Rec. zool. Surv. India: Vol. 121(2)/311–313, 2021 ISSN (Online) : 2581-8686 DOI: 10.26515/rzsi/v121/i2/2021/154157 ISSN (Print) : 0375-1511 Short Communication Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853, a new record of fusilier (Perciformes: Caesionidae) from Odisha coast, India Swarup Ranjan Mohanty1, 2, Lipika Patnaik2 and Anil Mohapatra1* 1Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Ganjam - 761 002, Odisha, India; India; Email: [email protected] 2Environmental Science Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack - 753003, Odisha, India Abstract The present study reports the yellowback fusilier Caesio xanthonota Odisha, India. The details of morphometric measurements and meristicBleeker, characters 1853 (Perciformes:are discussed Caesionidae)in this paper. for the first time from the Odisha coast on the basis of a single specimen collected from the Paradip fish landing centre, Jagatsinghpur, Keywords: Caesioninae, First Report, India, Paradip Coast, Yellowback Fusilier Introduction Material and Methods Study on coastal fishes along the Odisha coast gives the During the Icthyofaunal study of Odisha coast, authors idea about the diversity and richness of the species. In the encountered one fish specimen of the family Caesionidae current scenario, the ichthyofaunal diversity of the Odisha from Paradip fish landing centre (20°17’25.90”N; coast is about 656 (Mohanty et al., 2020). In Odisha coast, 86°42’26.73”E) Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, India. The not a single species of Family Caesionidae was reported collection was followed by photography, measurements before this study. Family Caesionidae is characterized by (using digital callipers to the nearest 0.1 mm), and its moderate-sized, slender and fusiform body; mouth preservation (10% formalin). Standard length and head small and highly protrusible; upper edge of premaxilla length were abbreviated as SL and HL, respectively. The with 1 to 2 bony processes; maxilla scaleless; single dorsal Leica S9i digital stereo microscope was used to count fin; caudal fin distinctly forked, with pointed lobes; small the fin spines and rays and verify the teeth and body or minute conical teeth; scale rows on body running scales. The collected sample was identified by following horizontally and most of the species found in association the literature of Carpenter (1987, 1988) and Rao (2003). with coral reef (Carpenter, 1988). Throughout the world, The identified specimen was registered and deposited in 24 valid species belonging to the family Caesionidae are Estuarine Biology Regional Centre Museum, Zoological known (Fricke et al., 2020). Amongst them, only 4 genera Survey of India, Gopalpur-On-Sea. and 16 species of the family is reported from Indian waters (Gopi & Mishra 2015). The present paper adds a Results family Caesionidae in Odisha’s Ichthyofaunal checklist Class ACTINOPTERYGII by reporting a coral reef-associated species Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853 for the first time along Odisha Order PERCIFORMES coast with its morphologic, meristic, systematic accounts Family CAESIONIDAE and distribution. * Author for correspondence Article Received on: 05.08.2020 Accepted on: 13.03.2021 Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853, a new record of fusilier (Perciformes: Caesionidae)... Genus Caesio Lacepède, 1801 Table 1. Morphometric and meristic characters of Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853 from Odisha, Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853 Yellowback fusilier India (Figure 1) 1845. Caesio xanthonotus Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned.-Indie., 4: 466 (type Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1853 locality, Indonesia). Total length 230 mm 1988. Caesio xanthonota: Carpenter, FAO Fish. Synop., 8(125): 45, pI. 1, fig. Standard length 168 mm 43a & b. Morphometric Characters Materials examined: EBRC/ZSI/ F 11850, 1 ex., 168 mm IN SL SL, Paradip fish landing centre, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha Predorsal length 2.6 (20°17’25.90”N; 86°42’26.73”E), 11th March 2020, Coll. Swarup Ranjan Mohanty. Preanal length 1.6 Head length 3.2 Diagnostic characters: The distinguishing character Eye diameter 10.8 which makes the genus different from the other genus in the family Caesionidae is the presence of a single Snout length 12.0 postmaxillary process and blunt posterior end of maxilla. Caudal peduncle length 10.8 The species is characterized by its compressed, fairly deep Caudal peduncle depth 8.0 and acuminate body. The body depth 2.9 in SL. Predorsal Body depth 2.9 length 2.6; preanal length 1.6 and head length 3.2 in SL. IN HL Caudal peduncle length 10.8 and depth 8.0 in SL. Mouth Eye diameter 3.4 small, protractible and having small conical teeth. Size of Interorbital length 3.0 the eye little greater than the snout, eye and snout 10.8 Snout length 3.8 and 12.0 in SL, respectively. Longitudinal axis through tip Upper Jaw length 5.9 of snout to middle of caudal fin passing through centre of Lower Jaw length 5.3 eye. Eye 3.4 and snout 3.8 in HL. Lateral line scales 56; scales below lateral line 18; scales above lateral line 10; 5 scales rows on chick; predorsal scales 