To study the fish fauna at two centres, Mandapam

and Pamban by making collections there; to study

the characteristic features of various groups;

and to identify the important species with the aid

of literature (both in the field and in the laboratory

Badrudeen, M

Jayaprakash, A A

CMFRI Digital Repository

Proceedings of the Summer Institute in Recent Advances on the Study of Marine Fish Eggs and Larvae 14 JUNE to 3 JULY, 1989 ICAR CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE Dr. SALIM ALI ROAD COCHIN-682 031. »ll') fl CMFRl/Sl/1989/Pr.I STUDY OF THE ICHTHYOFAUNA OF THE LOCALITY OF WORK . By A.A. Jayaprakash Scientist (Selection Grade) and M._Badrudeen Technical Officer (Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Cochin) (A) Aim; To study the fish fauna at two centres, Mandapam and Pamban by making collections there; to study the characteristic features of various groups; and to identify the important species with the aid of literature (both in the field and in the laboratory) (B) Materials; Field note book, bucket with lid, ice box, polythene covers, scissors, scalpels, mounted needles, dividers,, pins, measuring boards, scales, H.B.pencil, Indian ink, tags, labels, cotton, lab towels, hypodermic syringe, hand lens, microscope and chemicals such as methylated spirit, concentra-ted formalin (40%), Hexamine, Borax and Ammonia. (C) Methods; (I) COLLECTION 1. Visit the landing centre at the - time of fish landings. 2. Collect the different types of fishes from various gears and note the total length, fork length and standard length. 3. Care should be taken to collect fresh specimens and to avoid mutilated and damaged specimens, unless otherwise interested. -2-4. Wash the fish thoroughly in sea water without damaging the'fish* , ^ . 5. Colour patterns are species-specific. ..Note this in the fresh condition itself as it may fade out after preservation. 6. Record details such as date, time, locality, depth, gear, nature of the fishing ground and additional information on the ecology if any, in the field note book. Keep the fish in polythene bags with proper labels or tags. 7- If the labortoryls far away, preserve the specimens collected in formalin in the field itself or keep them in ice box, 8. Bring the fish to the laboratory for detailed examination ahd preservation. Each specimen may be fixed. Fins, spines, rays etc., may be stretched and fixed by pins with least damage, on a soft wooden boardi Do not allow the fish to dry. Add a few drops of formalin on the stretched out fins and rays, 9, Small fishes; If alive, drop them into a mixture :0f equal parts' of methylated spirit and water for five minutes and transfer them to dilut* formalin (1 part of concentrated formalin to 6 parts of water), 10, Medium fishes; When dead, in a state of as fresh as possible, place the better-side down on a smooth board. By means of pins set all flns».' spines and rays. Try to prevent the head from turning up. Make a small incision on the belly on the right side and preserve it in dilute formalin. 11, Large fishes; Apart-from making incision on the belly, large fishes may be injected with formalin using a hypodermic syringe. Also some incisions may be made dorsally on both sides of the backbone. -3-12. If the specimens are "^ 0 be left for several weeks in formalin, household Borax (1 teaspoon per each - x Qallon of fixative) may be added to neutralise (* the acidic effect. Other methods are: a) To 1 pint (1 pint « 0,568 litre) of concentrated formalin add 2 oz (1 oz = 28 gm .©) ordinary Hexamine and 6 pint water; b) To 1 pint concentrated formalin add 5 pints of water .and 3 oz. Ammonia solution. 13. A good quality label is essential. Labels are best written with waterproof carbon ink or with a soft pencil. (II) IDENTIFICATION 1. General features;. Bony fishes are the largest class of living fishes coming under the.Sub-Class Neopterigii which is divided into many orders. The characteristic features of the Sub-Class are that they have a firm skeleton of true bones, gillslits are covered with an operculum on both sides, caudal fin is more or less symmetrical and the fishes have vertical or unpaired fins and paired fins. 2. Body shape; Fusiform,, oblong, elongated and cylinderical, usually laterally compressed, ventral side more convex than dorsal sidej sometimes dorsoventrally flattened with eyes on one side, as in flatfishes. 3. Vertical or unpaired fins; The dorsal fin may consist^of a single fin only or composed of a spiny dorsal and a soft dorsal. The spiny dorsal and soft dorsal may be continuous or separately placed. The numbers of spines and soft dorsal rays'vary in different fishes. An adipose fin behind the dorsal fin is noticed in some fishes. 