Sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849)

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 : 611

Sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849)

Material examined. MALAYSIA • 2, 121– 131 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) 00004 .

Identification. Recently rediagnosed in Stern et al. (2016). A moderate-sized species of Clupeidae (maximum TL about 170 mm); body relatively slender, strongly compressed and fully keeled from isthmus to anus (scutes 32); mouth small, upward; no lateral line; last dorsal fin ray not filamentous; lower gill rakers on first gill arch 48–69; vertical striae on scales discontinuous, not meeting at centre; flanks and belly silver, dorsum dark greyblue; a black mark at the dorsal fin base, a diffuse ovoid black mark behind upper part of gill opening.

Sardinella gibbosa can be separated from S. albella occurring in the Merbok river estuary by a relatively slender body and more scutes. Sardinella gibbosa is a predominantly coastal marine species and one of the most common species of Clupeidae caught in brackish ecosystems of this region ( Tongnunui et al. 2002). Otherwise, widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region, from India to Australia ( Whitehead 1985).