Abstract
Present study is based on five specimens of flat needlefish Ablenneshians collected from Puri North (Lat. 19047′43.062″N, Long. 85049′38.5788″E), Odisha, India on 7 January 2018. Based on morphometric and meristic characters, the specimens were identified as Ablenneshians (family Belonidae), having laterally compressed body with a series of vertical bars, 26 to 27 anal fin rays, 24–25 dorsal fin rays, 13–14 pectoral fin rays, and single lobe of gonad. A.hians can be distinguished from other three species of needlefishes reported from northeast coast of India based on body shape (body strongly compressed laterally in A. hians vs. rounded in cross section in other three species), number of anal fin rays (24–28 in A. hians vs. 15–25), vertical bars on body (a series of vertical bars in A. hians vs. no vertical bars in others except for S. leiura where few vertical bars are present on anterior half of the body). The occurrence of flat needlefish along Odisha Coast revealed the extension of its known geographical distributional range i.e. from noth of Andhra Pradesh in the North-eastern Indian Ocean. Further, it is an addition to the ichthyofaunal biodiversity of northeast coast of India.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barik TK, Swain SN, Sahu B, Tripathy B, Acharya UR (2017) First record of Tylosurus crocodilus (Péron & Lesueur, 1821) (Beloniformes: Belonidae) from Odisha coast, bay of Bengal. India: Exploration of a Biological Invasion Using DNA Barcoding. Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-017-0053-y
Barman RP, Mukherjee P, KAR S (2000) Marine and estuarine fish. Fauna of Gujarat, State Fauna Series 8(1):311–411
Barman RP, Kar S, Mukherjee P (2004) Fauna of Andhra Pradesh. State Fauna Series 5(2):97–311
Barman RP, Mishra SS, Kar S, Mukherjee P, Saren SC (2007). Marine and estuarine fish fauna of Orissa. Rec. zool. Surv. India, Occ. Paper No., 260: 1-186
Barman RP, Mishra SS, Kar S, Mukherjee P, Saren SC (2011) Marine and estuarine fish. Fauna of Tamil Nadu, State Fauna Series 17(2):293–418
Barman RP, Mishra SS, KAR S, Mukherjee P, Saren SC (2012) Marine and estuarine fish. Fauna of Maharashtra, State Fauna Series 20(1):369–480
Bijukumar A, Raghavan R (2015) A checklist of fishes of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13):8036–8080. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2004.7.13.8036-8080
Collette BB (1984). Family Belonidae. In: Fischer, W. and Bianchi, G. (eds.). FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean (fishing area 51). Vol. 1, FAO, Rome
Collette BB (1999). Belonidae (needlefishes). In: carpenter, K.E. and Niem, V.H. (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the western Central Pacific, FAO, Rome. Volume 4, bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae), pp 2151-2161
Collette BB (2003). Family Belonidae Bonaparte 1832 - needlefishes. Calif. Acad. Sci. Annotated checklists of fishes, (16):1-22
Froese R, Pauly D (Eds), (2018): FishBase 2018, version (February, 2018). World Wide Web electronic publication. Retrieved from http://www.fishbase.org
Hubbs CL, Lagler KL (1958) Fishes of the Great Lakes region, 2nd edition. Cranbrook Institute of Science Bulletin, p 332
Jones S, Kumaran M (1980). Fishes of the Laccadive archipelago. The nature conservation and aquatic sciences service, Santinivas, Nanthancode, Trivandrum-695003, Kerala, India: 18-19
Kar A, Raut SK, Bhattacharya M, Patra S, Das BK, Patra BC (2017) Marine fishes of West Bengal coast, India: diversity and conservation preclusion. Regional Studies in Marine Science 16:56–66
Mishra S, Gouda R, Nayak L, Panigrahy RC (1999) A check list of the marine and estuarine fishes of South Orissa, east coast of India. Rec Zool Surv India 97(3):81–90
Rajan PT, Sreeraj CR, Immanuel T (2013) Fishes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a checklist. J Andaman Sci Assoc 18(1):47–87
Yennawar P, Mohapatra A, Tudu PC (2017) An account of Ichthyofauna of Digha coast. West Bengal Rec Zool Surv India 117(1):4–21
Acknowledgements
The authors are highly grateful to Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, Director, ICAR-CMFRI, Cochin and Dr. Gopal Krishna, Director, ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai for providing all necessary facilities and constant support during the entire study period.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roul, S.K., Abdussamad, E.M., Rohit, P. et al. New Distributional Record of Flat Needlefish Ablennes hians (Valenciennes, 1846) (Beloniformes: Belonidae) in the North-Eastern Indian Ocean with Taxonomic Details. Thalassas 35, 43–47 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-018-0082-1
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-018-0082-1