Hemibagrus menoda (Hamilton, 1822)

Ng, Heok Hee & Kottelat, Maurice, 2013, Revision Of The Asian Catfish Genus Hemibagrus Bleeker, 1862 (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Bagridae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (1), pp. 205-291 : 224-225

Hemibagrus menoda (Hamilton, 1822)

( Fig. 14 )

Pimelodus menoda Hamilton, 1822: 203 , Pl. 1 Fig. 72 (type locality: Sharighat bazaar, 35 km NE of Sylhet on Sylhet – Shillong highway, Bangladesh; figure erroneously labelled Mugil corsula ; see Ng & Ferraris, 2000 for explanation).

Bagrus trachacanthus Valenciennes , in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1840: 419 (type locality: Bengal , India); Bleeker, 1853c: 56.

Bagrus corsula Valenciennes , in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1840: 408 (type locality: Sharighat bazaar, 35 km NE of Sylhet on Sylhet – Shillong highway, Bangladesh); Bleeker, 1853c: 56.

Macrones menoda - Günther, 1864: 74; Day, 1871: 706 (in part).

Macrones trachacanthus - Günther, 1864: 75.

Macrones corsula - Day, 1869: 307; 1878: 446, Pl. 100 Fig. 5 ; 1889: 153 (in part).

Pimelodus telgagra Day, 1871: 200 (not available, name published in synonymy)

Mystus menoda - Shaw & Shebbeare, 1937: 92, Fig. 91; Hora, 1949: 72; Ataur Rahman, 1974: 7; 1989: 199, Fig. 119D; Venkateswarlu, 1976: 96; Jayaram & Singh, 1977: 263; Menon, 1977: 61; Venkateswarlu & Menon, 1979: 56; Datta Munshi & Srivastava, 1988: 238, Pl. 30 Fig. 1 ; Shrestha, 1994: 52, Fig. 80; Jayaram, 1999: 236 (in part); Jayaram & Sanyal, 2003:75 (in part); Hossain & Haque, 2005: 39; Khan, 2008: 32, Fig. 12 ; Shrestha, 2008: 150, Pl. 39 Fig. 130; Mohsin & Haque, 2009: 830.

Mystus (Mystus) menoda - Jayaram, 1954: 546, Fig. 9 (in part); 1966: 446; Motwani et al., 1962: 21; Srivastava, 1968: 73, Fig. 46 ; 1992: 97, Fig. 64; Misra, 1976: 95 (in part); Shrestha, 1981: 157, Fig. 75.

Mystus (Mystus) menoda trachacanthus - Jayaram, 1954: 546; 1966: 446.

Mystus (Mystus) punctatus (in part) - Jayaram, 1954: 547.

Mystus corsula - Qureshi, 1965: 41, Fig. 103.

Mystus menoda menoda - Jayaram, 1977: 33, Fig. 25B (in part); Sen, 1985: 137, Fig. 75; 1992: 183, Fig. 60; Dutta et al., 1993: 26.

Mystus menoda trachacanthus - Jayaram, 1977: 33; Yazdani et al., 1992: 231; Singh & Yazdani, 1993: 21.

Mystus trachacanthus - Mo, 1991: 130.

Hemibagrus menoda - Mo, 1991: 132; Ng & Ferraris, 2000: 130, Figs. 4 & 5 ; Ataur Rahman, 2005: 219, Fig. 158; Biswas et al., 2007: 64; Ferraris, 2007: 89; Vishwanath et al., 2007: 136; Siddiqui et al., 2007: 115; Saha & Bordoloi, 2009: 241; Mahanta et al., 2011: 346.

Mystus peguensis (non Boulenger, 1894) - Mamnur Rashid et al., 1997: 137.

Material examined. — BANGLADESH: UMMZ 208726, 1 ex., 202.6 mm SL [neotype of Pimelodus menoda Hamilton, 1822 and Bagrus corsula Valenciennes , in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1840; designated by Ng & Ferraris, 2000]), Surma (Meghna) drainage, Sharighat bazaar, 35 km NE of Sylhet on Sylhet –Shillong highway (said to be from Shari River).

INDIA: ANSP 85796 , 1 ex., 113.0 mm SL ; ZSI 426 , 1 ex., 167.2 mm SL, Bombay ; MNHN 1191 , 1 ex., 285.4 mm SL, Bengal [syntype of Bagrus trachacanthus ] ; RMNH 8791 , 1 ex., 184.6 mm SL, Assam .