22. Spinous portion of dorsal fin scales oblique and anal fins scaled. Dorsal fin with 10 spines and 15 soft rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 12 soft rays; pectoral fin with 20 rays; pelvic fin with 1 spine and 5 rays (Table 1). Colour: Body colour yellowish dorsally, bluish laterally and the lower third of the body is whitish. Dorsal fin yellow; caudal fin bright yellow; anal, pelvic and pectoral fin white, but the upper base of the pectoral fin black (Figure 1) Figure 1. Caesio xanthonota Bleeker, 1852, Paradip Habitat: This species found in coastal areas and deep Odisha, India. lagoons, especially around the coral reef areas (Carpenter, 1988). C. varilineata (Variable-lined fusilier), C. xanthonota Discussion (yellowback fusilier) (Nair & Kumar, 2018) and C. striata (striated fusilier) (Kannan et al., 2013).The species C. In Indian waters, seven species of the genus Caesio xanthonota has been reported from the coastal waters were reported which are C. caerulaurea (blue and gold of Andhra Pradesh (Barman et al., 2004); Andaman fusilier), C. cuning (redbelly yellowtail fusilier), C. lunaris and Nicobar Island (Rao, 2003), Lakshadweep (Rao, (lunar fusilier), C. teres (yellow and blueback fusilier), 1991), West Bengal (Ray & Mohapatra, 2017), Goa 312 Vol 121(2) | 2021 | www.recordsofzsi.com Zoological Survey of India Swarup Ranjan Mohanty, Lipika Patnaik and Anil Mohapatra (Chakurkar et al., 2017). The present study reports the Acknowledgements species C. xanthonota for the first time from the Odisha We are thankful to the Director, Zoological Survey of India, coast. During recent years, many reef-associated fish for providing the necessary infrastructural facilities. We records from the Odisha coast (Behera et al., 2015; Roy also thank Shankar Bej, fisherman of Paradip fish landing et al., 2017; Sahoo et al., 2020 and Mohanty et al., 2020) centre, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, to cooperate during the indicate the possible presence of reef region along the sample collection on 11th March 2020. coast or possible migration of reef fishes due to some anthropogenic reasons to the non-reef regions. References Barman, R. P., Kar, S. and Mukherjee, P. 2004. Marine and Estuarine fishes. In: Fauna of Andhra Pradesh, State Fauna Series, 5(2): 97-311. (Publ. Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata). Behera, D. P., Mohapatra, D., Naik, S. and Mishra, R. K. 2015. First record of Cephalopholis sonnerati (Red Coral Grouper) from Gopalpur coastal waters, Bay of Bengal. Indian J. Geo Marine Sci., 44(08): 1207-1212. Carpenter, K. E. 1987. Revision of the Indo-Pacific fish family Caesionidae (Lutjanoidea), with descriptions of five new species. Indo- Pacific Fishes, 15: 1-56. Carpenter, K. E. 1988. Fusilier fishes of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of caesionid species known to date. FAO Species Catalogue. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, 8: 75 pp. FAO, Rome. Chakurkar, E., Devi, S. P., Manohara, K. K., Shivasharanappa, N., Mahajan, G. R. and Sreekanth, G. B. 2017. ICAR-CCARI Annual Report 2016-2017. Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W. N. and Fong, J. D. 2020. Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes: species by Family/Subfamily. (http://researcharchive. calacademy.org/research/ ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp). Electronic version accessed 05-06-2020. Gopi, K.C. and Mishra, S.S. 2015. Diversity of marine fish of India. In:Marine Faunal Diversity in India: Taxonomy, Ecology and Conservation: 171-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801948-1.00015-X Kannan, K., John, S., Jhonson, J. A., Zacharia, P. U. and Joshi, K. K. 2013. First record of striated fusilier Caesio striata (Teleostei: Caesionidae) from Indian waters. Marine Biodiv. Rec., 6 (106): 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1017/S175526721300081X Mohanty, S. R., Roy, S., Fullonton, S., Ray, D., Mohapatra, A. and Mishra, S. S. 2020. First report on the occurrence of nine ornamental fish species from Odisha. Indian J. Geo Marine Sci., 49(08): 1435-1441. Nair, R. J. and Kumar, D. S. 2018. Overview of the Fish Diversity of Indian Waters. In: DBT sponsored Three Months National Training in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology for Fisheries Professionals, 2nd February 2015-31st March 2018, Kochi. Rao, D. V. 2003. Guide to Reef Fishes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.: 1-555 (Publ. Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata). Rao, G.C. 1991. Lakshadweep: General features. In: Fauna of Lakshadweep, State Fauna Series, 2: 5-40. (Publ. Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata) Ray, D. and Mohapatra, A. 2017. First report of Fusilier Fish family Caesionidae (Perciformes) from Northern part of East coast of India. Rec. zool. Surv. India, 117(3): 295-297. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v117/i3/2017/120974 Roy, S., Dash, S. and Mishra, S. S. 2017. First Record of Seriolina nigrofasciata (Ruppell, 1829) (Perciformes: Carangidae) from Odisha Coast, India. Rec. zool. Surv. India, 117(2): 186-189. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v117/i2/2017/119328 Sahoo, P., Mohanty, S.