Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961

Mohanty, Swarup Ranjan, Palai, Subhadarshani, Behera, Rajesh Kumar, Roy, Sanmitra, Mishra, Subhrendu Sekhar & Mohapatra, Anil, 2021, Short Communication First record of Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961 (Actinopterygii: Beloniformes: Exocoetidae) from Odisha coast, India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 121 (3), pp. 423-425 : 423-424

Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961

Intermediate flyingfish ( Figure 1 )

1961. Cheilopogon (Ptenichthys) intermedius Parin, Trudy Instituta Okeanologii Imeni P.P. Shirshova , 43: 74, fig. 13 (type locality: 6°15’S, 153°44’E, “ Vityaz ” station 3663).

First record of Cheilopogon intermedius Parin, 1961 ( Actinopterygii: Beloniformes : Exocoetidae ) from Odisha coast, India

Materials examined: ZSI/F 13683/2, 1 ex, 184mm SL; EBRC /ZSI/F 12069, 2 ex, 146–163 mm SL; Paradip fish landing centre, 20.iii.2019, Swarup R. Mohanty .

Diagnostic characters: Elongated body, its depth at gill opening 5.0– 5.2 in standard length (SL). Head short, 4.0–

4.1 in SL. Snout blunt and short than the eye, 3.4–3.6 in head length (HL); eyes large, 2.9–3.0 in HL; interorbital space, 2.4–2.5 in HL. Mouth small with subequal jaws; upper jaw non-protrusible; palatine teeth present and teeth minute on both jaws. Dorsal fin originates before origin of anal fin and predorsal distance, 1.3–1.5 in SL. Anal fin originates below the 3 rd ray of dorsal fin and preanal distance, 1.2–1.3 in SL. Pectoral fine elongate, with only the first ray unbranched, tip of the fin reaching beyond anal fin base and its length, 1.6–1.7 in SL. Pelvic fins long, reaching well beyond anal-fin origin and its length, 3.5–3.6 in SL, its insertion midway between head and lower lobe of caudal fin. Lower lobe of the caudal fin longer than the upper lobe. Predorsal scales 34. Dorsal fin rays 12; anal fin rays 7; pectoral fin rays 14–15, first ray unbranched.

Colour: Dorsal side of the body dark metallic blue, lateral and ventral side silvery. Lobes of caudal fin dusky and without dark pigmentation; pectoral fin without spots, but with a pale oblique cross band and few lower rays pale; ventral fin blackish distally; dorsal fin dusky, but without dark black spot.

Remarks: Most of the anterior rays of the dorsal fin are broken and hence, height of the dorsal fin could not be measured. However, pale colour of the dorsal fin and minute teeth on the jaws lead us to run through the key given in Parin (1999) to confirm identity of the species.

Figures

Figure 1. Cheilopogon intermedius Parin 1961 (EBRC/ZSI/F 12069; 163 mm SL) collected from Paradip fish landing centre, Odisha, India.