Diagnosis. — Hemibagrus menoda differs from H. caveatus in having a pattern of dark spots arranged in vertical columns (vs. thin vertical lines and a midlateral line) along the sides of the body. It is distinguished from H. punctatus in having a smaller eye (12% HL vs. 14–16), and greyish (vs. reddish) fins in life, and from H. peguensis in having a rounded (vs. almost truncate) snout ( Fig. 12 ) and a broader, less deeply notched cleithral process (for about one quarter its maximum width vs. about one third its maximum width; Fig. 13 ).

Description. — Biometric and meristic data as in Table 7. General description as for genus. Head depressed and broad, body moderately compressed. Head length 32.7–33.5% SL; head depth 14.2–15.3% SL. Snout rounded. Eye diameter 12% HL. Dorsal profile rising evenly but not steeply from tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin, then sloping gently ventrally from there to end of caudal peduncle. Ventral profile horizontal to origin of anal fin, then sloping dorsally to end of caudal peduncle. Caudal-peduncle length 15.2–17.0% SL; caudal-peduncle depth 7.5–8.8% SL. Cleithral process broad, notched for about one quarter its maximum width. Adipose-fin base short, approximately as long as anal-fin base (13.0–15.8% SL); maximum height 3.8–4.5% SL. Adipose-fin origin separated from base of last dorsal-fin ray by distance of 14.2–14.9% SL. Dorsal spine stout, with 6–9 serrations on posterior edge. Pectoral spine stout, with 11–17 serrations on posterior edge. Anal-fin origin slightly posterior to adipose origin. Adpressed dorsal not reaching adipose fin. Caudal fin forked; distal margins of upper and lower lobes rounded. Maximum recorded size 285 mm SL.

Colour. — Preserved specimens have dorsal surface of head and body greyish-brown, gradually fading to dirty white on ventral surface. Lateral surface of body with about nine vertical columns of black spots, largest spots being those in middle of columns along lateral line. Dorsal, pectoral, pelvic and anal fins greyish brown, with scattered melanophores on fin rays and interradial membranes. Caudal fin greyish brown, with lighter hue along posterior edge, and on procurrent and outer principal caudal rays.

Distribution. — Hemibagrus menoda is known from the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi and Godavari River drainages in Bangladesh and northern India ( Fig. 15 ).

Figures

Fig. 14. Hemibagrus menoda, UMMZ 208726, neotype, 202.6 mm SL, Bangladesh: Shari River.

Fig. 5. Map showing collection localities of Hemibagrus sabanus and H. semotus specimens examined in this study.

Fig. 1. Method of measurements used in this study: 1, Standard length; 2, Predorsal length; 3, Preanal length; 4, Prepelvic length; 5, Prepectoral length; 6, Dorsal-spine length; 7, Dorsal-fin length; 8, Length of dorsal-fin base; 9, Length of anal-fin base; 10, Pelvic-fin length; 11, Pectoral-fin length; 12, Pectoral-spine length; 13, Caudal-fin length; 14, Length of adipose-fin base; 15, Maximum height of adipose fin; 16, Dorsal to adipose distance; 17, Post-adipose distance; 18, Length of caudal peduncle; 19, Depth of caudal peduncle; 20, Body depth at anus; 21, Head length; 22, Head width; 23, Head depth; 24, Snout length; 25, Interorbital distance; 26, Eye diameter.

Fig. 12. Dorsal views of heads of: a, H. menoda, UMMZ 208726, 202.6 mm SL; b, H. peguensis, CAS 133789, 212.7 mm SL. Scale bar = 10 mm.

Fig. 9. Hemibagrus macropterus, ZRC 53403, 117.5 mm SL; China: Suikou.

Fig. 46. Hemibagrus maydelli, CAS 62087, 214.7 mm SL, India: Tungabahdra River.

Fig. 25. Hemibagrus fortis, ZRC 45654. 114.5 mm SL, Borneo: Kalimantan Timur, Bahau River drainage.

Fig. 4. Hemibagrus sabanus, ZRC 40493, 104.9 mm SL, Borneo: Sabah, Segama River.

Fig. 13. Cleithral processes of: a, H. menoda, UMMZ 208726, 202.6 mm SL; b, H. peguensis, CAS 89005, 261.9 mm SL. Scale bar = 5 mm.

Fig. 15. Map showing collection localities of Hemibagrus menoda and H. punctatus specimens examined in this study.