First record of Polka-dot ribbonfish Desmodema polystictum (Pisces: Trachipteridae) from Indian waters

Abstract

Polka-dot ribbonfish Desmodema polystictum was recorded for the first time from Indian waters. A single specimen of D. polystictum (107 cm total length and weighing 480 g) was collected from Tharuvaikulam landing centre, north to Tuticorin, on the south-east coast of India during September 2010. The distinguishing characters of the species from other species of the family are discussed. Morphometric and meristic characters of D. polystictum are presented in this paper. With the present report, the distribution area of this species now extends to the Indian waters.

Check list of fishes of the Gulf of Mannar ecosystem, Tamil Nadu, India

“…Of these 628 species were collected and identified in the present study. Details of the 554 species were taken from the past studies conducted in the GOME by earlier workers (James, 1967;Murty, 1969;Thomas, 1969;Venkataramani & Ramaiyan, 1977;Williams & Venkataramani, 1978;James, 1985;Venkataramani et al, 1995;Abdussamad et al, 2006;Varghese et al, 2011;Varghese, 2011;Zacharia et al, 2011;Joshi et al, 2012b, Mannisseri et al, 2012Zacharia and Kannan, 2012).…”

New Record of Satyrichthys milleri Kawai, 2013 (Peristediidae) From Gulf of Mannar, Bay of Bengal

“…It is assumed that the southeast coast of India contains as many species as the entire western Indian Ocean because of, the long stretch of coral islands along the Gulf of Mannar and Andaman Nicobar Islands increases the chance of species abundance and richness in the southeast coast of India. During recent years, great numbers of species have been described recorded from the east coast of India [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

First record of Grammonus robustus (Ophidiiformes: Bythitidae) from Indian waters

“…In recent years, many new deep-sea species have been recorded from the exclusive economic zone of India (Bineesh et al, 2010;2012a, b;Kurup et al, 2010;Akhilesh et al, 2011Akhilesh et al, , 2013Ganga et al, 2012;Zacharia & Kannan, 2012;Kannan et al, 2013a, b;Rajool Shanis et al, 2013;Venu, 2013). This can be attributed to the intensified deep sea exploratory studies and closer monitoring of by-catch of the deep sea fishery.…”