Secutor ruconius (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)

Abraham, K. J., Joshi, K. K. & Murty, V. S. R., 2011, Taxonomy of the fishes of the family Leiognathidae (Pisces, Teleostei) from the West coast of India, Zootaxa 2886 (1), pp. 1-18 : 15

14. Secutor ruconius (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)

(Plate II, Fig. 6; Tables 1 –2)

Chanda ruconius Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822 , Fish. Ganges, P. 106, 371, pl.126, fig.35.

Material examined. 30 specimens (7 females, 9 males, 14 indeterminates) of 42–83 mm TL ( Cochin, Neendakara ) .

Description. D.VIII, 16; P. ii, 12–14, i–ii; V. I, 5; A. III, 14; C. 15.

As percent of standard length: Total length 130.77–140.00 (135.19); fork length 110.26–118.75 (115.28); predorsal 35.48–40.91 (38.28); preanal 40.63–47.17 (43.92); dorsal base 52.27–57.41 (54.87); anal base 46.81– 51.85 (49.61); head 26.42–30.77 (28.93); dorsal height 15.63–20.37 (17.47); anal height 10.34–13.95 (12.19); pectoral 20.93–25.00 (22.68); depth 56.41–62.75 (59.57).

As percent of head length: Snout 18.18–28.57 (24.28); eye 30.00–42.86 (37.15); head height 125.00–144.44 (134.66).

Body oval, strongly compressed and deep. Ventral profile, much more convex than the dorsal profile. Rostrooccipital line of the head concave. Mouth small, oblique, lips broad and thin, lower lip smaller and broader than the upper. Mouth when protracted forms a tube directed upwards. Gape of mouth opposite middle level of the eye. Lower margin of lower jaw slightly concave and at right angles to the mouth slit. Teeth minute, numerous and in a villiform band. One small spine on head. Pre-opercle with its lower margin finely serrate. Lateral line convex from the beginning later runs less convex to the dorsal profile, often indistinct from the middle of the soft dorsal. Ventrals with axillary scales and do not reach even half way to the anals. Caudal deeply incised, lobes pointed. Ventrolateral lobes of light oragns hypertrophied.

Color. Body silvery with about ten or so black or gray vertical bands on the back, extending to a little below the lateral line, anteriorly commencing below tip of the nuchal spine and posteriorly extending up to the end of the soft dorsal, and often the lines are in continuous patches. Membrane between the second and fifth dorsal spines black in the upper one third portion. A prominent curved black band running from lower margin of eye to beyond posterior angle of lower jaw. Abdomen silvery, dotted with black pigment dots. Pectoral axil dotted black.

Distribution. Along Goa, Cochin, Quilon, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Chilka lake, Porto Novo and Godavary estuary. Among these places it is more abundant at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.