Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2020 | 12(14): 17032–17035
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5708.12.14.17032-17035
#5708 | Received 19 January 2020 | Final
received 06 July 2020 | Finally accepted 22 September 2020
First record of African Sailfin Flying Fish Parexocoetus mento (Valenciennes,
1847) (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae),
from the waters off Andaman Islands, India
Y. Gladston
1, S.M. Ajina 2, J. Praveenraj 3, R. Kiruba-Sankar
4, K.K. Bineesh 5 & S. Dam Roy
6
1,2,3,4,6 Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Central
Island Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CIARI), Port Blair, Andaman &
Nicobar 744101, India.
5 Zological Survey of India, Andaman & Nicobar Regional
Centre, Haddo, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar
744101, India.
1 gladstonsibi@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 ajinamary6@gmail.com, 3 jpr948@gmail.com,
4 rkirubasankar@gmail.com, 5 kkbineesh@gmail.com, 6 sibnarayan@gmail.com
Editor: A. Biju
Kumar, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Date of
publication: 26 October 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Gladston, Y., S.M. Ajina, J. Praveenraj, R.Kiruba-Sankar, K.K. Bineesh
& S.D. Roy (2020). First record of African Sailfin Flying Fish Parexocoetus mento
(Valenciennes, 1847) (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae), from the waters off Andaman Islands, India.
Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(14): 17032–17035. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5708.12.14.17032-17035
Copyright: © Gladston et al. 2020. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Funded by ICAR-CMFRI Cochin under the project All India network programme on mariculture.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are highly thankful to the Director,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute
(ICAR-CIARI) and Director, ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute for
necessary support.
The family Exocoetidae
comprises of 74 species belonging to seven genera and four subfamilies
(Collette et al. 1984; Fricke et al. 2019).
These fishes are distributed from the tropical to temperate waters
(Lewallen et al. 2010; Nelson et al. 2016).
This family is characterized by a prominently enlarged paired fins,
which assist in gliding over the water (Davenport 1994). Based on the number of enlarged fins (either
pectoral or both pectoral and pelvic) the species known to monoplane glider and
biplane glider (Breder 1930). The subfamily Parexocoetinae,
a monoplane glider consists of a single genus (Parexocoetus)
with three species. The genus Parexocoetus is distinguished from the other
members of the family by the presence of strongly protrusible
mouth and having a process on theex-occipital
directly articulating with the cleithrum.
Andaman & Nicobar archipelago, a biodiversity-rich
Island ecosystem, harbours around 1,434 fish species under 576 genera belonging
to 165 families and 33 orders (Rajan et al.
2013). Only five species of flying
fishes belonging to four genera were reported from the islands (Rajan et al. 2013).
Only one species of genus Parexoceotus,
P. brachypterus, commonly known as sailfin
flying fish, familiar in the Andaman Islands, is captured in sardine gillnet (‘tharni net’) and marketed in the local market. P. mento,
a species originally described from the eastern Indian ocean near Pondicherry,
is recorded for the first time in the Andaman Islands showing an extended
geographical distribution. A brief
description of the species recorded is descried herein.
Twenty-three specimens were collected from the gill
net fishermen of Junglighat marine fish landing
centre (11.6590N & 72.7210E), Andaman & Nicobar
Islands. The specimens were caught as
bycatch of sardine gill net of mesh size of 20mm and hanging coefficient of
0.55. The specimens collected were of
poor quality due to the improper handling practices and their low market
value. The specimens were preserved in
5% formalin solution. The morphometric
measurements were taken in nearest 0.01 mm using the MitutoyoCD-6”ASX digital
calliper. The terminologies used in the
present study follow Parin (1996). The morphometric measurements were
transformed into ratios for size independent comparison. Both morphometric and meristic characters
were compared with relevant literature.
A total of 23 specimens examined are deposited in the Fisheries Museum
of ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair.
Systematics
Order: Beloniformes L.S. Berg,
1937
Family: Exocoetidae Risso, 1827
Genus: Parexocoetus
Bleeker, 1865
Species: Parexocoetus
mento (Valenciennes, 1847) (Fig. 1; Table 1)
Materials Examined: CIARI/MF 06¬29, 23.iii.2019, 23ex,
91.0–108.0mm SL, Junglighat Fish Market, Port Blair,
Andaman Islands, India (11.659°N & 72.721°E), coll. Gladston
& Ajina.
Description: The body is elongated and moderately compressed
laterally with blunt and short snout (Fig 1A).
The upper jaw is protrusible (Fig. 1B) and the
lower jaw little extended when closed (Fig 1B).
The entire body is covered with deciduous ctenoid scales. Caudal fin lobes unequal, and lower lobe is
large and elongated. Lateral line scales
well developed and passing though lower part of mid-lateral region. A well-developed lateral-line branch is
present and descending from the pectoral fin base. Greatest body depth is 20 ̶
23 % of the standard length and head 22–29 % of standard length. Morphometric measurements of P. mento are given in Table 1. Body proportions are expressed as a percentage
of standard length and head length.
