Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:23:08.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New record of the deep-sea fish Neobythites multistriatus (Teleostei: Ophidiidae) from the south-west coast of India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2010

B. Madhusoodana Kurup
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin-682016, Kerala, India
Sherine Sonia Cubelio*
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin-682016, Kerala, India
Ginson Joseph
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin-682016, Kerala, India
S. Venu
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin-682016, Kerala, India
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: S.S. Cubelio, School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin-682016, Kerala, India email: sherinecubelio@yahoo.co.in
Get access

Abstract

The occurrence of benthopelagic fish, Neobythites multistriatus, off Mangalore, India, in the Arabian Sea, which is hitherto not recorded from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of India, is reported. The results of the comparison of meristic and morphometric characters with the holotype and paratypes of the species are presented. Neobythites multistriatus is closely related to N. fasciatus in terms of two opercular spines and several vertical bars on body ending as ocelli or dark blotches on dorsal and anal fin. However, it differs from the latter by having 11–13 long rakers versus 8–10 and anterior ocellus in front of line versus posterior to line. The occurrence of this little known benthopelagic fish further adds to and strengthens the rich deep sea ichthyofaunal biodiversity of the EEZ of India, which is hitherto not fully known.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cohen, D.M. and Nielsen, J.G. (1978) Guide to the identification of genera of the fish order Ophidiiformes with a tentative classification of the order. NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 417, 172.Google Scholar
Goode, G.B. and Bean, T.H. (1885) Description of new fishes obtained by the United States Fish Commission mainly from deep water off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 8, 589605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, J.G. (1995) A review of the species of the genus Neobythites (Pisces, Ophidiidae) from the western Indian Ocean with description of seven new species. Ichthyology Bulletin 62, 119.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J.G. (2002) Revision of the Indo-Pacific species of Neobythites (Teleostei, Ophidiidae) with 15 new species. In Wolff, T. (ed.) Scientific Results of the Danish Deep Sea Expedition Round the world 1950–52. Stenstrup, Denmark: Apollo Books, p. 105. [Galathea Report No. 19.]Google Scholar
Nielsen, J.G., Cohen, D.M., Markle, D.F. and Robins, R.C. (1999) FAO species catalogue of Ophidiiform fishes of the world (order: Ophidiiformes). Rome: FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, 18, 178 pp.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J.G. and Quéro, J.C. (1991) Quelques Ophidiiformes de l'ile de la Réunion: description d'une éspece nouvelle. Cybium 15, 193198.Google Scholar
Radcliffe, L. (1913) Descriptions of seven new genera and thirty-one new species of fishes of the families Brotulidae and Carapidae from the Philippine Islands and the Dutch East Indies. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 44, 135176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafinesque, C.S. (1810) Indice d'Ittiologia Siciliana. Messina: Presso Giovanni del Nobalo, 70 pp.Google Scholar
Scherbachev, Y.N., Pakhnorukov, N.P. and Piotrovsky, A.S. (1986) Mesobenthic and mesobenthopelagic fishes from submarine rises in the western Indian Ocean. Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 21, 195214. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Schwarzhans, W. (1994) Sexual and ontogenetic dimorphism in otoliths of the family Ophidiidae. Cybium 18, 7198.Google Scholar
Smith, M.M. and Heemstra, P.C. (1986) Family Ophidiidae. In Smith, M.M. and Heemstra, P.C. (eds) Smith's sea fishes. New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 1047.CrossRefGoogle Scholar