Filistriatus arabicus, a new species of threadfin (Polynemidae) from the northern Arabian Sea, India

K.V Akhilesh

doi:10.21077/ijf.2026.73.1.168247-04

Authors

K.V Akhilesh Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

https://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2026.73.1.168247-04

Keywords:

taxonomy, Polynemidae, DNA, Polydactylus, India, Arabian Sea, northern Indian Ocean

Abstract

A new species of threadfin, Filistriatus arabicus n. sp., is described based on three specimens (163-315 mm TL) collected from the coastal waters of Maharashtra (India), Arabian Sea. Filistriatus arabicus n. sp. can be distinguished from congeners by the presence of the following characters - 5 pectoral filaments, pectoral filament length 35.4-37.8% SL, reaching to or extending slightly beyond pelvic fin tip; black anterior lateral line spot absent; first dorsal fin with 8 spines, all spines equally robust; second dorsal fin with one spine and 13-14 soft rays; pectoral fin rays 15-16, length 4.5-4.7 in SL, origin below the lower end of maxilla horizontally; anal fin with 3 spines and 11 soft rays. 6-7 dark stripes along the scale rows above the lateral line, 7-8 scales above the lateral line, and 11-12 scales below the lateral line. Lateral line unbranched, 54-58 lateral line scales; 9-11+11-13 (20-24) gill rakers; upper jaw length 15-15.1% SL; distal margin of dorsal fins and pectorals black and anterior margin of pelvic dusky to black. The mitochondrial DNA (COI) sequence of F. arabicus exhibited a 6.6 to 10.3% sequence divergence from closest congeners.

Key words: DNA, Filistriatus, Northern Indian Ocean, Polynemidae,Taxonomy

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Barman, R.P & Mishra, S.S. (2011) A review on the identity of Threadfin fishes (Perciformes: Polynemidae) of India. Records of Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper No. 2010; 322, 1–46.

Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W. N. & Van der Laan, R. (Eds) (2020) Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes: Genera, Species, References, electronic version (07 December. 2020), San Francisco, USA. (http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp). Electronic version accessed 07 December. 2020.

Feltes, R. M. (1991) Revision of the polynemid fish genus Filimanus, with the description of two new species. Copeia, 2, 302-322.

Hall, T. (1999) BioEdit: A user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symposium Series, 41, 95–98.

Hida, T.S. (1967) The distribution and biology of polynemids caught by bottom trawling in Indian seas by the R/V Anton Bruun, 1963. Journal of Marine Biological Association of India, 9(2), 281–299.

Hubbs, C.L. & Lagler, K.F. (1958) Fishes of the Great Lakes Region. 2nd Edn., University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI., USA., pp: 213

Lim, P. K. A., Motomura, H. & Gambang, A.C.(2010) Polydactylus luparensis, a new species of threadfin (Perciformes: Polynemidae) from the Batang Lupar River, Sawawak, Borneo, Malaysia. Zootaxa, 2405, 63–68.

Motomura, H. (2002). Revision of the Indo-Pacific threadfin genus Polydactylus (Perciformes, Polynemidae) with a key to the species. Bulletin of the National Science Museum Series A (Zoology), 28 (3), 171–194.

Motomura, H. (2004) Threadfins of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of polynemid species known to date. Family Polynemidae. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 3. Rome, FAO. 2004. 117 p., 151 figs, 6 pls.

Motomura, H., Iwatsuki Y. & Yoshino, T. (2001) New species, Polydactylus siamensis, from Thailand and redescription of P. plebeius (Broussonet, 1782) with designation of a neotype (Perciformes: Polynemidae). Ichthyological Research,. 48 (2), 117–126.

Motomura, H., Kimura, S. & Iwatsuki, Y (2002) Revision of the threadfin genus Polydactylus (Perciformes: Polynemidae) from the eastern Pacific Ocean. Ichthyological Research, 49 (4): 358-366.

Motomura, H., Kimura S. & Iwatsuki, Y. (2001) Polydactylus bifurcus, a new species of threadfin from Lombok Island, Indonesia (Perciformes: Polynemidae). Ichthyological Research. 48 (3), 299-305.

Ward, R.D., Hanner, R. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2009) The campaign to DNA barcode all fishes, FISH-BOL. Journal of Fish Biology, 74 (2), 329–356.