SHORT COMMUNICATION Bull. zool. Surv. India, S (2 & 3) : 183-184, 1984 ON THE NATURAL DISTRIBUTION AND TAXONOMY OF GERRES MACRACANTHUS BLEEKER (PISCES: GERREIDAE) During a recent survey the Long-rayed to 48; scales between dorsal-fin origin and mojarra, Gerres macracanthus Bleeker, belong­ lateral line 5, from lateral line to anal-fin ing to the family Gerreidae, was surprisingly origIn 10-11; gill-rakers 6 t 8 on first observed to be a fairly common component branchial arch. along with G. jilamentosus Cuvier, in the Body deep and moderately compressed, commercial catches at Ratnagiri (Maha­ 0 its depth 37.7-43.0 / 0 of standard length. rashtra). Both are locally called 'charbat'. Length of head 28.5-33.3, length of pectoral While the latter species is widely distributed fin 30.0-35.8, length of second dorsal spine in the Indo-west Pacific, the former species 40.8-51.1 ; all in % of standard length. has hitherto been recorded only from the Eye-diameter 34.2-39.2, snout length 31. Palk Bay, the East Indies, New Guinea and 6-37.2, interorbital width 29.2-35.8 ; all in % the Philippines. New information about G. of head length. Predorsal distance distinctly macracanthu, is desirable since its taxono!nic more than the depth of body. status is most uncertain. In the present Mouth small, strongly protrusible ; mandi­ communication the natural distribution of the species is extended to the Arabian Sea bular profile concave. Teeth in villiform and its nomenclature discussed. Its synonymy bands in both jaws; no teeth on vomer, palatines, or tongue. and characters are : Second dorsal spine flattened, greatly elongated into a filament, longer than the Gerres (Pertica) macracanthus Bleeker head. Pectoral fins long, extending to or ? Gerres punctatus Cuvjer, 1830, Hist. nat. Poiss., 6 : beyond anal-fin origin. 480 (type-locality :Pondicherry). Gerr~ macracanthus Bleeker, 1854, Nat. Tijdsehr. Ned.- Scales consI'icuous, completely 'covering 1ndie, 6: 195 (type-locality: Batavia, Java); head and body. Venkataraman and Badrudeen, 1977, Indian J. Fish., 22: 290, fig. 1. Colour: in life, silvery with glittering Gerres filamentosus Menon (nee Cuvier), 1966, Rec. scales but dark grey when viewed from above, Indian Mus., 59 (4) : 392 (Pondicherry). with 8 to 10 dusky vertical bars on back Material: 6 ex., 87-120 mm in standard and sides of body. Dorsal fin slightly dusky, length, Ratnagiri ( Maharashtra), 10 May with a row of dark spots in the middle 1981, colI. P. K. Ta/war & P. Mukherjee; of the membranous portion; other fins Zoological Survey of India regd. no. F.7732/2. yellowish. Description: Dorsal rays IX 10 ; anal III Taxonomy: Barnard (1927) relegated 7 ; pectoral i 15; pelvic I 5; branched Gerres macracanlhus Bleeker, 1854, along with caudal fin rays 8 + 7 ; scales in lateral line 46 G. jilamentosus Cuvier, 1830, to the 184 Bulletin of the Zoological Survey of India synonymy of G. punctatus Cuvier, 1830. other species, the allocation of these two Fowler (1928) was of the opinion that G. species to a separate sub generic group is macracanthus was based on immature warranted. For this group the generic name examples of G. jilamentosus. Weber & de Pertica Fowler, 1904, is fortunately available. Beaufott (1931), however, considered G. The authors are grateful to Dr. B. K. macracanthus distinct from G. punctatus, Tikader, Director, and Dr. K. C. Jayaram, but G. jilalnentosus as a junior synonym of Deputy Director, Zoological Survey of India, the latter sprcies based on Sauvage's (1891) for their encouragement. examination of the types of the latter two species. Fowler (1933) and recently Fischer REFERENCES & Whitehead (1976), considered both G. BARNARD, K. H. 1927. A monograph of the punctatus and G. macracanthus con specific marine fishes of South Africa, ~art II. with G. filamentosus, and showed that the Ann. S. Afr. Mus., 21 : 419-1065. latter species was first described by euvier in FISCHER, W. AND P. J. P. WHITEHEAD (Eds), 1829 and not 1830 as earlier contended. 1974. FAO species identification Munro (1967) distinguished G. macracanthus sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Bleeker from G. jilamentosus Cuvier, 1829, Indian Ocean (fishing area 57) and and this was followed by Venkataraman & Western Central Pacific (fishing area Badrudeen (1977) on the basis of new 71 ). Vol. II. Rome. material from the Palk Bay. While it is clear FOWLER, H. W. 1928. The fishes of Oceania. that two distinct deep-bodied species of Mem. Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 10: 1-486. Gerres with a greatly elongated second dorsal FOWLER, H. W. 1933. Contributions to the spine, are undoubtedly involved, the imper­ biology of the Philippine archipelago fectly described Gerres punctatus Cuvier from and adjacent regions. Bull. U. S. natn. Pondicherry is most likely a senior synonym of G. macracanthus Bleeker from Batavia Mus., ( 100 ) 11 ! 1-465. (Java). The junior author's collecting in the MUNRO, I. S. R. 1967. The Fishes of New same general region disclosed the latter species Guinea. Dept. of Agriculture, Stock and and it seems probable that all specimens from Fisheries .. Port Moresby, New Guinea. India formerly identified as G. macracanthus SAUVAGE, H. 1891. Histoire naturelle des in reality represent G. punctatus Cuvier. poissons. In! Histoire physique naturelle et politique de Madagascar. 16: 1-543. Species of the genus Gerres are all very Grandidier, A (Ed.). Paris. much alike in general appearance. G. filamentosus and G. macracanthus are, however, VENKATARAMAN, G. AND M. BADRUDBEN. separated from all other species of Gerreidae 1977. A new distributional record of by the greatly elongated second dorsal Gerres macracanthus Bleeker from Indian spine. Since this character is shared by no waters. Indian J. Fish., 22 : 290-293. Zoological Survey of India, P. K. TALWAR 27, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, AND Calcutta-700 016 P. MUKHERJEE .