First record on the absence of anal fin in the white sardine, Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) from Indian waters

White sardine, Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) forms a minor fishery along the west coast of India. An abnormal specimen of white sardine, lacking anal fin, was collected from Mangalore coast along with the normal specimens. The characters of the abnormal specimen are described along with normal specimens. The report is the first of its kind for E. thoracta from Indian waters. The possible causes of the abnormality in this species have been discussed in this communication

Deep genetic divergence in Randall’s threadfin bream Nemipterus randalli Russell, 1986 population from Northern Bay of Bengal inferred by mtDNA sequences

Nemipterus randalli is one of the most commercially important fish species along the Indian coast. Specimens were sampled from Visakhapatnam, northern Bay of Bengal, along the east coast of India. We analysed the data generated in the present study with previously available sequences from the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Intraspecific variation in COI sequences between the Visakhapatnam and other locales varied from 0.7–1.1%. Also, analysis of D-loop sequences revealed deep genetic divergence with high pairwise ΦST values (0.77–0.89). Results identified a distinct population of N. randalli from Visakhapatnam. To conserve genetic integrity, special attention and detailed studies are needed on the Visakhapatnam population of N. randalli in the northern Bay of Bengal

Mistaken by dots: Revealing the misidentification of Saurida lessepsianus (Actinopterygii: Aulopiformes: Synodontidae) along the west coast of India (eastern Arabian Sea)

The presently reported study identified Saurida lessepsianus Russell, Golani et Tikochinski, 2015 from the west coast of India, which was earlier diagnosed as Saurida undosquamis (Richardson, 1848) due to their morphological similarities. Saurida lessepsianus is characterized by 48–51 lateral line scales, 44–47 vertebrae, 3–6 rows of teeth on tongue and anterior part of stomach black. The identity of this species was also confirmed by molecular examination (phylogenetic analysis of the COI sequences) and the study revealed a genetic divergence value of 0.08 between S. lessepsianus and S. undosquamis. Our study confirms the extended distribution of S.   lessepsianus along the west coast of India (eastern Arabian Sea) from the Red Sea-Mediterranean Sea