Rediscovery of Mastacembelus malabaricus after one and Half Century
Author Affiliations
- 1Govt. College, Chavara, Kollam Dt, Kerala, INDIA
- 2St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry, Kerala, INDIA
Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci., Volume 1, Issue (8), Pages 6-11, September,24 (2013)
Abstract
Mastacembelus malabaricus Jerdon has long been placed in synonymy with Mastacembelus armatus and Macrognathus guentheri. An examination of the specimens of M. malabaricus collected recently from its type locality in Kerala shows however, that it exhibits many valid differences from its congeners. Jerdon's spiny eel is distinguished from its relative species by having eleven large and conspicuous "X" marks on the mid lateral sides,39- 40 dorsal spines,shorter head, shorter dorsal fin, lengthy base of dorsal fin, lesser pre dorsal and pre anal length and shorter dorsal and anal spines. Meristic and morphometric characters are analyzed well based on the topotypic materials.
References
- Day F., Fauna of British India including Ceylon andBurma, Taylor and Francis, London, 334 (1889)
- Jayaram K.C., The fresh water fishes of India: A handbook. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, i- viii, 1- 475(1981)
- Jayaram K. C., Fresh water fishes of the Indian region, Narendra publishing House, Delhi, 415- 419 (2010)
- Jayaram K. C., Fundamentals of fish taxonomy, Narendrapublishing House, Delhi, 53-65 (2002)
- Jerdon T. C., The fishes of Southern India, Madras Journalof Literature and Science xv, 147 (1849)
- Day F., The Fishes of Malabar, Bernard Quaritch, London,153- 155 (1865)
- Day F., The fishes of India: being a natural history of thefishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon, London, 340 (1878)
- Yazdani G. M., Contribution to the fish fauna of India:Order Mastacembeliformes, Records of zoological surveyof India, Occasional paper No. 124, 1- 127 (1990)
- Talwar P. K. and Jhingran. A., Inland fishes of India andadjacent countries, Oxford and IBH publishing Co. Pvt.Ltd, 1025- 1033 (1991)
- Menon A. G. K., Check list of fresh water fishes of India, Zoologial Survey of India, Occassional Paper No. 175, 366(1999)