The silverstripe blassop, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789), is reported from the south-west coast of India (Kerala coast), which is characterised by a grey-brownish dorsal surface with black, regularly distributed spots of equal size and a wide silver band laterally on each side. The specimen collected is described and figured

Abdussamad, E M

Akhilesh, K V

Bineesh, K K

Joshi, K K

Prakasan, D

CMFRI Digital Repository

143Indian J. Fish., 61(2) :  143-145, 2014Tetraodontidae (puffers), a speciose marine fish family, has about 19 genera and 130 valid species, mostly shallow water inhabitants of tropical/subtropical marine environments, with several species  entering and occurring in brackish and freshwater environments (Nelson, 2006; Froese and Pauly, 2013). The silverstripe blassop Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) is a large beautiful fish species of the Tetraodontidae, preferring depth ranges of 18 to 100 m, and also a reef inhabitant species. Lagocephalus sceleratus is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean (Smith and Heemstra, 1986) and in the western Indian Ocean, it has been reported from South Africa, Oman and Maldives (Froese and Pauly, 2013). It is recently reported from north-eastern Mediterranean Sea, Cretan Sea and Iskenderum Bay as a migrant species (Akyol et al., 2005; Kasapidis et al., 2007; Torcu et al., 2010). Although from India, Randall (in tank photos) photographed a specimen of L. scelelaratus from Vizhinjam, Kerala and  Rajan et al. (2011)  listed it from Andaman waters, there is no published information available on the detailed descriptions of this species. The specimen  of Lagocephalus sceleratus described in the present report was collected off Munambam, south-west coast of India at depths from 50 m. The specimen  is deposited in the National Biodiversity Referral Museum, CMFRI, India (Accession Number GB.43.6.15.8) (Fig. 1).On 18th September 2010, single specimen of Lagocephalus sceleratus was collected from a demersal fish trawl landing at Munambam Fisheries NoteReport of silverstripe blassop, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) (Tetraodontidae) from south-west coast of IndiaK. K. BINEESH, K. K. JOSHI, E. M. ABDUSSAMAD, D. PRAKASHAN AND  K. V. AKHILESHCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute, P. B. No. 1603, Ernakulam North P. O., Kochi - 683 018 Kerala, Indiae-mail: kkbineesh@gmail.com ABSTRACTThe silverstripe blassop, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789), is reported from the south-west coast of India (Kerala coast), which is characterised by a grey-brownish dorsal surface with black, regularly distributed spots of equal size and a wide silver band laterally on each side. The specimen collected is described and figured.Keywords: Arabian Sea, Distribution extension, Lagocephalus sceleratus, South-west coast of IndiaHarbour, south-west coast of India. The main catch was Nemipterus spp. and bycatch recorded were Pseudanthias spp., Parascolopsis spp., Uranoscopus spp., and Epinephelus aereolatusDiagnosis  Dorsal fin rays 12, anal fin rays 11; pectoral fin rays 18. Body elongated and cylindrical, slightly compressed laterally and ventrally. No scales on body, except small spinules on the belly and on the dorsal surface extending to origin of dorsal fin. Dorsal and anal fins located far posteriorly. Pelvic fins absent. Two distinct lateral lines; the upper forming an interconnecting pattern on sides of head and body. Top of pectoral fin base below lower margin of eye. A raised skin fold along lower side of caudal peduncle. Single gill slit opening in front of pectoral fins. Pectoral fin base black. The dorsal area grey-brownish with black, regularly distributed spots of equal size and covered pre-dorsally with small spinules. Wide silver bands present laterally. A silver blotch present in front of the eye. Ventral pale. Morphometric measurements of the specimen collected during the present Fig. 1. Lagocephalus sceleratus, from Arabian Sea, collected  off Munambam (south-west coast of India)144study are given in Table 1. Comparative morphometric measurements from other studies are presented in Table 2 and 3. These measurementsare in agreement with the previous descriptions of the species (Smith and Heemstra, 1986; Randall, 1995; Akyol et al., 2005). Though slight variations in morphometry were observed, asymmetry in morphological characters in L. sceleratus has been reported (Jawad et al., 2013)The silverstripe blassop contains tetradotoxin (TTX), which can cause food poisoning. Properly cleaned and processed puffer fish flesh is edible and considered a delicacy by Japanese people (Torda et al., 1973). Lagocephalus sceleratus is commercially exploited along the Red Sea and Suez Canal (Zaki and Mossa, 2005) and believed that some beneficial potential as analgesic for backbone pain (Sabrah et al., 2006). AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to the Director, CMFRI for the support and encouragement. CMLRE/MoES is acknowledged for financial support.  