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Home , Beloniformes, Exocoetus, Exocoetus volitans, Hirundichthys, Mirrorwing flyingfish, Parexocoetus

Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences Vol. 49 (09), September 2020, pp. 1560-1564

First report of five flying fishes (Teleostei: : Exocoetidae) from West Bengal coast

D Raya, Anil Mohapatra*,b & S S Mishrac aBajkul Milani Mahavidyalaya, Kismat Bajkul, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal – 721 655, India bEstuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Ganjam, Odisha – 761 002, India cMarine Fish Section, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata – 700 016, India *[E-mail: [email protected]] Received 19 November 2018; revised 11 November 2019

Flying fishes (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae), a group of interesting marine fishes, having circum-global distribution, till date were represented by only three species in coastal waters of West Bengal, namely, poecilopterus, volitans and erroneously listed brachypterus. The present paper recorded five more flying fishes, viz., intermedius; C. suttoni; C. cyanopterus; Cypselurus naressi and speculiger, with material evidence from West Bengal coast and also confirms occurrence of , recorded earlier. The range extension of these flying fishes may be attributed to exploration of new fishing grounds within the Indian EEZ or even to climate change impact.

[Keywords: Digha, Distribution, , New records]

Introduction Materials and Methods Flying fishes (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae) are The specimens were collected from Digha and known to be prevalent in the epipelagic zone of oceanic Shankarpur coast of West Bengal. Fishes were and inshore waters of tropical and subtropical Pacific, collected mainly from gill nets and trawl nets. The Indian and . The family Exocoetidae local fishermen captured these fishes by gill net with comprises of 71 species under 7 genera1 throughout the mesh size of 3.5 cm. Fresh photographs of the fishes world, while only 18 species of flying fishes belonging were taken before preservation. Measurements were to 6 genera are known from Indian coastal waters2. done by digital calipers with an accuracy of 0.1 mm. Study of marine fishes of West Bengal mostly centered Specimens are deposited in the museum of the Marine on Digha coast and earlier workers have reported only Aquarium and Regional Center, Zoological Survey of two species from this coast3-5. Parexocoetus mento was India in 10 % formaldehyde solution. Species listed from West Bengal as Parexocoetus brachypterus identifications were done following the works of (Richardson)6, but Talwar et al.7 could not find any Parin9 and Barman & Mishra10. flying fish. Recently, Cypselurus poecilopterus was Abbreviations used: D – ; A – Anal fin; P – recorded8 from West Bengal coast. Pectoral fin; V – ; C – Caudal fin; LL – lateral During Local survey around Digha coast of West line scales; SL – standard length; and GR – gill rakers. Bengal the authors collected some flying fishes and Results identified as Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961; Six species of flying fishes, viz., Cheilopogon Cheilopogon suttoni (Whitely & Colefax, 1938); intermedius; C. suttoni; C. cyanopterus; Cypselurus Cheilopogon cyanopterus (Valenciennes, 1846); naressi; Hirundichthys speculiger and Parexocoetus Cypselurus naressi (Gunther, 1889); Hirundichthys mento have been collected from West Bengal coast speculiger (Valenciennes, 1846) and Parexocoetus and their material evidence to record their distribution mento (Valenciennes, 1847). Earlier reports have not along with taxonomic details are given here under- listed these first five species from West Bengal coastal waters and material evidence for Parexocoetus mento. 1. Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961 Hence, the present paper reports these five flying fishes (Intermediate flyingfish) (Fig. 1) from West Bengal coast for the first time and also Cheilopogon intermedius Parin 1961, Trudy confirms the occurrence of Parexocoetus mento. Instituta Okeanologii Imeni P.P. Shirshova, 43: 74, RAY et al.: REPORT OF FIVE FLYING FISHES FROM WEST BENGAL 1561

