Lutjanus decussatus (Cuvier, 1828)

Ray, Dipanajan, Mohapatra, Anil, Mishra, S. S., Yennawar, Prasanna & Ghorai, Narayan, 2017, Snappers (Perciformes: Lutjanidae) of West Bengal coast with eight new records and a key for their identification, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 117 (1), pp. 39-48 : 40

Lutjanus decussatus (Cuvier, 1828)

(Checkered snapper)

1828. Mesoprion decussatus Cuvier (ex Kuhl & van Hasselt), in Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. nat. poiss, 2: 487 (Java, Indonesia).

1985. Lutjanus decussatus : Allen, FAO Fish. Synop., (125) 6: 73, pl. 13, Figure 52.

Material examined: MARC /ZSI/F3092, 1 ex., 186 mm SL, Shankarpur, 05.07.2013, Coll. D. Ray.

Diagnosis: D X, 13; A III, 8; P 16; V I, 5; LL 52; GR 14. Body moderately deep, depth 2.77 in SL. Dorsal profile of head slope, HL 2.69 in SL. Snout pointed, its length

2.30 in HL; eye diameter 5.87 in HL; interorbital space

6.28 in HL; Preorbital bone more or less equal to eye diameter; preopercular notch poorly developed and knob indistinct. Vomerine tooth patch crescentic, without median posterior extension; a patch of granular teeth present on tongue; both jaws with few curved canine teeth; maxilla reaching to below front border of eye. Scale rows on back above lateral line rising obliquely to dorsal profile. Soft dorsal part as high as spinous part; soft anal fin part deeper than spinous part; posterior profile of dorsal and anal fin rounded; caudal fin emarginate.

Colour: Body Silvery white with 5 broad dark longitudinal bands across body from head to caudal peduncle, upper three bars crossed by dark vertical bars forming a network of light and dark squares (checker-board pattern). A large black spot on caudal fin base; dorsal and caudal fin dusky red; other fins yellowish.

Distribution: Indo-West Pacific: southern India and Sri Lanka to New Guinea, north to the Ryukyu Islands (Froece and Pauly, 2013). From Indian coastal waters this species was reported from Andaman and Nicobar Island ( Rao, 2009); Andhra Pradesh ( Barman et al., 2004) and Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu ( Varghese et al., 2011).