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Annotated checklist of ponyfishes (Perciformes: Leiognathidae) from Bangladesh, the northern Bay of Bengal

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Journal of Fish Biology
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S.M. Sharifuzzaman
S.M. Sharifuzzaman
S.M. Sharifuzzaman
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Istiuk Ahammed Rubby at Wageningen University & Research
Istiuk Ahammed Rubby
Kazi Ahsan Habib at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
Kazi Ahsan Habib
Seishi Kimura at Mie University
Seishi Kimura
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Abstract and Figures

Information on the taxonomy of ponyfishes (Leiognathidae Gill 1893) from Bangladesh was hitherto inadequate and details of some species were lacking. Based on specimens, the present study reports 12 species of ponyfishes from the coasts of Bangladesh with short descriptions of their diagnostic characters. Six of these species, Aurigequula longispina (Valenciennes 1835), Deveximentum megalolepis (Mochizuki & Hayashi 1989), Equulites leuciscus (Günther 1860), Eubleekeria rapsoni (Munro 1964), Gazza rhombea Kimura, Yamashita & Iwatsuki 2000 and Karalla daura (Cuvier 1829), constitute the first records in Bangladesh. The present specimens of D. megalolepis represent the westernmost distribution of this species in the Indo‐Pacific region.
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BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Annotated checklist of ponyfishes (Perciformes: Leiognathidae)
from Bangladesh, the northern Bay of Bengal
S.M. Sharifuzzaman
1
| Istiuk Ahammed Rubby
2
| Kazi Ahsan Habib
3
|
Seishi Kimura
4
| Md. Harun Rasid
2
| Md. Jayedul Islam
3
| Amit Kumer Neogi
3
|
M. Shahadat Hossain
1
1
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of
Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
2
Department of Fisheries, University of
Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
3
Department of Fisheries Biology and
Genetics, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
4
Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie
University, Tsu, Japan
Correspondence
S. M. Sharifuzzaman, Institute of Marine
Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong
4331, Bangladesh.
Email: sharifuzzaman@cu.ac.bd or
Email: sharifuzzaman.imsf@gmail.com
Funding information
University of Chittagong, Grant/Award
Number: 6315/gobe/pori/proka/doptor/C.
U./2018
Abstract
Information on the taxonomy of ponyfishes (Leiognathidae Gill 1893) from
Bangladesh was hitherto inadequate and details of some species were lacking. Based
on specimens, the present study reports 12 species of ponyfishes from the coasts of
Bangladesh with short descriptions of their diagnostic characters. Six of these spe-
cies, Aurigequula longispina (Valenciennes 1835), Deveximentum megalolepis
(Mochizuki & Hayashi 1989), Equulites leuciscus (Günther 1860), Eubleekeria rapsoni
(Munro 1964), Gazza rhombea Kimura, Yamashita & Iwatsuki 2000 and Karalla daura
(Cuvier 1829), constitute the first records in Bangladesh. The present specimens of
D. megalolepis represent the westernmost distribution of this species in the Indo-
Pacific region.
KEYWORDS
Bay of Bengal, Leiognathidae, marine fish, new record, taxonomy
In recent years, the taxonomy of Leiognathidae, commonly known as
ponyfishes, has been restructured substantially, with some newly
defined or described genera and species confirmed through detailed
morphological and phylogenetic studies (Chakrabarty et al., 2011a, b;
Kimura et al., 2008a, b, c; Sparks et al., 2005; Sparks &
Chakrabarty, 2015, 2019; Suzuki & Kimura, 2017). At present, the
family consists of 10 genera, namely Aurigequula Fowler 1918,
Deveximentum Fowler 1904 (formerly known as Secutor Gistel 1848),
Equulites Fowler 1904, Eubleekeria Fowler 1904, Gazza Rüppell 1835,
Karalla Chakrabarty & Sparks 2008, Leiognathus Lacepède 1802,
Nuchequula Whitley 1932, Photolateralis Sparks & Chakrabarty, 2015,
and Photopectoralis Sparks et al., 2005, with about 54 species world-
wide, including the recently described Deveximentum mekranensis
Alavi-Yeganeh et al., 2021 (Fricke et al., 2021).
Geographically, ponyfishes are widespread in the Indo-Pacific
region, from the Red Sea and the eastern coast of Africa through
India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Australia, China, Taiwan and Japan
(Chakrabarty et al., 2008; Jones, 1985; Ju et al., 2017; Kimura, 2015;
Miki et al., 2018; Randall, 1995; Woodland et al., 2001). Additionally,
at least two species, Equulites klunzinger (Stiendachner 1898) and
Equulites popei (Whitely 1932), are known to invade the Mediterra-
nean Sea through the Suez Canal (Golani et al., 2002; Suzuki &
Kimura, 2017).
The species diversity of leiognathid fishes in Bangladesh has been
considered to be relatively low (11 species) compared to those
reported from other parts of the Bay of Bengal, such as the Odisha
coast of India (16 species; Barman et al., 2007) and Sri Lanka (13 spe-
cies; Chakrabarty et al., 2008). Until now, nine of those 11 species
were recorded with their taxonomic descriptions (Islam et al., 2002;
Rahman et al., 2009; Siddiqui et al., 2007), although details of some
species were inadequate or lacking. For example, studies by
Hussain (1970), Hossain et al. (2007) and Habib et al. (2020) listed the
names of Leiognathus brevirostris (a junior synonym of Photopectoralis
bindus Valenciennes 1835; see Kimura et al., 2008b) and Leiognathus
blochii (=Nuchequula blochii Valenciennes 1835), but did not include
any descriptions for those species. Based on specimens collected in
this study, we herein provide an updated list of the leiognathid fishes
from Bangladesh with six new records, stating brief diagnostic
Received: 4 April 2021 Accepted: 20 August 2021
DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14890
FISH
2044 © 2021 Fisheries Society of the British Isles. J Fish Biol. 2021;99:2044–2051.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfb
... The Eastern Mediterranean has a very dynamic ichthyofaunal structure due to the continuous increase of Indo-Pacific species (Mavruk et al. 2017). Leiognathidae, commonly known as ponyfishes, consists of ten genera and 54 species (Sharifuzzaman et al. 2021). This family was previously represented by Equulites klunzingeri (Steindachner, 1898) and Equulites popei (Whitley, 1932) in the Mediterranean Sea. ...
... They are found in depths ranging from 5-70 m, and they characteristically have a deeper body (Pauly et al. 1996;Suzuki and Kimura 2017). The second dorsal spine elongation and yellow markings below the lateral line are the main features that distinguish this species from the other species in its family (Sharifuzzaman et al. 2021). ...
... Morphometric and meristic characters were measured and counted, respectively. The species was identified according to Fischer and Bianchi (1984), Sharifuzzaman et al. (2021) and Chakrabarty et al. (2010b). ...
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