Alepes melanoptera (Swainson, 1839)

Ray, Dipanjan, Mishra, Subhrendu S., Mohapatra, Anil & Ghorai, Narayan, 2021, Notes on Carangids (Carangiformes: Carangidae) from West Bengal Coast with new records, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 121 (4), pp. 511-520 : 512-513

Alepes melanoptera (Swainson, 1839) : Black fin scad ( Figure 1 )

1839. Trachinus (Alepes) melanoptera Swainson, Nat. Hist. Classification , 2: 248 (type-locality: Vizagapatnam, India).

Diagnosis: D VIII+I, 24; A II+I, 21; P 21; V I, 5; GR 30; LL scutes 52. Body depth 2.6 in SL; HL 3.2 in SL; eye diameter 3.9 in HL, second dorsal fin base 2.5 in SL. Dorsal and ventral profile of body equally convex; adipose eyelid well developed on the posterior half of the eye; supramaxilla small without spine like anterior projection; both jaws with single row of numerous closeset small teeth. Body coloured bluish-grey dorsally and silvery ventrally; spinous dorsal fin distinctly dark black; other fins light yellowish; opercular margin with a dusky blotch ( Figure 1 ).

Distribution: Widely distributed in tropical Indo-west Pacific, from Persian Gulf, through India, Sri Lanka, eastward to Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Indonesia and the Philippines ( Smith-Vaniz, 1999). From Indian coast this species was reported from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman Islands ( Joshi et al., 2011), Maharashtra ( Barman et al., 2012), Gujarat ( Barman et al., 2000).

Remarks: The present report forms the first record of Alepes melanoptera (Swainson, 1839) from West Bengal coast. This species can be distinguished from its congeners that occur in this region by distinguishable black colouration of the spinous dorsal fin which is absent (mostly hyaline) in all other Alepes species.

Figures

Figure 1. Alepes melanoptera (Swainson, 1839).