Acanthurus xanthopterus Valenciennes, 1835

Pradhan, J, Ray, D & Balakrishnan, S, 2023, First report on the occurrence of two marine ornamental fishes (Acanthuriformes) from Northern part of the Bay of Bengal, India, Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences 52 (5), pp. 261-264 : 261-262

1. Acanthurus xanthopterus Valenciennes, 1835

Common name: Yellowfin Surgeonfish

1835. Acanthurus xanthopterus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome dixième. Suite du livreneuvième. Scombéroïdes. Livredixième. De la famille des Teuthyes. Livreonzième. De la famille des Taenioïdes. Livredouzième. Des Athérines. v. 10: i-xxiv + 1-482 + 2 pp., Pls. 280-306.

Material examined: Two specimens; SL 189 – 244 mm; location: Digha Mohana, collection date: July 21, 2018 ( MARC /ZSI/F8356); Chandipur, collection date: June 14, 2013 ( MARC /ZSI/F3045) .

Diagnostic characters: D: IX+26, A: II+25, P: I+14, LL: P, GR: 17-19. Body oblong, compressed ( Fig. 1 ), its depth 2.12 – 2.19 in SL. Head profile convex, head length 0.26 in SL. Mouth terminal, eye diameter 0.23 – 0.25 in HL; interorbital space convex and 0.21 – 0.34 in HL. Violet grey coloration with a yellow stain on the eyes and snout; distal part of the pectoral fins yellow. High and compressed body. A folding spine on both sides of the caudal peduncle. Pelvic fin rays I, 4. Long and high dorsal and anal fins. Mouth small, teeth fixed and in a single row.

Colour: Body blue grey with irregular dark grey lines vertically; a dull yellow area behind and in front

Morphometric Characters (in mm) A. xanthopterus Valenciennes, 1835 Z. cornutus (Linnaeus, 1758) Specimen 1 Specimen 2 Specimen 1 Specimen 2

Total length 285 248 172 119

Standard length 244 189 148 90

Body depth 111 89 122 80

Head length 64 51 47 29

Pre dorsal length 84 69 87 67

Pre pectoral length 62 51 54 31

Pre pelvic length 84 68 70 41

Pre anal length 113 93 98 57

4 th dorsal spine height 32 29 - -

2 nd anal spine height 28 21 - -

Pectoral spine 58 50 34 31

Pelvic spine length 24 20 24 25

Soft pelvic length 41 34 35 29

Head depth 75 71 78 47

Head width 23 21 18 14

Eye diameter 15 13 12 09

Pre orbital length 37 28 37 14

Post orbital length 51 41 49 23

Inter orbital space 22 11 13 12

Upper jaw length 10 09 05 05

Lower jaw length 09 06 04 03

Maxillary width 14 12 08 08

Snout length 36 27 29 15

of eye; caudal fin bluish-grey; dorsal and anal fins with alternate yellow and blue stripes; outer third of pectoral yellow.

Distribution: Indo-Pacific, East Africa, Eastern Pacific 23; Red Sea, Persian Gulf 24; and Eastern Coast of Somalia 25. From Indian coastal waters, this species is reported from Andaman and Nicobar Island 26, Andhra Pradesh 27, Tamil Nadu 28, Kerala 29, Karnataka 30, Maharashtra 31 and Lakshadweep 32.

Figures

Fig. 1 — Acanthurus xanthopterus Valenciennes, 1835