Pectoral fins long, reaching to or beyond the origin
of the dorsal fin, it is about 48 to 55 % of the standard length. Pectoral fin
rays 10–12, mostly 12, middle elongated.
Single dorsal fin with all soft rays, originated posterior to the body
same line of anal fin origin. Dorsal
fins with about 10–11 fin rays (mostly 10) with middle ones are elongated and
reach up to the origin of upper caudal fin lobe. Pelvic fins as same as the length of anal fin
base with 5–6 rays (mostly 6), with third ray is longest, inserted near to anal
fin origin than the pectoral fin origin.
Anal fin originated the same line or after 2–3 rays of dorsal fin, base
length is same or nearer to height of dorsal fin. The anal fin number equal to the number of
dorsal fin rays, 10 ̶ 11 (mostly 10). Predorsal scales 16 to 20 (mostly 18). Gill rakers
elongated and serrated (Fig 1F.), on first arch 18 ̶ 24 (mostly 21) numbers
present (Fig 1E). Vomerine teeth
present.
Otoliths are comparatively large and oval (Fig. 1D).
Colour: Dark
bluish-green dorsally, silver on ventral side.
A large black spot present in the dorsal fin which touches the fin base,
pectoral fin greyish white to transparent in colour.
Range:
Pelagic in nearshore and neritic waters, rare in open ocean, found in the
Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean (Parin 1986;
Russell & Houston 1989; Sommer et al. 1996).
The present study records P. mento, the first time from the Andaman
Islands. The species has earlier known
Red Sea, Africa, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Japan, Australia, and Mediterranean
Sea (Russell & Houston 1989; Parin 1986). The original description of the species in
from southeastern coast of India near
Pondicherry. The existence of P. mento revealed additional biodiversity of
fish in Andaman Islands and also shows the new geographical distribution in
this region.
The earlier distribution of the species known from
Mediterranean coast of Palestine (Bruun 1935), Aegean
Sea (Kosswig 1950; Ben-Tuvia 1966; Fischer &
Bianchi 1984; Parin 1986) Gulf of Sidra (Ben-Tuvia
1966; South-east Mediterranean Sea (Ben-Tuvia 1966, 1985; Fischer & Bianchi
1984; Parin 1986; Golani
1996) and from Albania (Fischer & Bianchi 1984; Parin
1986).
This species
was originally described from the Pondicherry waters by Valenciennes in
1847. The further taxonomic description,
systematic position, and distribution of the species from the Mediterranean Sea
given by Ben-Tuvia (1966) and Parin (1986). According to Parin
(1986) the adults of P. mento can be
distinguished by a combination of characters including elongate, compressed
body rounded ventrally, with the presence of pectoral branch of the lateralline, protrusible upper
jaw and subequal rays in dorsal and anal fins.
Since it is a characteristic of the genus, these characters are similar
in P. brachypterus (Fischer &
Bianchi 1984). The major difference
between the two species is the dorsal fin height which reaches till caudal fin
lobe in P. mento, whereas it extends far
beyond in P. brachypterus. In both the species, middle ray is longest in
dorsal and pectoral fins. Similarly the
lower jaw of the P. mento is little
extended while in P. brachypterus both the
jaws are sub equal when closed. The dark
black spot in the dorsal fin is also a comparable character between the
species; it is big and dark in P. mento
reaching the base while smaller in P. brachypterus
which not extended to the base of fins.
In both the species, however, pectoral fins long but not reaching beyond
the posterior part of anal fins. Pelvic
fins medium-sized, reaching not far beyond anal fin origin, their insertion
closer to anal fin origin than to pectoral fin insertion in both the species.
Dorsal and anal fin rays of P. mento in the present collection is 10 to11 which is
within the range of 9–12 by Parin, 1986 while in P.
brachypterus it is reported as 12–14 (Fischer
& Bianchi 1984). Pre-dorsal scale of
16–20 was recorded in the present study, while it is 20–24 in P. brachypterus (Fischer & Bianchi
1984). According to this comprehensive
examination and comparison of diagnostic morphological characters, it is
confirmed the distribution of P. mento
in Andaman waters.
Although the species is known to Western Pacific and
Indian ocean from Marshall island to Japan to southern Africa and Red Sea;
eastern Mediterranean from port Said to Gulf of Sirda
and Near Rhodes Islands (Ben- Tuvia 1966; Fischer & Bianchi 1984; Parin 1986), the present study records a new geographic
distribution of P. mento. Hence the Andaman waters as mentioned
previously may harbour two Parexocoetus species,
P. brachypterus and P. mento, similar as per the conclusion of Fischer
& Bianchi (1984) from the Mediterranean Sea.
In Andaman & Nicobar Islands, both the species are
caught in selective lesser sardine gill nets as bycatch. The present record on the species is an
additional species to biodiversity database of fishes of Andaman waters.
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