Pristigasteridae, Bleeker, 1872

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 : 616

Pristigasteridae (maximum TL about 150 mm); body rel-

atively deep, strongly compressed and strongly keeled from isthmus to anus; prepelvic scutes 17–21, postpelvic scutes 8 or 9; mouth subterminal; no lateral line; eye large; only 21–25 gill rakers on first gill arch; anal fin with 35–48 fin rays; swim bladder with two tubes pass- ing back in the muscles on either side of haemal spines ( Whitehead 1985).

Ilisha melastoma can easily be distinguished from Opisthopterus tardoore (Cuvier, 1829) by the presence of pelvic fins, a longer dorsal fin, and a relatively deeper body. Ilisha melastoma is a predominantly coastal marine species tolerating salinity variation and commonly entering brackish ecosystems of this region (Tongnuinui et al. 2002). Otherwise, widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region ( Whitehead 1985).