Hemibagrus punctatus ( Jerdon, 1849 )

Ng, Heok Hee & Kottelat, Maurice, 2013, Revision Of The Asian Catfish Genus Hemibagrus Bleeker, 1862 (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Bagridae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (1), pp. 205-291 : 229-230

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5351788
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/CF180962-FFF1-FFAE-FF1C-F04CFB7780F7
treatment provided by	Tatiana
scientific name	Hemibagrus punctatus ( Jerdon, 1849 )
status

Treatment

Hemibagrus punctatus ( Jerdon, 1849) View in CoL

( Fig. 19 View Fig )

Bagrus punctatus Jerdon, 1849: 339 View in CoL (type locality: Cauvery River and its tributaries, India).

Hemibagrus punctatus View in CoL - Day, 1867: 284; Ng & Ferraris, 2000: 137, Fig. 11 View Fig ; Ferraris, 2007: 91.

Macrones punctatus - Day, 1878: 445, Pl. 100 Fig. 3 View Fig ; 1889: 153.

Mystus punctatus View in CoL - Hora, 1937: 19; 1942: 197; Jayaram, 1977: 36, Fig. 25A View Fig ; 1981: 197, 201, Fig. 95A; Jayaram et al., 1982: 87, Fig. 27 View Fig ; Mo, 1991: 131; Talwar & Jhingran, 1991: 570, Fig. 188; Jayaram, 1999: 236; Yazdani et al., 2001: 219; Jayaram & Sanyal, 2003: 101, Fig. 23 View Fig ; Karmakar & Das, 2005: 95, Fig. 120; Khan, 2008: 36, Fig. 16 View Fig .

Mystus (Mystus) punctatus View in CoL - Jayaram, 1954: 547 (in part); 1966: 446; Misra, 1976: 102.

Mystus menoda View in CoL (non Hamilton, 1822) - Jayaram et al., 1982: 86, Fig. 26 View Fig .

Mystus menoda menoda View in CoL (non Day) - Barman, 1993: 223, Fig. 94.

Material examined. — INDIA: BMNH 1868.5.14:8, 1 ex., 154.6 mm SL, India ; RMNH 3023 View Materials , 1 ex., 143.5 mm SL, Bhavani River ; ZSI F12403, 1 ex., 120.2 mm SL, Karnataka: Cauvery River at Coorg ; ZSI FF 1223 , 1 ex., 193.1 mm SL, India: Karnataka: Hemavathy River at Huliyar .

Diagnosis. — Hemibagrus punctatus differs from H. caveatus in having a pattern of dark spots arranged in vertical columns (vs. thin vertical lines and a midlateral line) along the sides of the body, and from both H. menoda and H. peguensis in having a greater dorsal to adipose distance (16.3–19.4% SL vs. 10.4–15.0) and larger eye (14–16% HL vs. 11–14). It can be further distinguished from H. menoda in having a shorter, flatter head (head length 28.1–29.6% SL vs. 32.7–33.5; head depth 11.9–14.3% SL vs. 14.2–15.3), greater caudal peduncle depth (8.8–9.9% SL vs. 7.5–8.8), and reddish (vs. grey) fins in life, and from H. peguensis in having a shorter adipose-fin base (10.1–13.2% SL vs. 14.2–19.3) and a larger eye (14–16% HL vs. 11–14).

Description. — Biometric and meristic data as in Table 10. General description as for genus. Head depressed and broad, body moderately compressed. Head length 28.1–29.6% SL; head depth 11.9–14.3% SL. Snout rounded. Eye diameter 14–16% HL. Dorsal profile rising evenly but not steeply from tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin, then sloping gently ventrally from there to end of caudal peduncle. Ventral profile horizontal to origin of anal fin, then sloping dorsally to end of caudal peduncle. Caudal-peduncle length 16.1–18.6% SL; caudal-peduncle depth 8.8–9.9% SL. Cleithral process broad, notched for about one quarter its maximum width. Adipose-fin base short, approximately as long as anal-fin base (10.1–13.2% SL); maximum height 3.9–5.4% SL. Adipose-fin origin separated from base of last dorsal-fin ray by distance of 16.3–19.4% SL. Dorsal spine stout, with 5–7 serrations on posterior edge. Pectoral spine stout, with 12–19 serrations on posterior edge. Anal-fin origin slightly posterior to adipose origin. Adpressed dorsal not reaching adipose fin. Caudal fin forked; distal margins of upper and lower lobes rounded. Maximum recorded size 197 mm SL (Jayaram & Sanyal, 2003).

Colour. — Preserved specimens with dorsal surface of head and body greyish brown, fading to a dirty white on ventral surface. Lateral surface of body with about 9-10 black spots arranged in a horizontal row along lateral line. Dorsal, pectoral, pelvic and anal fins greyish brown, with scattered melanophores on fin rays and interradial membranes. Caudal fin greyish brown, with a lighter hue along posterior edge, and procurrent and first principal caudal rays.

Distribution. — Hemibagrus punctatus is known only from the Cauvery River drainage in southern India ( Fig. 15 View Fig ).

Remarks. — The colour pattern of H. punctatus has often been described as a series of large spots along the lateral line (e.g. Ng & Ferraris, 2000), but this pattern is based on poorly-preserved material. Photographs of fresh material ( Fig. 19b View Fig ) show that H. punctatus actually possesses vertical columns of spots much like H. menoda and H. peguensis . Although the colour patterns of H. menoda , H. peguensis and H. punctatus are very similar in that the sides of the body are marked with a series of vertical columns of black spots, there are slight but distinct differences between H. punctatus and the H. menoda . In H. punctatus , the spots in the middle of the columns along the lateral line remain distinctly larger (at least twice the size of the other spots in the same column) in almost all the columns (save the last one or two) whereas in H. menoda , only the spots in the first three or four columns are distinctly larger.