Pagellus affinis Boulenger 1888

Siddiqui, Pirzada Jamal, Amir, Shabir Ali & Masroor, Rafaqat, 2014, The sparid fishes of Pakistan, with new distribution records, Zootaxa 3857 (1), pp. 71-100 : 86

Pagellus affinis Boulenger 1888

Common name: Arabian Pandora ( Figures 10 & 15 X, Y; Table 1 )

Pagellus affinis Boulenger 1888: 659 ( Muscat, Oman, Arabian Sea).

Diagnosis. Body elongate and slightly compressed, its depth 2.6–3.0 times of SL. Dorsal rays XII, 10; anal rays III, 9–10; pectoral rays 16; lateral line scales 59; scales above lateral line to base of fifth dorsal spine 6½; gill rakers 16, nine on lower arch. Scalation on top of head reaching to beyond vertical diameter of eyes.

Description. Body elongate, somewhat fusiform; head profile convex from upper lip to origin of dorsal-fin; eyes large, mouth terminal and little protrusible; no scales on preopercular flange, nor on soft dorsal and anal-fins; scalation of top of head reaching to beyond vertical diameter of eyes; sharp teeth, small molars in jaws; dorsal spines slender and thin, fifth longest; last dorsal and anal-fin soft rays a little bit longer than penultimate rays; 2nd and 3rd anal spines subequal; caudal fin forked; pectoral-fins long, reaching to anterior origin of anal-fin. Scaly sheath at base of dorsal and anal fins.

Colour in fresh specimen. Overall appearance silvery with reddish tinge in most parts of the body. Reddish colour in snout part of the head; pinkish or reddish and silvery in colour combination with a light blue spotted lines running along the scale-lines above and below the lateral line.

Distribution. Western Indian Ocean including, Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden and northern coast of Somalia, as far western coast of India and Pakistan.

Remarks. The species Pagellus affinis was first recorded from Pakistan by Amir et al. (2013). The single specimen of P. affinis (CEMB-P 2012–00078, 183 mm SL) shows nine anal-fin rays, while the comparative Omani specimens of P. affinis (MUFS 33502–33506, 33668, 33670–33671, 8 specimens, 188–232 mm SL) and of other workers ( Bauchot & Smith, 1983; Randall, 1995) indicated 10 anal-fin rays for this species. The nine counts of anal-fin rays in the Pakistani specimen will require examination of additional specimens from this region to further elaborate on this character as either character variation or the presence of a new isolated population in this region. Lacking additional specimens from our region, we cannot provide a direct comparison of our specimen on the basis of this single character.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Pagellus affinis, CEMB- P 2012 – 00078, 183 mm SL, WWFH, Karachi, fusiform, reddish / pinkish appearance.

FIGURE 15. Details of dentition (A-Y) and gill rakers (Z & Z 1) in species of family Sparidae from Pakistan; Acanthopagrus catenula, A) upper jaw & B) lower jaw; A. berda, C) upper jaw & D) lower jaw; A. arabicus, E) upper jaw & F) lower jaw; A. sheim, G) upper jaw & H) lower jaw; Sparidentex hasta, I) upper jaw & J) lower jaw; Sparidentex jamalensis., K) upper jaw & L) lower jaw; Crenidens indicus, M) upper jaw & N) lower jaw; Diplodus capensis, O) upper jaw & P) lower jaw; Q) upper and lower jaws of Diplodus omanensis; Rhabdosargus sarba, R) upper jaw & S) lower jaw; Rhabdosargus haffara, T) upper jaw & U) lower jaw; V) upper and lower jaws of Agryrops spinifer; W) upper and lower jaws of Cheimerius nufar; Pagellus affinis, X) upper jaw & Y) lower jaw; Z) Argyrops spinifer, showing comparatively small gill rakers; and Z 1) Cheimerius nufar, showing elongated fan-like gill rakers.