Zootaxa 3857 (1): 071–100 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3857.1.3 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A26948F7-39C6-4858-B7FD-380E12F9BD34 The sparid fishes of Pakistan, with new distribution records PIRZADA JAMAL SIDDIQUI1, SHABIR ALI AMIR1, 2 & RAFAQAT MASROOR2 1Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan 2Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Garden Avenue, Shakarparian, Islamabad–44000, Pakistan Corresponding author Shabir Ali Amir, email:
[email protected] Abstract The family sparidae is represented in Pakistan by 14 species belonging to eight genera: the genus Acanthopagrus with four species, A. berda, A. arabicus, A. sheim, and A. catenula; Rhabdosargus, Sparidentex and Diplodus are each represented by two species, R. sarba and R. haffara, Sparidentex hasta and S. jamalensis, and Diplodus capensis and D. omanensis, and the remaining four genera are represented by single species, Crenidens indicus, Argyrops spinifer, Pagellus affinis, and Cheimerius nufar. Five species, Acanthopagrus arabicus, A. sheim, A. catenula, Diplodus capensis and Rhabdosargus haffara are reported for the first time from Pakistani coastal waters. The Arabian Yellowfin Seabream Acanthopagrus ar- abicus and Spotted Yellowfin Seabream Acanthopagrus sheim have only recently been described from Pakistani waters, while Diplodus omanensis and Pagellus affinis are newly identified from Pakistan. Acanthopagrus catenula has long been incorrectly identified as A. bifasciatus, a species which has not been recorded from Pakistan. All species are briefly de- scribed and a key is provided for them. Key words: Acanthopagrus, Rhabdosargus, Sparidentex, Diplodus, Crenidens, Argyrops, Pagellus, Cheimerius, Spari- dae, Karachi, Pakistan Introduction The fishes belonging to family Sparidae, commonly known as porgies and seabreams, are widely distributed in tropical to temperate seas (Froese & Pauly, 2013).