K. K. Bineesh et al.Table 1. Morphometric measurements of Lagocephalus  sceleratus from south-west coast of India (in % SL)Morphometric measurements  mm % SLTotal length (TL) 540 118.7Standard length (SL) 455 100Head length 139.79 30.7Head width 92.61 20.4Eye diameter (horizontal) 29.37 6.5Eye diameter (vertical) 16.12 3.5Interorbital space 57.75 12.7Snout length 76.74 16.9Postorbital length 35.64 7.8Width of gill opening 40.1 8.8Predorsal length 313 68.8Preanal length 277 60.9Dorsal fin length 72.24 15.9Dorsal fin base length 37.87 8.3Anal fin length 66.24 14.6Anal fin base length 30.71 6.7Pectoral fin length 57.49 12.6Caudal peduncle length 125 27.5Caudal fin length 82.15 18.1Morphometric parameters CMFRI GB.43.6.15.8 Akyol et al. (2005) Bilecenoglu et al. (2002) Bilecenoglu et al. (2002)Total length 540 459 108 126Standard length 455 391 98 111Head length 30.7 30.2 28.6 28.8Eye diameter 6.5 6.6 10.2 9.9Inter-orbital space 12.7 11.5 12.2 11.7Snout length 16.9 14.3 12.2 12.6Predorsal length 68.8 67.3 60.2 54.1Preanal length 60.9 67.3 60.2 62.2Table 2. Comparative morphometric  measurements (mm) of Lagocephalus sceleratus from south-west coast of India (% SL)  with other reportsMorphometric parameters CMFRIGB.43.6.15.8 Torcu et al. (2010) Akyol et al. (2005) Bilecenoglu et al. (2002) Kasapidis  et al. (2007)Total length 540 388-611 459 108-126 348Head length (h) 25.9 25.0-37.3 25.7 25.4-25.9 -Eye diameter 5.4 5.4-6.4 5.7 8.7-9.3 6.3Interorbital space 10.7 10.0-10.5 9.8 10.3-11.1 -Snout length 14.2 13.0-14.6 12.2 11.1 11.4Predorsal length 58.0 54.0-55.5 57.3 47.6-54.6 56.9Preanal length 51.3 48.6-52.1 57.3 54.6-54.8 -Table 3. Comparative morphometric   measurements (mm) of Lagocephalus sceleratus from south-west coast of India (as %TL )  with other reports145Date of Receipt : 11-09-2012Date of Acceptance : 23-11-2013Report of  Lagocephalus sceleratus from south-west coast of IndiaReferencesAkyol, O., Unal, V., Ceyhan, T. and Bilecenoglu, M. 2005. First confirmed record of Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) in the Mediterranean. J. Fish  Biol., 66: 1183-1186.Bilecenoglu, M., Taskavak, E., Mater, S. and Kaya, M.  2002. Checklist of the marine fishes of Turkey. Zootaxa, 113: 1-194.Froese, R. and Pauly, D.. 2013. Fishbase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org (version 07/2013).Jawad, L. 2013. Asymmetry of some morphological characters of the silver-cheeked toadfish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) collected from the sea of Oman  Water Res.  Manag., 3(1): 25-30Kasapidis, P., Peristeraki,  P., Tserpes, G. and Mgoulas, A. 2007. First record of the Lessepsian migrant Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) (Osteichthyes: Tetraodontidae) in the Cretan Sea (Aegean, Greece). Aqua. Inv., 2: 71-73.Nelson, J. S. 2006. Fishes of the world.  New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 624 pp.Randall, J.  E. 1995. Coastal fishes of Oman, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 439 pp.Rajan, P. T., Sreeraj, C. R. and Immanuel, T. 2011. Fish fauna of coral reef, mangrove, freshwater, offshore and seagrass beds of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Zoological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Haddo, Port Blair.Sabrah, M. M., El-Ganainy, A. A., and Zaky, M. A. 2006. Biology and toxicity of the puffer fish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) from the Gulf of Suez. Egypt. J. Aquat. Res., 32: 283-297.Smith, M. M. and  Heemstra,  P. C.  1986. Tetraodontidae. In: Smith M. M. and Heemstra P. C. (Eds.). Smith’s sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, p. 894-903.Torcu Koc, H., Erdogan, Z. and Ustun, F. 2010 Occurrence of the Lessepsian migrant, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789)(Osteichtyes: Tetraodontidae), in Iskenderun Bay (north-eastern Mediterranean, Turkey). J. Appl. Ichthyol., 27: 148-149.Torda, T. A., Sinclair, E. and Ulyatt, D. B. 1973. Puffer fish (Tetrodotoxin) poisoning: Clinical record and suggested management. Med. J. Aust.,1: 599-602.Zaki, M. A, and Mossa, A. A. 2005. Red sea puffer fish poisoning: emergency diagnosis and management of human intoxication. Egypt. J. Aquat. Res., 31: 370–378.

Report of silverstripe blassop, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) (Tetraodontidae) from south-west coast of India

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Report of silverstripe blassop, Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) (Tetraodontidae) from south-west coast of India

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