Stolephorus dubiosus Wongratana, 1983

Zainal Abidin, Danial Hariz, Lavoué, Sébastien, Mohd Abu Hassan Alshari, Norli Fauzani, Mohd. Nor, Siti Azizah, A. Rahim, Masazurah & Mohammed Akib, Noor Adelyna, 2021, Ichthyofauna of Sungai Merbok Mangrove Forest Reserve, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, and its adjacent marine waters, Check List 17 (2), pp. 601-631 : 613

Stolephorus dubiosus Wongratana, 1983

Material examined. MALAYSIA • 4, 62– 94 mm TL; Kedah State, Kuala Kedah, Kuala Muda Whispering Market ; 05.578°N, 100.341°E; 6 Dec. 2018; Danial H. Zainal Abidin, Norli F.M.A.H. Alshari leg.; USMFC (82) 00038 . • 3, 65– 69 mm TL; Kedah State, Kampung Batu Lintang, Pompang Batu Lintang ; 05.625°N, 100.394°E; 17 Jul. 2019; Sébastien Lavoué leg.; USMFC (82) 00049 .

Identification. Small species of anchovy (maximum TL about 100 mm); body elongated and compressed; large mouth, its corner behind the eye; anal fin short with three unbranched and 15–19 branched fin rays, its origin be- low about middle of dorsal fin base; gill rakers 26–28 (on first gill arch); posterior tip of the maxilla pointed reach- ing or beyond posterior margin of opercle; small predorsal scute and pelvic scute with spine, belly not keeled; small needle-like prepelvic scutes 6 or 7, no post-pelvic scutes; body light greyish/brownish with a silver longitudinal stripe from the opercular margin to caudal-fin base; a pair of blackish patches behind occiput; a pair of double, black lines on back behind dorsal fin; caudal fin whitish-yellow with black margins; no black spots on suborbital area or lower-jaw tip ( Whitehead et al. 1988).

Stolephorus dubiosus is very similar to Stolephorus tri (Bleeker, 1852) ; it can be separated only by the number of lower gill rakers (more than 24 in S. dubiosus vs. less than 24 in S. tri ). Often syntopic with Stolephorus tri (personal observation). Distributed in Southeast Asia ( Whitehead et al. 1988).