Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847)

Zainal Abidin, Danial Hariz, Lavoué, Sébastien, Mohd Abu Hassan Alshari, Norli Fauzani, Mohd. Nor, Siti Azizah, A. Rahim, Masazurah & Mohammed Akib, Noor Adelyna, 2021, Ichthyofauna of Sungai Merbok Mangrove Forest Reserve, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, and its adjacent marine waters, Check List 17 (2), pp. 601-631 : 609

Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847)

Figure 3C

Material examined. MALAYSIA • 5, 91– 101 mm TL; Kedah State, Kuala Kedah, Kuala Muda Whispering Market ; 05.578°N, 100.341°E; 6 Dec. 2018; Danial H. Zainal Abidin, Norli F.M.A.H. Alshari leg.; USMFC (5) 00003 .

Identification. A small species of Clupeidae (maximum TL about 100 mm); body relatively deep, strongly compressed and fully keeled from isthmus to anus (scutes 28–30); mouth small, upward; last dorsal fin ray not fila- mentous; lower gill rakers 16–25 (on first gill arch); body light greyish/greenish with a large (i.e., 1½ larger than eye diameter) silver lateral stripe on flanks, from the opercular margin to caudal fin base; paired lines of mela- nophores along back, from occiput to caudal fin base; fins mostly translucent; caudal fin with black margin (White- head 1985).

Escualosa thoracata can be distinguished from other clupeids occurring in the Merbok river estuary by the presence of large silver lateral stripe on flanks. Escualosa thoracata is a predominantly coastal marine species and a common species of Clupeidae caught in brackish ecosystems of this region (e.g., Tongnunui et al. 2002). Otherwise, distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region, from India to Australia ( Whitehead 1985).