Fig. 13 ( locality: 6°15' S, 153°44' E, "Vityaz" A origin than to P base, i.e., approximately at midpoint station 3663). between hind margin of head and origin of lower Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F 3091, 2 ex., C lobe; lower lobe of C usually longer than upper lobe. 161-169 mm SL; Hospital Ghat, Digha, West Bengal, Pectoral branch of LL absent; Predorsal scales 38. (01.10.2013). Colour: Body dark iridescent bluish above and pale Diagnostic Characters: Body elongate, robust and below; D with a distinct black spot; P grey with flattened ventrally. Head short; snout blunt and shorter numerous scattered dark spots; V without spots; both than eye diameter; jaws subequal; palatine teeth lobes of C dusky and unpigmented. present; jaw teeth minute; upper jaw not protrusible. Distribution: Indo-Pacific: Gulf of Aden common in D moderately low; origin of A well behind the origin central and Western Oceania1. of D below 3rd ray; P very long, passes the entire anal Remarks: From Indian coast it was reported from fin and reaches almost the C base; first P ray (only one Karnataka11 and Mumbai coast12. The present paper ray) unbranched; V long reaching well beyond the reports this species for the first time from east coast of A origin and inserted nearer to A origin than P base, India. i.e., at about middle of head and origin of lower C lobe; lower lobe of C longer than upper lobe. Pectoral branch 3. Cheilopogon cyanopterus (Valenciennes, 1846) of LL absent; predorsal scales 34. GR 24; Colour: (Margined flyingfish) (Fig. 3) Body iridescent blue above and silvery below; Exocoetus cyanopterus Valenciennes, in Cuvier and Dhyaline, without a black spot; P grey; both P and V Valenciennes 1846, Hist Nat Poiss, 19: 97 (Type without spots; lobes of C dusky and without dark locality: Bahia State, Brazil, southwestern Atlantic). pigmentation. Cheilopogon cyanopterus: Barman and Mishra 2006, Distribution: Indo-West Pacific: western India to Rec Zool Surv India, Occ Paper No, 256: 5. Palau and Solomon Islands1. Remarks: Although, it’s distributional range is stated to be in western coast of India9, it was not specifically recorded from any maritime state of India. Most possibly, this is the first material evidence of its occurrence from Indian waters.

2. Cheilopogon suttoni (Whitely and Colefax, 1938) (Sutton’s flyingfish) (Fig. 2) Maculocoetus suttoni Whitley and Colefax 1938,

Proc Linn Soc New South Wales, 63 (3-4): 288, Pl. 14 (Fig. 1) (Type locality: Nauru, Gilbert Islands, western Fig. 1 — Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961

Pacific). Cheilopogon suttoni: Psomadakis, Osmany and Moazzam, 2015, Field identification guide to the living marine resources of Pakistan: 179 Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F2654, 2 ex., 222-261 mm SL, Digha Mohona, West Bengal, (16.01.2014). Diagnostic Characters: Body elongate, thick and Fig. 2 — Cheilopogon suttoni (Whitely and Colefax, 1938) flattened ventrally. Head equal to distance from D origin and origin of upper C lobe; both jaws of equal length; upper jaw not protrusible; lower jaw not included beneath the upper; palatine teeth present; jaw teeth noticeable by touch. D spotted and moderately high; 1st rays longest; A origin behind origin of D, below 5th ray; P very long, spotted and reaching

C base; only the first ray of P unbranched; V long, reaching well beyond A origin, inserted closer to Fig. 3 — Cheilopogon cyanopterus (Valenciennes, 1846) 1562 INDIAN J GEO-MAR SCI, VOL 49, NO 09, SEPTEMBER 2020

Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F 3488, 2 ex., species10,18. Present paper reports this species for the 106-162 mm SL, Shankarpur, West Bengal first time from north-eastern coast of India. (27.07.2013). 5. Hirundichthys speculiger (Valenciennes, 1846) Diagnostic Characters: Body elongate, thick and () (Fig. 5) flattened ventrally. Lower jaw little longer than upper Exocoetus speculiger Valenciennes, in Cuvier and jaw; teeth on jaws unicuspid; palatine teeth present. Valenciennes, 1846, Hist Nat Poiss, 19, p. 94 (Type Head subequal with the distance between D origin and locality: , Mascarenes, Southwestern Indian origin of upper C lobe. D with more rays than A; Ocean). A origin behind the level of 3rd ray of D; 1st P long, Hirundichthys speculiger: Barman and Mishra unbranched; V large, reaching well behind A origin; 2006, Rec Zool Surv India, Occ Pap No 256, p. 22. insertion of V nearer to A origin than P base, i.e., closer Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F 3139 & 3322, to hind margin of head than origin of lower C lobe. 2 ex., 165-180 mm SL, Shankarpur, West Bengal Predorsal scales 38; no pectoral branch of LL. Colour: (12.11.2014). Body iridescent blue dorsally and pale whitish Diagnostic Characters: Body elongated, thick and ventrally. D with a dark black spot; P and V without ventrally flat. Head more or less as equal as distance spots or stripes. between D origin and origin of upper C lobe; top of Distribution: Widely distributed in Indo-West head flat; interorbital space slightly concave; eye very Pacific and Western Atlantic1. large; jaws equal with small, conical and pointed teeth Remarks: In India, this species was reported from 13 14 15 11 in 3 rows; few teeth present on palatine. A origin Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu , Kerala , Karnataka , nd anterior below 2 D ray; D with equal or less number Maharashtra16 and Gujarat17. The present record forms of rays than A; V abdominal, long, reaching beyond its first report from West Bengal coast. the A origin and their insertion closer to A origin than 4. Cypselurus naressi (Gunther, 1889) (Pharao to P base. Predorsal scales 30; LL scales 49; GR 28. flyingfish) (Fig. 4) Colour: Body blue dorsally and silvery white Exocoetus naresii Gunther 1889, Zool Challenger ventrally. Pectoral fin with a wider transverse pale Exp, 31 (78), p. 36, Pl. 1 (Fig. A) (Type locality: margin and a pale triangle at base; anal fin and ventral Between Fiji and Vanuatu). fin hyaline; dorsal and caudal fin grayish.

Cypselurus naressi: Barman and Mishra 2006, Rec Distribution: Worldwide in tropical waters10 Zool Surv India, Occ Pap No 256, p. 12. Remarks: From Indian coast this species is reported Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F 3317, 1 ex., only from off Cochin (=Kochi, Kerala)10. Present 161 mm SL; Shankarpur, West Bengal (16.01.2014). paper reports this species for the first time from the Diagnostic Characters: Body elongate, robust and east coast of India. more or less ventrally flattened. Lower jaw slightly shorter than upper jaw; jaw teeth very small; palatine teeth present. Head length equal to distance between D origin and origin of upper C lobe; P long, 1st ray unbranched, P reaching beyond A base; V also large, reaching to end of A base, V insertion close to A origin than to P base and just at about mid-point between hind margin of head and origin of lower C lobe. Predorsal scales 29; LL scales 48; GR 22.

Colour: Body dark dorsally and pale ventrally. D grey Fig. 4 — Cypselurus naressi (Gunther, 1889) in colour; P dark; V is black between 2nd and 4th ray. Distribution: Indo-West Pacific: Gulf of Aden and East Africa to southern Japan, Fiji and New South Wales, Australia1. Remarks: From Indian coast this species was reported only from Tamil Nadu10 and Karnataka11.

Earlier records of Cypselurus comatus (non Mitchell) from Sri Lanka and India are now referred to this Fig. 5 — Hirundichthys speculiger (Valenciennes, 1846) RAY et al.: REPORT OF FIVE FLYING FISHES FROM WEST BENGAL 1563

year 2012. In fact, capture of flyingfishes was seldom observed till the year 2010. With the decline of fish catch in near shore waters, mostly due to overexploitation, fishermen tend to move in to deeper waters and used varied gears to catch what-so-ever available fishes. However, in the past flyingfish catches were seen mostly along Tamil Nadu and Kerala coast. From the adjoining state Odisha coast along north- eastern coast of India, Barman et al.12 listed only two

