Parabathymyrus macrophthalmus Kamohara, 1938

Ray, Dipanjan, Mohapatra, Anil, Smith, David G. & Mishra, Subhrendu Sekhar, 2020, First record of Genus Parabathymyrus Kamohara, 1938 (Anguilliformes: Congridae) from Eastern Indian Ocean, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 120 (1), pp. 55-58 : 56-57

Parabathymyrus macrophthalmus Kamohara, 1938

1938. Parabathymyrus macrophthalmus Kamohara, On the offshore bottom-fishes of Prov. Tosa: 14.

Type locality: Mimase , Kochi Prefecture, Japan .

Description

Small, stout fish with elongated (246 mms SL.) scale less body, more compressed on tail region. Head 19.1 % of TL and 1.9 in trunk; body depth at dorsal-fin origin 6.3% of TL and at anus 5.16% of TL. Trunk and tail long; head and trunk cylindrical, but posterior half tapering; trunk 22.7% of TL. Snout short and obtuse, 12.8% of HL; eye larger than snout, reaching up to the rictus, eye 17% of head length; interorbital space wide. Tube like anterior nostril present in front of snout and posterior nostril large, dorsally covered by a flap and located below mideye level, just above the upper jaw. Gill opening high, in front of welldeveloped pectoral-fin; upper end of gill opening at middle of pectoral-fin base. Dorsal-fin origin above the pectoral fin base; predorsal length 19.9% of TL; preanal length 43.4% of TL. Fin rays of dorsal and anal fin unsegmented.

Mouth large, open obliquely; upper labial flange developed; a deep fold on lower jaw; upper jaw larger than lower jaw; rictus reaches up to posterior one third of orbit; tongue free anteriorly. Pectoral fin narrow, 48.2% of HL. Dorsal and anal fin continuous with caudal fin.

Teeth small and villiform; anterior part of intermaxilla with round patch of 4 rows of teeth; vomerine teeth in small, triangular patch; jaw teeth in 5 rows anteriorly and two rows in posteriorly. Supraorbital pores: 4; infraorbital pores: 5; mandibular pores: 6; preopercular pores: 4 (POM:10). Lateral line pores -prepectoral: 9; predorsal:11; preanal: 40; total:125. Vertebrae: predorsal: 12; preanal: 39; total: 130.

Colour: Light pink dorsally; pale ventrally; lateral line pores whitish; dorsal and anal fin margin dark. Small dark dermal flaps on interorbital space.

Distribution: Western Pacific: Off Japan, Taiwan, Hainan, Vietnam, Australia ( Ho et al., 2015). Present study forms the first report of this genus from Indian Ocean, east coast of India.