Extension of range of the Marine Puffer Fish Chelonodon patoca (Tetraodontiformes:Tetraodontidae) to freshwater habitat of Kerala,
India
M.Arunachalam 1, M. Muralidharan2 & P. Sivakumar 2
1,2Sri Paramakalyani Centre For Environmental Sciences, Manonmaniam SundaranarUniversity, Alwarkurichi, Tamil Nadu 627412, India
Email: 1 arunacm@gmail.com
Date
of publication 26 April 2009
ISSN 0974-7907
(online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: K. Rema Devi
Manuscript
details:
Ms # o1828
Received 26 July
2007
Final revised
received 15 August 2008
Finally accepted
19 February 2009
Citation: Arunachalam, M., M. Muralidharan& P. Sivakumar (2009). Extension of range of the
Marine Puffer Fish Chelonodon patoca (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) to freshwater habitat of Kerala, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 1(4): 238-239.
Copyright: © M. Arunachalam, M. Muralidharan& P. Sivakumar 2009. Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported License. JoTTallows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: MA is grateful for financial assistance from National
Agricultural Technology Project under the mission mode programmeof “Germplasm Inventory and Gene Banking of
Freshwater Fishes”. We thank the Mission
Leader and Director Dr. D. Kapoor and Dr. S.P. Singh,
Principal Investigator of the Project. We also thank S.S. Mariappanfor line drawings.
For Figure & Table – Click
here
Tetraodon travancoria andChelonodon patoca,both belonging to the family Tetraodontidae, are the two puffer fish species reported in the freshwater
habitats of the Western Ghats, India. Hora & Nair (1941) described Tetraodon travancoria from the PambaRiver, Kerala. Later Easa& Shaji (1997) recorded the same species from theNilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Kerala, Western Ghats,
and Remadevi et al. (2000) reported it in Mavincar in South Canara,
Karnataka. Tetraodon travancoria was the only known freshwater puffer
fish from Western Ghats until Chelonodon patoca was reported (Arunachalamet al. 1999) from the Aghnashini River in Kritikada, Karnataka. The present study reports the occurrence of Chelonodon patoca collected from the PayaswaniRiver at Eranchipuzha in the ChandragiriRiver basin documenting the extension of the distribution of this species into
Kerala.
Materials
and Methods
Fish
were collected using cast nets. Meristic counts and morphometric characters were measured and proportions were
calculated following Hubbs & Lagler(1958). The measurements that have been
modified slightly are provided here in detail. Head length was measured from tip of snout to insertion point of
pectoral fin. Eye diameter is the
distance between anterior and posterior rim of eye through pupil. Inter orbital space is the distance between
bony margins of eyes in dorsal position. Caudal fin length was measured from
posterior end of urocentrum to tip of fin. Standard length was measured from snout tip
to base of caudal fin. All measurements
were made to the nearest 0.1m using digital calipers. The specimens are housed in the registered
collection of the Manonmaniam SundaranarUniversity Museum of Natural History (MSUMNH), Alwarkurichi.Tamil Nadu.
Material
examined
30.i.2004, 5 ex., 37.76-59.23mm SL, Payaswani River, ChandragiriRiver basin at Eranchipuzha, KasaragodDistrict, Kerala, coll. M. Arunachalam, M. Muralidharan & P. Sivakumar, MSUMNH 46.
Comparative
Materials
1999, 1 ex,
51.47mm SL, Aghnashini River at KritikadaVillage, Karnataka, coll. M. Arunachalam & J.A.
Johnson, MSUMNH 21.
Chelonodon patoca (Hamilton-Buchanan)
Tetraodon patoca Hamilton-Buchanan 1822, by original designation;
estuaries of the Ganges, (West Bengal, India) 7, 362, Pl. 18, fig.2
Diagnosis
Body
heavy and fairly elongate, gill opening not reaching below middle of pectoral
fin base. Nasal organ in the form of a depression with slightly raised margin
expanded before and behind into a pair of elongate flaps. Two lateral lines. Pectoral fin round and
caudal fin truncate, with curved edges. Back and side of body
with round fluorescent olive green to yellowish spots, variable in number and
size.
Description
Body arched
dorsally; ventrally flat unless air sac bulged. Broad back, posterior part of body
compressed, skin covered with simple retractile prickles, spines four rooted
(Fig. 1a), Head broad its length 40.73-43.77 (42.15)%SL (Table 1). Mouth terminal, jaws with median suture.Eyes large, in dorsolateral position situated
slightly anterior to half the distance of head length. Eye diameter 22.72-30.36 (25.35)% HL and inter orbital space 56.30-64.71 (61.43)% HL. Nostril immediately near eye, nasal organ
cuplike produced into two rounded flaps, gill opening narrow, ending before
middle of pectoral fin base, predorsal distance
74.83-77.56 (76.22)% SL covered by laminae, vent
positioned very close to anal fin. Two
lateral lines, upper one joins lower one behind anal fin, and reaches caudal
fin base. Inconspicuous line around eyes, the circles thus formed are connected
by an inter link at the nape.
Dorsal
fin round, inserted slightly behind the vent above anal fin. Its height less than length of head excluding
snout 21.50-23.74 (22.28)% SL. Anal fin round 15.22-20.34 (17.58)% SL, its origin from first branched ray of dorsal fin
above. Caudal fin truncate 34.53-37.05
(35.21)% SL. Pectoral fins small and round, placed at middle of body, vertically in
regard to height, its length roughly equal to snout length and 15.58-18.49
(16.86)% SL.
Colour
Upper
surface of body deep grey, becoming white below. Abdomen silvery white. Back and sides with numerous small round olive fluorescent green spots
extending up to caudal fin. Spots on caudal fin in vertical rows, the
interspaces form two to three distinct dark bands, the posteriormostthe broadest (Fig. 1b). Spots variable in size and form. Three black cross bands descend from back to
middle of lateral surface of body, one passes over the head with a ‘V’ shaped
light interorbital band posterior to it. Also is seen another band that extends
backward in the median line towards an irregular band formed by congregation of
spots of same colour. The second band, in the form of a saddle, is seen in the space between
the pectoral fins on either side, the posterior one spreads from slightly ahead
of the dorsal origin. Olive green spots
encircle a part of the third band.
Colour in formalin:
Fluorescent yellow colour turned to dirty white in
preservation. Body pale grey on the
dorsal surface, and the spots along the body are dull white but are prominent.
Discussion
Most
of the meristic and morphometriccharacters studied for the five specimens are similar to the comparative
material from the Aghnashini River in Karnataka
except for the variation in number of branched rays and the shape of the distal
margin of both the dorsal and anal fins. The branched rays of the dorsal fins in the specimen from Aghnashini were 10 versus 9, the anal fins were 8 versus 7
and the shape of the margin of the dorsal and anal fins of the Aghnashini specimen tend to be more truncate versus round
in the Payaswani specimens.
Chelonodon patoca(Hamilton-Buchanan 1822) was described from the estuary of the Ganges, West
Bengal and is very common along the Coromandal Coast
of India (Day 1875-78). It has also been
reported from tropical Indo-West Pacific waters (Talwar& Jhingran 1991). Its distribution in freshwater habitats of the Western Ghats was
established when it was reported in the AghnashiniRiver in Karnataka. Now the specimens collected
from the Payaswani River in Kerala represents a new
record from the Kerala area of the Western Ghats.
References
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