Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877, commonly

called ‘dusky sweeper’ (Fig. 1), generally live on coral

reefs and form schools in large caves among rocks.

On 19/08/2009, a good number of specimens of

P. adusta were observed at Mirkarwada landing

centre in Ratnagiri (Fig. 2). They had elliptical,

compressed body with iridescent, coppery silver

colouration, because of which they were spectacular

in appearance

Deshmukh, V D

Katkar, B N

Sarang, J D

CMFRI Digital Repository

Marine Fisheries Information Service T&E Ser., No. 208, 201122was firmly attached to the mantle on the left sidewhich is rather characteristic of the molgulid and itbecame clearly visible from the outer surface. Thespecimen was identified as Molgula sp. (Herdman,1882). Class Ascidiacea, order Pleurogona andfamily Molgulidae.Since the study here pertains to only a singlespecimen, identification needs to be further confirmedupto species level. Previous records on tunicates ofVisakhapatnam  region are mostly of Doliolidae andSalpidae families which occur as 5% of the benthicfauna (Vijaykumaran, 2003). The recovery of thisspecimen, though accidental, from the seaweed bedstends to focus on the fact that due to somedisturbance like trawling, dredging and/ or shipping;the specimen may have, dislodged off from its habitatand thus settled in the Caulerpa bed.  Hence thepresence of more numbers of this species in deeperwaters along this region cannot be ruled out. Thiscan be corroborated with the findings of Menonet al. (1977) that ascidians were absent in the foulingcommunity at Mangalore Port prior to thecommissioning of the harbour and further confirmedby Venkat et al. (1995) by citing their dominance inmacrofouling community in this region aftercommencement of the operations at the port. Ifintroduction is the possible reason for the presentobservation of Molgula sp., one of the most likelysources could be the emigrants brought in by theshipping activity and ballast water discharge(Scheltema and Carlton 1984) for whichVisakhapatnam is so famous for  (VisakhapatnamPort Trust,  2009).  A detailed study is needed to seethe biodiversity loss as well as any addition ofmacrofouling fauna in Visakhapatnam region.Occurrence of dusky sweeper Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877 in Ratnagiri waters, MaharashtraJ. D. Sarang, B. N. Katkar and V. D. DeshmukhMumbai Research Centre of CMFRI, MumbaiPempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877, commonlycalled ‘dusky sweeper’ (Fig. 1), generally live on coralreefs and form schools in large caves among rocks.On 19/08/2009, a good number of specimens ofP. adusta were observed at Mirkarwada landingcentre in Ratnagiri (Fig. 2). They had elliptical,compressed body with iridescent, coppery silvercolouration, because of which they were spectacularin appearance. The specimens were brought to thelaboratory for identification and detailed study. Thetotal length ranged between 110 and 116 mm andthe corresponding weight ranged from 17 g to 19 g.These fishes were landed by trawlers operating in10-25 m depth at about 10-20 km towardssouth-west coast off Ratnagiri.Fig. 1.  Pempheris adustaFig. 2.  Catch of Pempheris adustaMarine Fisheries Information Service T&E Ser., No. 208, 2011 23Table 1.  Report of the species of the family PempheridaeAuthor No. of species Name of species Synonyms Place of occurrenceSmith and Heemstra (1986) 3 P. schwenkii Indo-west Pacific,south to NatalP. mangula P.  molucca Indo-west Pacific,P.  oualensis south to PortoAmeliaP. adusta P. adustus Indo-west Pacific,P. oualensis south to theP. onalensis TranskeiTalwar  and  Kacker  (1984) 3 P. vanicolensis Phillipines,Australia, Port Blairin  Andaman seaP. moluca P. mangula Central Indo Pacific,P. malbarica Andaman seaP. oualensisDay (1878) 2 P. mangula P. otaitensis Seas of IndiaP. vanicolensisP. Molucca P. malabarica Red sea, Seas ofIndiaJones and  Kumaran  (1980) 1 P. oualensis South Africa,Lacccadives,Indonesia,Phillipines andAustraliaMurty,  Easterson and 1 P. oualensis MinicoyFernando (1969)Pempheris adusta is placed under the SuperClass: Osteichthyes, Class: Actinopterygii, Subclass:Neopterygii, Infraclass: Teleostei, Superorder:Acanthopterygii, Order: Perciformes, Suborder:Percoidei and Family: Pempheridae.Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877 was identifiedon the basis of the following characters: compressed,elliptical body with short and blunt snout with stronglyoblique protractile mouth; dorsal fin with 6 spines and8 soft rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 42 soft rays;pectoral fin with 1 spine and 19 soft rays; body depth2.1 in standard length, eye diameter 2.27 in headlength; coppery brown in coloration with silvery tinge;a black blotch at the base of pectoral and blackishdorsal tip as mentioned by Smith and Heemstra(1986).The distribution of this species is in theIndo-West Pacific Ocean from south of Transkei,South Africa and east to New Guinea. This is thefirst record of the species from Ratnagiri waters,Maharashtra. Since these fishes live among coralreefs in the caves and rocks, it is possible that theydrifted from the shelter of Angria Bank off Vijaydurg-Ratnagiri coast. Angria Bank is a shallow sunken atoll40 km from north to south and 15 km from east towest (with depth of 20 m below surface water) onthe continental shelf off the west coast located 105km west of Vijaydurg, Maharashtra. The bank is steepon all sides with great depths surrounding it (Anon,2003). It is one of the largest underwater reefs with57 species of macro-algal fauna (Dhargalkar et al.,2001). Therefore, the reef may have abundant fishfauna which remained unexplored. The copperybrown coloration P. adusta with silvery tinge may beto camouflage predators like perches, eels andcarangids which abound in Ratnagiri waters.Smith and Heemstra (1986) mentioned 15 speciesin the Indo-Pacific waters under the genus Pempherisbut described only 3 species namely P. schwenkiiBleeker, 1855; P. mangula Cuvier, 1829 and P. adustaBleeker, 1877. Distribution and occurrence of thespecies belonging to the family Pempheridae inIndian waters is given in Table 1.Marine Fisheries Information Service T&E Ser., No. 208, 201124In the FAO identification species sheets forfisheries purposes, Fischer and Bianchi (1984) havementioned four species under the genus Pempherisviz., P. moluca Cuvier, 1831, P. oualensis Cuvier,1831, P. schwenkii Bleeker, 1877 and P. vanicolensisCuvier, 1831 in area 51 (Northern Indian Ocean andArabian Sea). Therefore, 15 species mentioned bySmith and Heemstra (1986) needs re-examination.A thorough taxonomic revision of the availablespecies can solve the discrepancies.Occurrence of starry blowfish, Arothron stellatus from KasimeduFish Landing Centre, Chennai, Tamil NaduS. N. Sethi, S. Rajapackiam and N. RudhramurthyMadras Research Centre of CMFRI, ChennaiThe blowfish, locally called as “Pethai” aregenerally believed to be poisonous. Certain internalorgans and sometimes their skin are highly toxic tomost animals when eaten, nevertheless the meat ofsome species is considered a delicacy in  Japan (asfugu) and Korea (as bok), when prepared by chefswho know what is safe to eat and in what quantity.Puffer fish is eaten safely worldwide simply by killingand gutting the fish while it is fresh. The starry pufferTable 1. Morphometric characteristics  of puffer fish Arothron stellatusParameters Measurements (mm) Parameters Measurements (mm)Total length 550 Anal fin width 40Standard length 465 Snout to anus 330Snout to first dorsal fin length 320 Snout to spiracle length 55Dorsal fin height 88 Snout to eye length 90Dorsal fin width 45 Eye diameter 20Snout to first pectoral fin length 160 Body width at head 120Pectoral fin height 50 Body width at pectoral fin 130Pectoral fin width 50 Body width at middle 150Pectoral fin curve 80 Mouth length 60Pectoral fin curve 105 Lower teeth height 29Snout to first anal fin length 350 Upper teeth height 29Anal fin height 68 Total body weight (kg) 4.3Anal fin curve 75fish is white with numerous small black spots thatbecome relatively smaller and more numerous asthe fish grows.The blowfish is placed under order Tetraodonti-formes, class: Actinopterygii and family TetraodontidaeDistributionFamily Tetraodontidae contains at least 121species of puffers in 20 genera. They are mostFig. 1 a and b. Starry  blow fish  Arothron stellatus from Kasimedu Fish Landing Centre, Chennaia b

Occurrence of dusky sweeper Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877

in Ratnagiri waters, Maharashtra

http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/8894/1/208-13.pdf

Occurrence of dusky sweeper Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877 in Ratnagiri waters, Maharashtra

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