Lutjanus vitta (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)

Swain, Ritanjali, Kisku, Subash, Nayak, Lakshman, Mishra, Subhrendu Sekhar & Patro, Shesdev, 2022, First record of four snapper fishes (Perciformes: Lutjanidae) from Odisha, East coast of India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 122 (1), pp. 43-49 : 45-46

4. Lutjanus vitta (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) : Blackstriped snapper ( Figure 4 )

Material examined: EBEC /ZSI/F-13370, 1 ex., 239 mm SL, Gopalpur fish landing center, coll . R. Swain, 25 th November 2021 .

Diagnosis: D X, 14; A III, 9; P 15; V 1, 5; LL 52; GL 9+10. Body depth 2.91 times and HL 2.67 times in SL; eye diameter 4.09 times and suborbital depth7.20 times in HL; preopercular notch and knob poorly developed; vomerine tooth patch crescentic without a medial posterior extension; tongue smooth, without teeth; 9 transverse scale rows on cheek; caudal fin slightly emarginated; scale rows oblique above lateral line but horizontal below. Colour: Dorsal profile of body brown with a greenish tinge, lower sides and abdomen pinkish white, with a dark broad median lateral stripe on sides.

Distribution: Indo-West Pacific: Seychelles, Sri Lanka to New Caledonia, New Ireland ( Papua New Guinea) and Gilbert Islands, northward to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (Froece & Pauly, 2021). India – Andhra Pradesh ( Barman et al., 2004), Tamil Nadu ( Krishnan et al., 2007), Gujarat (Barman et al., 2000), Maharashtra ( Barman et al., 2012), Karnataka (Barman et al., 2013), Kerala ( Barman, 2017), Lakshadweep (Barman et al., 2014), Andaman & Nicobar Islands ( Rao et al., 2000) and Odisha (present report).

Remarks: This species is reported from the southern neighboring state, Andhra Pradesh ( Barman et al., 2004) most probably based on the distribution map given in Allen (1985), however it is not known to occur along West Bengal coast ( Barman, 2017) to the north of Odisha. The present paper reports Lutjanus vitta as first record from the Odisha coast with material evidence.

Figures

Figure 4. Lutjanus vitta (Quoy & Gaimard).