Brachygobius cf. kabiliensis Inger, 1958

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 : 617-618

Brachygobius cf. kabiliensis Inger, 1958

Material examined. MALAYSIA • 3, 14– 16 mm TL;

Kedah State, Semeling, Semeling Bridge; 5.680°N, 100.470°E; 17 Jul. 2019; Sébastien Lavoué leg.; USMFC (34) 00020.

Identification. A very small fish (TL ≤ 16 mm). Body relatively short; head large dorso-ventrally compressed; trunk and tail laterally compressed; only few large predorsal scales present; opercular scales present; anal fin rays 7; second dorsal fin rays 7 or 8; body color cream with four black bars all extending from mid-dorsal line to mid-ventral line; first bar extending to anterior part of first dorsal fin; second bar extending to anterior part of the second dorsal fin and extending to anterior part of anal fin; front head and snout black; first and second dor- sal fins, anal fin and pectoral fins with black marks.

The taxonomy of the genus Brachygobius needs revision ( Larson 2001). The combination of morphological characteristics of our specimens seems distinctive, making their identification difficult. Based on the identifi- cation key of Inger (1958), our species resembles to B. kabiliensis in having opercular scales, four black bars, and 7 rays at second dorsal and anal fins. However, the predorsal scale pattern and the shape of the first and sec- ond bars clearly distinguish our specimens from typical specimens of B. kabiliensis (as illustrated by Inger 1958: fig. 19; Huang et al 2013: fig. 1g). In B. kabiliensis , the first bar does not extend to the mid-ventral line, the second bar does not reach the anal fin and the predorsal region seems fully scaled ( Inger 1958). We preliminary identified our specimen as B. cf. kabiliensis . Further taxonomic work may show that it is a distinct species.