Taxonomic revision of the fishes of the Genus Bleekeria (Perciformes, Ammodytidae)

Abstract

Fishes of the family Ammodytidae popularly known as sand lances or sand eels, feed in aggregations on zooplankton over open sand bottom. The Ammodytidae consists of seven genera and two common genera Bleekeria and Ammodytes. There are 11 species recorded in the genus Bleekeria of which only six are valid. The valid ones are Bleekeria kallolepis, B. mitsukurii, B. viridianguilla, B. murtii, B. profunda and B. estuaria. A key for the identification of Bleekeria is prepared. We compared details of the types of all six species of Bleekeria and reviewed the genus Bleekeria. The details of holotype of B. viridianguilla at Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, USA, B. kallolepis at Natural History Museum, London, B. mitsukurii at Californian Academy of Sciences, California, USA, and B. murtii at CMFRI, Museum, Kochi, India, B. profunda and B. estuaria at South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity were collected and compared.