Record Details

First record of the African spadefish, Tripterodon orbis Playfair, 1867 (family: Ephippidae) from the north-east coast of India

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/10494/
 
Title First record of the African spadefish,
Tripterodon orbis Playfair, 1867
(family: Ephippidae) from the north-east
coast of India
 
Creator Behera, Pralaya Ranjan
Ghosh, Shubhadeep
Satish Kumar, M
 
Subject New record
Demersal Fishes
 
Description The family Ephippidae, commonly known as spadefishes,
comprises eight genera (Nelson, 2006) and 15 valid species
(Eschmeyer & Fong, 2014), mostly inhabiting coastal waters
around reefs, up to a depth of 30 m (Nelson, 2006). The
genus Platax is the most speciose, while the genus
Tripterodon is monotypic (Jawad et al., 2012). The
maximum length attained by Tripterodon orbis is 750 mm
(Fischer & Bianchi, 1984; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004),
with common lengths reaching 300 mm. They feed on rock
and coral-dwelling organisms and their flesh is edible
(Froese & Pauly, 2014).
The species had earlier been reported from the Western
Indian Ocean (Somalia, Kenya, south to Algoa Bay, South
Africa), from the Red sea and from the eastern Indian
Ocean (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Sri Lanka)
(Froese & Pauly, 2014). Indrasenan (1960) had also reported
the occurrence of Tripterodon orbis from Rameswaram
Island, in the Gulf of Mannar, south-east coast of India.
However, this is the first occurrence of the species at
Visakhapatnam along the north-east coast of India, a signifi-
cant extension of its distribution from the southern to the
northern region, along the Bay of Bengal.
 
Date 2015
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/10494/1/Marine_Biodiversity_Records_Behera_African_Spade_fish.pdf
Behera, Pralaya Ranjan and Ghosh, Shubhadeep and Satish Kumar, M (2015) First record of the African spadefish, Tripterodon orbis Playfair, 1867 (family: Ephippidae) from the north-east coast of India. Marine Biodiversity Records, 8. pp. 1-4.