species, such as Cypselurus poecilopterus and Fig. 6 — Parexocoetus mento (Valenciennes, 1847) , while Mishra et al.19 added one more species, Parexocoetus mento, to the list. Possibly 6. Parexocoetus mento (Valenciennes, 1847) (African climate change impact and alteration in oceanic current sailfin flyingfish) (Fig. 6) pattern might have played a vital role in northward Exocoetus mento Valenciennes, in Cuvier and distribution of these flying fishes in northern Bay of Valenciennes 1847, Hist Nat Pois, 19, p. 124 (Type Bengal which were not observed earlier. locality: Puducherry, India). Parexocoetus mento: Barman and Mishra 2006, Rec Acknowledgements Zool Surv India, Occ Pap No 256, p. 24. Authors are thankful to the Dr. Kailash Chandra, Materials examined: MARC/ZSI/F 3771, 1 ex., Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for 117 mm SL; Shankarpur, West Bengal (02.02.2014). providing necessary facilities for the work. Diagnostic Character: Body elongate, robust, slightly compressed, with rounded belly; body depth Conflict of Interest 4.8 and head length 3.9 in SL. Upper jaw protrusible; There is no conflict of interest. snout blunt and shorter than eye; teeth present on jaws and palatine. P not reaching beyond A base; V short, Author Contributions just reaching to A origin and its insertion close to A DR: Collection preservation, identification and MS origin than to P base. D rays 11; A rays 11; Predorsal preparation. AM & SSM: identification, critical scales 19; LL scales 41; GR 29. Colour: Greenish analysis, MS preparation. blue dorsally and silvery white ventrally. D blackish; P and C light grey; A and V transparent. References

1 1 Froese R & Pauly D (eds), FishBase, World Wide Web Distribution: Distributed along the Indo-Pacific . electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (06/2018). Remarks: From Indian coast this species was 2 Gopi K C & Mishra S S, Diversity of Marine Fish of India. In: reported from Andhra Pradesh13, Odisha19, Tamil Marine Faunal Diversity in India. , Ecology and Nadu14, Karnataka11, Maharashtra16 and Gujarat17. Conservation, edited by K Venkataraman & C Sivaperuman, (Elsevier Publ, Amsterdam), 2015, pp. 171–193. Parexocoetus mento (Cuvier) was earlier reported from 3 Das P, De S P, Bhowmik R M, Pandit P K, Sengupta R, et al., 6 West Bengal coast as P. brachypterus, but Talwar et Piscine diversity of West Bengal, Fishing Chimes, 27 (5) al.7 did not observe any flyingfish from this region. (2007) 15–28. However, the present report confirms its occurrence 4 Chatterrjee T K, Ramakrishna, Talukdar S & Mukherjee A K, Fish and fisheries of Digha coast of West Bengal, Rec Zool along West Bengal coast. This is a widespread species, Surv India, Occ Pap No 188, (2000) 1-87. known from almost in its entire range. 5 Sanyal A K, Alfred J R B, Venkatraman K, Tiwari S K & Mitra S, Status of biodiversity of West Bengal, (Zoological Discussion Survey of India, Kolkata), 2012, pp. 1-969 + 35 plates. Only one member of the family Exocoetidae, viz. 6 Yennawar P, Mohapatra A, Ray D & Tudu P, Ichthyofauna of Digha coast, India, In: Marine Faunal Diversity in India. Parexocoetus mento (Cuvier) (as P. brachypterus) was 6 Taxonomy, Ecology and Conservation, edited by K listed from West Bengal in the year 1962. However, Venkataraman & C Sivaperuman, (Elsevier Publ, Amsterdam), the descriptions given indicate that P. mento was 2015, pp. 235-248. erroneously named as P. brachypterus in the same 7 Misra K S, An aid to the identification of the common work. Much later after nearly four decades, Exocoetus commercial fishes of India and Pakistan, Rec Indian Mus, 57 4 (1-4) (1962) 1-320. volitans was recorded from Digha coast and a third 8 Talwar P K, Mukerjee P, Saha D, Paul S N & Kar S, Marine 8 species, Cypselurus poeilopterus was reported by the and estuarine fishes, State Fauna Series 3: Fauna of West 1564 INDIAN J GEO-MAR SCI, VOL 49, NO 09, SEPTEMBER 2020

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