Allenbatrachus grunniens (Linnaeus, 1758)

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 : 617

Allenbatrachus grunniens (Linnaeus, 1758)

Material examined. MALAYSIA • 1, 76 mm TL; Kedah State, Kampung Batu Lintang, Pompang Batu Lintang ; 05.624°N, 100.395°E; 10 Oct. 2019; Sébastien Lavoué leg.; USMFC (102) 00002 .

Identification. Maximum TL about 150 mm; body robust, slightly dorso-ventrally compressed; head broad and flattened, many short fleshy appendages around jaws; two subopercular spines; mouth large, terminal; gill openings small, restricted to sides of body; pectoral fins broad, no pore at top of pectoral-fin axil, pelvic fins anterior to pectoral fins; dorsal fin notched, first part spi- nous and short; second part soft and long. Body and fins brown with the presence of irregular marks consisting of few large and many small darker brown blotches.

In the Merbok region, A. grunniens can be distinguished from Batrachomoeus trispinosus (Günther, 1861) by the absence of a foramen behind the upper part of the pectoral fin insertion ( Greenfield et al. 2008). Allenbatrachus grunniens is not often recorded in this region. A marine species widely distributed in the Indo- West Pacific region supporting lower salinity.