Nuchequula nuchalis (Temminck and Schlegel, 1845)

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 : 6

3. Nuchequula nuchalis (Temminck and Schlegel, 1845)

(Plate I, Fig. 3; Tables 1–3)

Equula blochii Valenciennes , in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1835, Hist. Nat. poiss., 10: 84.

Material examined. 30 specimens (11 females, 10 males, 9 indeterminate) of 71– 94 mm TL ( Cochin, Neendakara ) .

Description. D.VIII, 15–16; P. ii, 12–14, i–iii; V. I, 5; A. II, 14; C. 15. Ll. 49–57.

As percent of standard length: Total length 131.34–136.54 (133.74); fork length 112.96–118.75 (115.78); predorsal 34.55–38.89 (36.78); preanal 46.55–52.24 (49.74); dorsal base 55.07–58.18 (56.17); anal base 40.30–44.62 (43.10); head 27.59–31.03 (29.28); dorsal height 19.70–24.07 (21.93); anal height 17.91–21.74 (19.57); pectoral 17.91–23.08 (20.45); depth 36.21–42.59 (39.72).

As percent of head length: Snout 22.22–30.00 (25.98); eye 27.78–37.50 (32.58); head height 80.00–88.89 (84.24).

Body oval, compressed, rather elongate. Dorsal and ventral profiles almost equally convex, the former evenly curved from tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin. Snout pointed. Mouth small, lips narrow and thin. Mouth when protracted forms a tube directed downwards. Gape of mouth opposite lower third of eye. Lower jaw strongly concave. Teeth small, numerous, villiform, in each jaw. Two small spines on top of the head opposite front border of the eye. Pre-opercle with a finely serrated lower margin. First part of the lateral line shows concavity, later running less convex to the dorsal profile, extending posteriorly to the base of the caudal fin. Ventrals not reaching half way to the anals and with axillary scales. Caudal deeply forked.

Color. Abdomen more silvery than back, with black irregular bands extending to about half level. Light brown blotch on nape, which covers an area from about the posterior half of the nuchal spine to the origin of the dorsal fin. Membrane from above the half level to the tip of spines between the second to the seventh dorsal spines black. Tip of snout dotted black. Fine black dots on ventral half of the body. Inner side of the pectoral, posteriorly dark coloured. Gill opening area covered by the lower half of the operculum also dotted black.

Distribution. Known from off Cochin, Quilon, Madras, Kakinada, and Calcutta and in Sunder bans and Chalk Lake.