Confirmació del registre de Monodactylus argenteus (família Monodactylidae) a Jubail, Aràbia Saudita, golf Pèrsic
Es confirma el primer registre de M. argenteus a les costes d'Aràbia Saudita, golf Pèrsic, amb un exemplar de 158 mm SL. S'indiquen les dades morfomètriques i merístiques de l'espècimen.The first record of M. argenteus from the Arabian Gulf coasts of Saudi Arabia is confirmed, based on a sample measuring 158 mm in SL. Morphometric and meristic data are provided for this specimen.Confirmación del registro de Monodactylus argenteus (Familia Monodactylidae) en Jubail, Arabia Saudita, golfo Pérsico
Se confirma el primer registro de M. argenteus en las costas de Arabia Saudita, golfo Pérsico con un ejemplar de 158 mm SL. Se indican los datos morfométricos y merísticos del espécimen

Jawad, L. A.

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Confirmed record of 
Monodactylus argenteus 
(Linnaeus, 1758 (Family 
Monodactylidae) from Jubail, 
Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf 
L. A. Jawad 
Jawad, L. A., 2013. Confirmed record of Monodactylus argenteus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Family 
Monodactylidae) from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf. Arxius de Miscel·lània Zoològica, 
11: 158–162. 
Abstract
Confirmed record of Monodactylus argenteus (Family Monodactylidae) from Jubail, Saudi 
Arabia, Arabian Gulf.— The first record of M. argenteus from the Arabian Gulf coasts of 
Saudi Arabia is confirmed, based on a sample measuring 158 mm in SL. Morphometric 
and meristic data are provided for this specimen. 
Key words: Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, New record, Monodactylus argenteus, Range 
distribution. 
Resumen
Confirmación del registro de Monodactylus argenteus (familia Monodactylidae) en Jubail, 
Arabia Saudita, golfo Pérsico.— Se confirma el primer registro de M. argenteus en las 
costas de Arabia Saudita en el golfo Pérsico con un ejemplar de 158 mm SL. Se indican 
los datos morfométricos y merísticos del espécimen.
Palabras clave: Golfo Pérsico, Arabia Saudita, Nuevo registro, Monodactylus argenteus, 
Área de distribución. 
Received: 4/11/13; Conditional acceptance: 20/01/14; Final acceptance: 22/01/14 
Laith A. Jawad, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand.
E–mail: laith_jawad@hotmail.com
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Introduction
Publication of fish taxonomy in the Arabian Gulf started when Blegvad published his book 
(Blegvad & Løppenthin, 1944) on fishes in the Arabian Gulf in 1944. Since then, several works 
have appeared on the ichthyofauna of the gulf (White & Barwani, 1971; Kuronoma & Abe, 
1972, 1986; Relyea, 1981; Fischer & Bianchi, 1984; Hussain et al., 1988; Randall, 1995).
The fish fauna of the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabian have been poorly studied and 
complete, extensive works are lacking. However, a few significant publications have been 
published from parts of the Saudi coasts of the Arabian Gulf (McCain et al., 1984; Coles & 
Tarr, 1990; Krupp & Anegay, 1993; Krupp & Müller, 1995; Krupp & Al–Marri, 1996). 
The silver moony M. argenteus is reported from the Red Sea and East Africa (Heemstra, 
1984) to Samoa, north to the Yaeyamas, and south to New Caledonia and Australia (Blaber, 
1980). In the Arabian Gulf area, the only record of this species is that of Krupp et al. (2000).
The present paper confirms the presence of Monodactylus argenteus in the Saudi Arabian 
coast of the Arabian Gulf waters following the capture of the present specimen, described 
in a recent taxonomic work. 
Studied material
On 28 May 2013, a single specimen of the silver moony M. argenteus (fig. 1) was collected 
at Jubail City on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. The specimen was caught by fis-
hermen using 30 x 10 m drifting gill nets of 25 mm mesh size. Its total length was measured 
with dial calipers to the nearest 0.1 mm and it was weighed to the nearest kilo. It was made 
available by M. Ibrahim of the Fish Welfare Branch, Al–Jubail, Ministry of Agriculture, Saudi 
Arabia. The fishermen usually make three to five hauls per hour. The morphometric and 
meristic details of the species were recorded according to Heemstra (1984) (table 1). The 
specimen was fixed in 10% formalin and later preserved in 70% ethanol for deposit in the 
fish collection of the Fish Welfare Branch, Ministry of Agriculture, Al–Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
Fig. 1. Monodactylus argenteus, 200 mm TL.
Fig. 1. Monodactylus argenteus, 200 mm TL.
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Table 1. Morphometric and meristic characters of Monodactylus argenteus collected 
from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf: TL. Total length; HL. Head length; SL. 
Standard length.
Tabla 1. Carácteres morfométricos y merísticos de Monodactylus argenteus recolectado 
en Jubail (costas de Arabia Saudita, golfo Pérsico): TL. Longitud total; HL. Longitud de 
la cabeza; SL. Longitud estándar.
Morphometric characters in mm
Total length (TL) 200
Standard length (% in TL) 158
Head length (% in SL) 50
Eye diameter (% in HL) 18
Preorbital length (% in HL) 12
Posorbital length (% in HL) 30
Predorsal fin length (% in SL) 63
Postdorsal fin length (% in SL) 136
Prepectoral fin length (% in SL) 47
Preanus length (% in SL) 82
Preanal fin length (% in SL) 90
Postanal fin length (% in SL) 144
Maximum body depth (% in SL) 111
Caudal peduncle depth (% in SL) 16
Pectoral fin length (% in SL) 30
Meristic characters 
Dorsal fin spines 7
Dorsal fin rays 28
Anal fin spines 3
Anal fin rays 29
Pectoral fin rays 17
Remarks
The total length was 200 mm and it weighed 33 g. M. argenteus can attain lengths of 
270 mm (Allen et al., 2002) and it is found in the pelagic–neritic zone of a marine, freshwater 
and brackish environemnts (Riel & Baensch, 1991). As far as the author is aware, the only 
specimen of M. argenteus given with SL are in Fish Base (Froese & Pauly, 2013) reported 
from the Japanese Archipelago, and given as 93 mm SL. M. argenteus has five synonyms, 
Chaetodon argenteus Linnaeus, 1758, Psettus argenteus (Linnaeus, 1758), M. argenteus, 
Scomber rhombeus Forsskål, 1775 and Psettus rhombeus (Forsskål, 1775). This species 
has not been recorded in the Arabian Gulf area under any of its synonyms. The importance 
of the present record of M. argenteus comes as a result of ichthyological collections in the 
area and the rarity of the members of the family Monodactylidae in Saudi waters. The species 
reported in this study has not been reported previously in the fish fauna literature from the 
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Arabian Gulf in general or from the Saudi coasts of the Arabian Gulf (Fischer & Bianchi, 
1984; McCain et al., 1984; Coles & Tarr, 1990; Krupp & Anegay, 1993; Krupp & Müller, 
1995; Krupp & Al–Marri, 1996; Carpenter et al., 1997). Krupp et al. (2000) obtained their 
specimen in Dubai, at a Deraa fish landing site at the entrance of Khor Dubai. The Dubai 
landing site is very large, receiving fish stock mainly from the Sea of Oman and southern 
coasts of Oman. Such practice sheds doubts on the origin of the specimen obtained by 
Krupp et al. (2000). It is highly likely the specimen originated somewhere in the Omani 
waters. Therefore, the record of Krupp et al. (2000) can not confirm the presence of this 
species in the Arabian Gulf waters and the present record is considered the first confirmation 
for the presence of this species in the gulf area, indicating a significant range extension of 
its previously known distribution. The reason why M. argenteus was not recorded before 
in the Saudi Arabian coasts of the Arabian Gulf might be because it is rare in the area 
or due to lack of adequate sampling. The use of diverse fish sampling techniques in the 
area, including scuba diving and underwater photography, has already ended the reputed 
rarity of several species (Jawad & Al–Mamry, 2009). It is premature to assess whether the 
present population is represented by only a few visitors of M. argenteus, exploring the new 
area or whether it is a well–established population, probably due to a lack of ichthyological 
expeditions and fishery surveys.
Thus, there is a need to investigate further the frequency of occurrence and to study the 
biological characteristics of this species to determine whether it has established a sustainable 
population in its new surroundings.
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to M. Ibrahim of the Fish Welfare Branch, Al–Jubail, Ministry of Agricul-
ture, Saudi Arabia for presenting the fish specimen and the Fish Welfare Branch at Jubail 
City, Saudi Arabia for giving me the opportunity to report this species from the Saudi waters
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Confirmed record of Monodactylus argenteus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Family Monodactylidae) from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf

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