Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2018 | 10(5): 11697–11700
On
the occurrence of the rare Long-nosed Stargazer Ichthyscopus
lebeck (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Uranoscopidae)
in the coastal waters off Visakhapatnam, India
Govinda Rao Velamala 1 & Muddula Krishna Naranji
2
1,2 Department of Marine Living Resources, Andhra
University, Waltair Junction, Visakhapatnam, Andhra
Pradesh 530003, India
1 govind.v.mlr@gmail.com,
2 krishna.muddu217@gmail.com (corresponding author)
doi: http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3520.10.5.11697-11700
| ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1CBC4EAB-FCE5-4140-8A5F-710A584AEC92
Editor:
A. Biju Kumar, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram,
India. Date
of publication: 26 April 2018 (online & print)
Manuscript
details: Ms # 3520 | Received 27 May 2017 | Final received 29
December 2017 | Finally accepted 30 March 2018
Citation: Velamala, G.R. & M.K. Naranji (2018). On the
occurrence of the rare Long-nosed Stargazer Ichthyscopus
lebeck (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Uranoscopidae) in the coastal waters off Visakhapatnam,
India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 10(5): 11697–11700; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3520.10.5.11697-11700
Copyright: © Velamala & Naranji 2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The
authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors very much thankful to the Head, Marine
Living Resources department, College of Science and Technology, Andhra
University for providing facilities during the study period.
Fishes of the
family Uranoscopidae are commonly known as
stargazers. This family comprises
eight genera, 53 species (Springer & Bauchot
1994; Kishimoto 2001; Nelson 2006; Eschmeyer & Fong 2012; Froese
& Pauly 2015). Ichthyscopus lebeck was originally described
from Tharangambadi, India by Bloch & Schneider
in 1801. It has subsequently been
recorded from various parts of India (in the early days often its junior
synonym Ichthyscopus inermis
or Anema inerme),
e.g., by Cuvier & Valenciennes (1829), GŸnther (1860), Day (1865) and Day (1876) and
subsequent papers, mostly from southern India, but from Digha
Coast of West Bengal Goswami (1992), Laccadives coast (Murty 1969),
Manna & Goswami (1985), from Chennai coast Chatterjee et al. (2000); north as Digha Yennawar et al. (2012) and Venkataraman & Sivaperuman (2014) studied marine faunal diversity in
India.
Two specimens were
caught by using a gill net from Visakhapatnam coastal waters, east coast of
India (Image 1) during the month of March 2013. Body measurements and meristic data were
taken in fresh condition. Standard
length was measured from the tip of the snout to caudal fin base. In presenting the
meristic and body measurements (expressed as percentage of SL or HL). Colour was noted in fresh condition.
Morphometric and meristic characters and species identification followed by (Hubbs & Lagler 1947 ; Gomon & Johnston
1999). The specimens were preserved
in 5% formalin and deposited in Marine Living Resource department Museum,
Andhra University (Voucher no: AU/ DMLR /124/2014).
Class: Pisces
Sub-class: Teleostei
Order: Perciformes
Family: Uranoscopidae
Species: Ichthyscopus
lebeck
Ichthyscopus lebeck
(Bloch &
Schneider, 1801) (Images 2–4)
Description
based on two specimens measuring 175–192 mm, SL.
Morphometric data
of two specimens given in Table
Body moderately,
slightly round form; head cuboid in shape, with internal nares. Head region
covered with ridges. Mouth
moderately large in size; teeth palatine with vomer; eyes are small in size, directed dorsally placed on head.
Upper margin of nasal valves fringed.
Dorsal fin with two spines; pectoral fin
rays thick fleshy and knife shaped; upper rays longer than the middle rays;
pelvic fin with six rays; caudal fin truncate. A respiratory groove present in between
upper part of the cleithrum and pectoral fin which
connects the gill opening; posterior edge of opercle
fringed and an elongate angular flap with papillae behind shoulder; mid portion
of ventral a dermal flap present on margin of belly region; body with three
rows of spots present; lateral line reaches to rear end of caudal fin; body
covered with embedded cycloid scales.