'i. »l; -4-Apart from these, some swif^ and elongate fishes may have small detached finlet# behind the dorsal. Note down these characters if any in the specimens collected. In scientific literature, the dorsal fin is abbreviated ais D. Number of spines are to be indicated in Roman and soft rays in Arabic numerals, eg,, D X 12 means the fish has two dorsals with ten spines in the first dorsal and 12 soft rays in the second dorsal. Follow the abbre-viated methodology to identify the fishes. *^ ^^ nal fin;^  Starts behind the vent. It has many rays . and 1 to 3 spines. More than three spines are rarely found. Written as A III 10 means three spines and ten soft rays in the anal fin. 5. Caudal fin or tail fin; It may be pointed, rounded, truncate, emarginate, forked, lunate or wedge slfaped, 6. Pectoral fins The abbreviated form is P. P 16 means that the pectoral fin has 16 soft rays. 7. Ventral fin or Pelvic fin: Usually abbreviated as V. Note the position of the ventral fin in the fishes - collected. If the ventral fin is located below the pectoral, they are said to be thoracic; further forward, jugular; and far back abdominal. Generally ventral fin may have one spine and 2 to 5 soft rays. 8. Mouth parts: Most of the fishes have some type of ' lips. The lower jaw^is composed of mandibles and of •upper jaw is made upj/premaxilla and maxilla. In some cases the maxillary bone may be elongated. The mouth may be at the tip of the snout, or sometimes the snout ipay overhang the m.ou'th. Mouth may be oblique, with the lower jaw being the longer onei and sometimes it is protractile. Jaws are sometimec produced as beaks. Note downthe number-and-disposition of pores on the chin as well as the number and disposition of barbels 'r • r f -5-if any. Examine the jaws for teeth pattern. Teeth may be;villiform, conical, molariform, or in the form of canines or incisors. Sometimes teeth may be absent altogether. Votnerine, and palatine teeth may, be present in some fishes, 9. Branchial apparatus: The gill cover or the operculum is made up. of four main bones - the opercle, preopercle, subopercie and interopercle.,Observe for the presence or absence of scales as well as spines on them. "•O* Gillraker.s; These are important characters in fishes, seen as finger like or hair like cartilaginous projections of the gill arch, both on the upper and the lower limbs. In systematics these are denoted as GR (5-6) + -(l^-IS), meaning 5-6 gill rakers on the upper limb and 12.--13 gill rakers on the- lower limb, dbunt is made on the ,1st gill a r c h . • •' • ' . " : • • • • " " ' " • . •' ' • ' - • ' " 11. Scales: Note the scales in fishes. Some fishes possess th'e cycloid with smooth hind margin; -and some the cterloid, with comb like hirid margin. Sec whether the scales are deciduous (easily shed) or adherent type. Count the number of scales in the lateral line (starting fi:om the shoulder to caudal peduncle). Note and count the lateral transverse scales above cand below the lateral line. It may be abbreviated as LI. 42, tr 3/9 meaning 42 scales in the lateral line and there are 3 rows above and 9 rows below the lateral line. I 12. Lateral line; t The position, curve and the branching I if any of the lateral line may be noted. Some fishes i may not have a lateral lin« at all, I '(III) RECORDING OF DATA '"' ' 1 1. After a careful study of the fish/fishes given or ! collected, note down the various characters in the j .abbreviated form, for example:-I D. Xj I, 28-32. A.. II* 8. L. lat. 50. Tr. (5-6) + (10-12), G.R (50-55) + (60-65). . -6-2. Identi-fy the fishes collected using standard identi-^ fication manuals and texts (vide References) 3. Make an outline drawing of the fishes identified showing the various characters. "4. Briefly describe the important characters of each fish identified, such as body shape, fins, scale counts, lateral line, colouration etc. and also comment on the distribution. 5. Give the conventional hierarchy of nomenclature. 6. Preserve, if necessary, with proper labels. References ' Day,'F. 1875-1878 The Fishes of India being a natural history of the fishes, known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India. Burma and Ceylon. Tailor & Francis, London. Day, F. 1889 The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma^ Fishes, Vol. I and II. Taylor 8, Francis, London, Fischer, W. (Ed.) 1978 FAQ Species Identification sheets for fishery purposes'. Western Central Atlantic. Fishing Area .31. Vol.I-VI. FAO, Rome. Fisher, W. and G, Bianchi (Eds.) 1984 FAQ Species Identi-fication sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean. Fishing Area 51. Vol. I-VI. FAO, Rome. Fischer, W. and P.J.P, Whitehead (Eds,) 1974 FAO Species Identification Sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Indian Ocean. Fishing Area 57 and Western Central Pacific. Fishing Area 71. Vol. I-IV. FAO, Rome. Jones, S. and M. Kumaran 1980 Fishes of the Laccadive • Archipelago. Nature Conservation and Aquatic Sciences Service, Trivandrtm. -7-Misra, K.S. 1962 An aid to the identification' of the comm.on commercial fishes of India and Pakistan, Rec^ Indian Mus.. 57 (1-4); 1-320. Munro, I.S.R. 1955 The Marine, and Freshwater Fishes of Ceylon. Dept. of External Affairs, Canberra. Smith, J.L.D. 1953 The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa. Central News Agency Ltd,, Grahamstown. Talwar, P.K. and R.K. Kacker 1984 Commercial Seafishes . of ImUa. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. Weber, M. and.de Beaufort. 1913-1936 The Fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. E.J, Brill Ltd., Leiden, Vol. I-VIII 

Study of the ichthyofauna of the locality of work

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Study of the ichthyofauna of the locality of work

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