Sardinella longiceps Valenciennes, 1847

Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Randall, John E. & Golani, Daniel, 2011, Four new records of shore fishes for the Red Sea, with notes on Parupeneus heptacanthus and Diodon liturosus, Zootaxa 3057, pp. 49-60 : 50-51

Sardinella longiceps Valenciennes, 1847

Figure 1

Sardinella longiceps Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1847: 273 (type locality, Pondicherry, India).

Material examined. HUJ 19844, 2: 166-167 mm SL, fish market, Hurghada, Egypt, S.V. Bogorodsky, 7 April 2009.

Diagnosis. Dorsal-fin rays 16–18; anal-fin rays 14–16, the posterior two rays enlarged; pectoral-fin rays 17; pelvic-fin rays 9; longitudinal scale series 45–48; median predorsal scales as alternating pairs (not a single straight row of scales); pelvic scutes 31 or 32; lower-limb gill rakers numerous, 150–253 (in fish from 8.0– 15.5 cm SL); body moderately elongate, the depth 4.0– 4.2 in SL; second supramaxilla symmetrically paddle-shaped; head long, 3.1–3.4 in SL; 8–11 striae on each side on top of head; bluish on back with iridescence, silvery on side and ventrally; a small, diffuse black spot at edge of opercle at level of eye; usually a brassy blotch above upper end of gill opening. Attains 230 mm TL.

Distribution. East coast of India (type locality, Pondicherry), west along the continental shelf, except for the Arabian Gulf, to Somalia and the Gulf of Aden (Whitehead, 1985: 105). The range is extended here to the northern Red Sea at Hurghada (27°15’N).

Remarks. Sardinella longiceps is distinguished from all Red Sea clupeid fishes by having 9 pelvic-fin rays and numerous gill rakers. The Atlantic-Mediterranean Sardinella aurita Valenciennes also has 9 pelvic rays and a high number of gill rakers (description and summary of biological data by Ben-Tuvia, 1960). Because it ranges throughout the Mediterranean, one might expect it to be an "anti-Lessepsian" migrant into the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. We soon eliminated this possibility by comparing the head length of S. longiceps and S. aurita to our Red Sea specimens. Mediterranean specimens of S. aurita have a distinctly smaller head (head length 3.8–4.55 in SL, compared to 2.85–3.45 in SL for S. longiceps ). The two Red Sea specimens have a head length of 3.4 in SL. Further confirmation of our identification of these two specimens as S. longiceps is provided by the gill-raker counts of 250 and 265. Ben-Tuvia (1960) counted 100–170 gill rakers from Mediterranean specimens of S. aurita that measured morethan 90 mm standard length.

Sardinella longiceps , known by the common name Indian Oil Sardine, is the most abundant and commercially important clupeid fish in Indian seas (Whitehead, 1973), and in Oman ( Randall, 1995). Biological data were summarized by Nair (1973).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sardinella longiceps, freshly collected specimen, 167 mm SL, Hurghada, Egypt (S. V. Bogorodsky).