. & Kapoor, D., Dayal R. & Ponniah, A.G. 2002. Fish Saren, S.C. 2007. Marine and estuarine fish fauna of biodiversity of India. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Orissa. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 260: Resources Lucknow, India. 775 p. 1-186. Mahapatra, B.K. & Pradhan, A. 2016. Range extension Bijukumar, A. & Raghavan, R. 2015. A checklist of and first report of the fish Lagocephalus inermis Fishes of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) from Digha, 7(13): 8036-8080. Northeast Coast of India. Cuadernos de Investigación Chatterjee, T.K.; Ramakrishna Talukdar, S. & Mukherjee, UNED (ISSN: 1659-4266) 8(2): 201-205. A.K. 2000. Fish and Fisheries of Digha coast of West Manna, B. & Goswami, B.C.B. 1980. A checklist of Bengal, Records of the Zoological Survey of India, marine & estuarine fishes of Digha, West Bengal, 188: 1-87. India. Mahasagar 18(4): 489-499. Chilika Development Authority, 2014. Fishes of Lake Mohapatra, A.; Mohanty, S.K. & Mishra S.S. 2014. Fish Chilika. Letter from S.K. Mohanty, Fishery consultant. and Shellfish Fauna of Chilika Lagoon: An Updated Chilika Development Authority. 302 Mahapatra et al.- First record of Kumococius rodericensis

Checklist. In: Marine Faunal Diversity in India. Venkataraman, K.; Rajkumar R.; Satyanarayana, Ch.; Elsevier; 195-222. Raghunathan, C. & Venkatraman, C. 2012. Marine Munro, I.S.R. 1955. The Marine and freshwater fishes of Ecosystems and Marine Protected Areas of India: Ceylon.1-349. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata). 296 p. Murty, V.S. 1968. On some interesting and new records of marine fishes from India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 10(1): 126-132. Murty, V.S. & Manikyam, Y. 2007. Taxonomic revision of the flatheads (Platycephalidae: Pisces) of India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 259: 1-100. Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C. & Wilson, M.V.H. 2016. Fishes of the World. Fifth Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 707 p. Pradhan, A. & Mahapatra, B.K. 2017. First record of the Two-Spot Razorfish, Iniistius bimaculatus (Perciformes: Labridae) from Digha, North-East Coast of India. Cuademos de Investigacion UNED (ISSN: 1659-4266) 9(1):115-118. Rajan, P.T.; Sreeraj, C.R. & Immanuel, T. 2011. Fish fauna of coral reef, mangrove, freshwater, offshore and seagrass beds of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Zoological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Haddo, Port Blair. Randall, J.E. 1995. Coastal fishes of Oman. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 439 p. Rao, V. V. 1964. Platycephalus bengalensis sp. nov. from Bay of Bengal. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser.13, 9:123-127. Sanyal, A.K.; Alfred, J.R.B.; Venkataraman, K.; Tiwari, S.K. & Mitra, S. 2012. Status of biodiversity of west Bengal, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. 969 p. Talwar, P.K. & Kacker, R.K. 1984. Commercial Sea Fishes of India. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta 997 p. Talwar, P.K.; Mukherjee, P.; Saha, D.; Paul, S.N. & Kar, S. 1992. Marine and estuarine fishes, In: Fauna of West Bengal State Fauna Series, 3 (Part-2): 243-342. Yennawar, P.; Tudu, P.; Ray, D. & Mohapatra, A. 2013. New records of two reef fishes Gymnothorax reticularis, Bloch, 1795 (Family: Muraenidae) and Scarus ghobban, Forsskal, 1775 (Family: Scaridae) from West Bengal coast, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India: 113(Part-1): 129-135. Yennawar, P.; Mohapatra, A.; Ray D. & Tudu P. 2015. Ichthyofauna of Digha Coast, India. In: Marine Faunal Diversity of India, Elsevier. pp: 235-248.

303 Iran. J. Ichthyol. (September 2017), 4(3): 299–304 Received: February 27, 2017 © 2016 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Accepted: September 15, 2017 P-ISSN: 2383-1561; E-ISSN: 2383-0964 doi: 10.22034/iji.v4i3.21102 http://www.ijichthyol.org

یافته علمی کوتاه اولین گزارش (Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829 از بنگال غربی، سواحل شمال شرقی هند )ماهیان استخوانی عالی: سرپهن ماهیان(

بیجای کالی ماهاپاترا*، آالکش پرادان، دبارقیا ماجی، شریا باتتاچاریا ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Kolkata Centre, 32 GN Block, Sector-V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700091, West Bengal, India

چکیده: گرچه ماهی سرپهن باله سفید در دسته ماهیان تجاری خیلی مهم هند قرار نمیگیرد، اما از نظر خوراکی و تزیینی حائز اهمیت است. در این مطالعه ، حضور ماهی (Kumococius rodericensis (Cuvier, 1829 در سواحل شمال شرقی هند گزارش شده و ویژگی های ریختی و شمارشی سه نمونه صید شده، ارائه می گردد. کلماتکلیدی: حضور، ماهی سرپهن باله سفید، ریختشناسی، اقیانوس هند.

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