On certain anomalies in the fishes of the family Leiognathidae

Abstract

Instances of anomalies are quite common in fishes and were reported by earlier authors in a number of families of fishes, involving different parts of the body. Dawson (1964) gave a valuable bibliography on the subject. Some recent accounts on anomalies in fishes from India are those of Kapoor and Sarkar (1955), Sarkar and Kapoor (1956), Sarkar and Kaushik (1958), Tandon (1959), James (1960), Kaushik (1960), Luther (1962), Chhapgar (1964), Bensam (1965), Bapat and Radhakrishnan (1967) and Rangarajan (1967). During the course of study of the biology and fishery of the fishes of the family Leiognathidae from the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, the authors came across seventeen specimens of seven different species of this family showing certain anomalies. These pertain to the body profile, fins, eye and colour. A brief description of these anomalies is given in this paper. The specimens were deposited in the Reference Collection Museum at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute