Ophichthus johnmccoskeri Mohapatra, Ray, Mohanty, Mishra, 2018

Mohapatra, Anil, Mohanty, Swarup Ranjan & Roy, Sanmitra, 2019, First record of Ophichthus johnmccoskeri (Ophichthidae: Ophichthinae) from Chilika lagoon, India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 119 (3) : -

Ophichthus johnmccoskeri Mohapatra, Ray, Mohanty, Mishra, 2018

Material examined: India, Chilika Lagoon , 23.09.1987, 5 ex., 335–398 mm TL, coll. Dr. K. V. Rama Rao (Reg. No. EBRC /ZSI/ F 10517) .

Characters: The species is a moderately elongated eel ( Figure 1 ) with dorsal fin origin well behind the pectoral fin origin with pre-dorsal length 5.8 to 6.2 times in total Length (TL). Dorsal fin medium and anal fin high and both end before the tail tip, thus tail tip finless. Preanal length

2.6-2.7 times in TL and tail 1.6 in TL. Head length 11.6-

12.8 in TL snout pointed upper jaw slightly longer than the lower jaw. Pectoral fin well developed and rounded. Anterior nostril small and tubular not reaching the snout tip posterior nostril a hole covered by a flap in the upper lip, opening towards the mouth. Upper lip is having single barbel between the anterior and posterior nostrils. The details of morphometric measurements along the comparison with type specimens were given in Table 1.

Head pores small, 1 frontal pore; supraorbital pores 1+3; infraorbital pores 4+2; preopercular pores 2; mandibular pores 6; nine lateral-line pores before gill opening and pectoral fin origin; 23-25 pores before dorsal fin and 53-54 lateral line pores before anus. The pre pattern is exactly as that of the holotype. Teeth sharp and conical and almost in the same pattern as that of type specimens as described by Mohapatra et al., (2018).

Total length in mm

Preanal length in TL Predorsal length in TL

Tail length in TL

Head length in TL

Body depth at GO in TL Body depth at anus in TL

Eye diameter in HL

Snout length in HL

Interorbital space in HL Upper jaw length in HL

Lower jaw length in HL

Predorsal vertebrae

Preanal vertebrae

Total vertebrae

Supraorbital pores

Infraorbital pores

Preoperculor pores Mandibular pores

Frontal pore

Lateral– line pores before GO

Lateral line before anus 246 – 365 mm 335 – 398 mm

2.6 2.6 – 2.7

5.5 – 6.0 5.8 – 6.2

1.6 1.6

11.8 – 12.7 11.6 – 12.8 48.7 – 52.6 45.3– 52.9 28.1– 35.1 29.0 – 33.5

12.4 – 13.7 11.6 – 13.4

6.0 – 6.8 5.8 – 6.1

10.3 – 10.8 9.7 – 9.8 3.7– 3.9 3.4 – 3.9

4.1– 4.4 3.6 – 4.2

24 -

51– 52 -

156 – 158 -

1+3 1+3

4+2 4+2

2 2

6 6

1 1

9 9 53 – 54 53 – 54

Figures

Figure 1. Ophichthus johnmccoskeri Mohapatra, Ray, Mohanty, Mishra, 2018 from Chilika lagoon, Odisha, India.