Colour: Body canary
yellowish with buffy-light brown marking along the sides; anterior portion of
the dorsal fin with canary yellowish; base of the dorsal fin or below half of
the dorsal fin with light brownish colour; lower part of the body with white
and pale yellow in colour; inner and outer side of the pectoral and pelvic fins
with canary yellow with white margin.
Anal and ventral part of the body canary yellowish in colour; caudal fin
brownish and pale yellow with dark extremities. Head light brownish; interorbital space with small unconscious white spots; opercle margin with brownish vermiculation; with small
brown vermiculated linings present.
Morphometric
measurements, meristic counts and colour of the present specimen were similar
to the specimen examined by Munro (1955).
According to Munro (1955) III-IV dorsal spines; 16–18
dorsal soft rays; anal 16–19 and pectoral rays 18 and according to Froese & Pauly (2015) dorsal
II spines, 16–20 soft rays, anal soft rays 17–18 and pelvic fin
rays I,5 where as in the present study dorsal fin rays 18; Anal 17; pectoral
fin rays 18 present. I. lebeck
is characterized by its obliquely elongated posterior nostrils (Kishimoto 2001).
The species of this genus Ichthyoscopus
has a more circumtropical in distribution and
occur in warm and temperate waters from estuaries to the deep sea, mostly
caught in traditional catches wide spread in mostly recorded from southern
coasts of India, Singapore and Ceylon.
This is a rare
species recorded from Visakhapatnam coastal waters.
Table 1. Meristic counts comparison
table of I. lebeck from different authors
|
|
Dorsal |
Anal fin rays |
Pectoral rays |
Pelvic fin rays |
Caudal fin rays |
|
Yannawar et al. (2012) |
II,18 |
I, 17 |
19 |
I, 6 |
12 |
|
Krishna & Rao
(2017) |
II, 18 |
I, 18 |
18 |
I,5 |
13 |
Table 2. Morphometric data of species of
Ichthyscopus lebeck
represented in the catches of Visakhapatnam, India
|
Standard
length in mm SL |
Ichthyscopus lebeck n= 2 |
Yannawar et al. (2012) |
|
175–192 |
|
|
|
Min–Max |
|
|
|
As
percentage of standard length |
|
|
|
Total
length |
120.93–122.05 |
|
|
Body
depth |
40.00–40.69 |
2.3–2.9 |
|
Head
length |
44.40–46.5 |
2.8–2.83 |
|
Pre
dorsal distance |
45.64–47.67 |
|
|
Pre
pectoral distance |
35.46–36.92 |
|
|
Pre pelvic distance |
25.58–26.66 |
|
|
Pre
anal distance |
51.28–55.23 |
|
|
Dorsal base |
47.67–49.23 |
|
|
Pectoral
base |
18.60–19.48 |
|
|
Anal base |
44.18–44.40 |
|
|
Ventral
base |
6.97–8.20 |
|
|
1st
Dorsal ray height |
2.32–3.07 |
|
|
9th
dorsal ray height |
15.69–15.89 |
|
|
Pectoral
length |
36.92–37.06 |
|
|
Soft
Pelvic fin length |
23.25–24.61 |
|
|
1st
Anal soft ray height |
6.97–9.23 |
|
|
Last
soft anal ray height |
9.88–11.28 |
|
|
Percentage
of head length% |
|
|
|
Head
depth |
78.27–84.72 |
|
|
Head
width |
96.97–97.22 |
|
|
Eye
diameter |
10.60–13.88 |
17.4–18.3 |
|
Pre
orbital distance |
12.12–13.88 |
|
|
Post orbital distance |
72.72–73.61 |
|
|
Inter
orbital distance |
21.21–25.00 |
|
|
Maxilla width |
13.63–15.27 |
|
|
Maxilla length |
34.72–36.36 |
|
|
Snout
length |
12.12–13.00 |
|
|
Caudal
peduncle depth |
10.25–10.46 |
|
|
Inter
fossa length |
18.18–19.44 |
|
|
Inter
fossa width |
9.09–12.50 |
|
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