identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
0C1530FC4C6E50FDAB54E9122E845DF4.text	0C1530FC4C6E50FDAB54E9122E845DF4.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Ophidion muraenolepis Gunther 1880	<div><p>Ophidion muraenolepis Günther, 1880</p><p>English vernacular name: blackedge cusk Fig. 1; Tables 1, 2, 3</p><p>Material examined.</p><p>OPHOMUR. 1–4 / NBFGR, 183.1–201.9 mm SL, Sakthikulangara Landing Centre, Kerala, southwest coast of India, Laccadive Sea, (8°32′15″N, 076°24′64″E), collector Teena Jayakumar T. K., in November 2023 .</p><p>Description.</p><p>Morphometric and meristic data are summarized in Tables 1, 2.</p><p>D 140–178; A 126–153; P 22–28; V 2; C 9–10. Developed gill rakers 4; Vertebrae; 72–73. Body covered by small scales arranged in oblique rows without overlapping. Head scaleless, its length 8.99–10.11 in SL. Mouth large, with prominent supramaxilla and upper jaw larger than lower jaw. Maxilla elongated and reaching slightly beyond orbital region. Anterior nostril above upper lip. Weakly developed ethmoid spine and spineless preopercle. Snout rounded to slightly pointed, approximately equal to eye. Eye large, oval, with well-developed lens. Eye diameter 3.03–4.94 in HL, snout 3.57–4.67 in HL, and interorbital space 6.8–7.76 in HL. Nostrils widely separated, anterior situated near tip of snout, posterior in front of eye. Teeth arranged in villiform bands on jaws, with upper jaw featuring four transverse rows, outermost row being slightly enlarged. Patch of small villiform teeth present on vomer, followed by band of similar teeth on each palatine. Gill rakers 4 (on lower limb), 2 rudimentary gill rakers on upper limb. Tubercles present on gill rakers. Length of developed gill rakers 16.65–19.6 in HL. Body depth 6–7 in SL. Dorsal fin origin above posterior end of pectoral fin and its height more than anal fin height. Confluent dorsal and anal fin with caudal fin. Pelvic fin origin below anterior margin of eye, outer rays longer than inner rays. Pectoral fin pointed, pelvic fin origin below anterior margin of orbit to mid-eye, longest ray not reaching pectoral fin base.</p><p>Coloration.</p><p>Body is light brown dorsally with basket weave pattern scales. The ventral side of the body is pale. Dorsal and anal fins white, with a distal black margin; pelvic fin rays whitish and pectoral fins translucent. Caudal fin pale with black margin distally. Pale greyish brown eyes.</p><p>Geographical distribution.</p><p>The species was originally described from the Kai Islands, Arafura Sea, Indonesia (Günther 1880; Robins 1991). It has been subsequently reported from the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, from northwestern Australia east to the Hawaiian Islands (USA), north to the Ogasawara Islands (Japan), south to New Caledonia (Allen and Swainston 1988; Paxton et al. 1989; Allen 1997; Nakabo 2000; Randall and Lim 2000; Hutchins 2001; Mundy 2005; Randall 2007; Fricke et al. 2025) (Fig. 2). This study expands the known distribution range 5500 km to the west, to the Laccadive Sea, marking the first record of this species in Indian waters and the western Indian Ocean.</p><p>References for O. muraenolepis: Randall (2007), Nielsen (1997), and this study; O. smithi: Fricke et al. (2022), Ray and Mohapatra (2022), Augustina et al. (2025), and this study; O. asiro: Chen and Shao (1991); O. exul: Robins (1991).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0C1530FC4C6E50FDAB54E9122E845DF4	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Jayakumar, Teena T. K.;Fricke, Ronald;Kumar, T. T. Ajith;Sarkar, Uttam Kumar	Jayakumar, Teena T. K., Fricke, Ronald, Kumar, T. T. Ajith, Sarkar, Uttam Kumar (2025): First record of Ophidion muraenolepis (Actinopterygii, Ophidiiformes, Ophidiidae) from the Laccadive Sea, western Indian Ocean, with taxonomic notes. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 55: 161-166, DOI: 10.3897/aiep.55.155497
