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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Acknowledgements December26, 1998 M. ARUNACHALAM JOHNSON J.A. The second author (JAJ) is grateful to the Sri Paramakalyani Centrefor Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Environmental Sciences, Manonmanium (CSIR), New Delhi, for financial support. Sundaranar Univ., Alwarkurichi 627412, 77V. Refer NCES Arunachalam,M.,J.A.Johnson,S.N.Sathyanarayanappa. Misra, K.S. (1938): On a collection of fish from the A. Sankaranarayanan & R. Soranam (1998): EasternGhats. Rec. Indian Mus. XL(3): 255-264. Economically important cultivable/omamental fishes Molur, Sanjay& SallyWalker(1998): Reportofthe fromHemavathiandEkachiriversinSouthKarnataka. Workshop on ‘Conservation assessment and WorkshopreportonGermplasminventorisationandgene managementplanforfreshwaterfishesofIndia' Zoo . bankingoffreshwaterfishes,National BureauofFish Outreach Organisation. Conservation Breeding GeneticResources,Lucknow. SpecialistGroup, India. 156pp. Lazarus,R.J.,V. ArivudaiNabmi&P. SitaramiReddy RemaDevi,K.(1992):Onasmallcollectionoffishfrom (1988):Achecklistofthefishesfromthestreamsof Javadi Hills,NorthArcotdistrict,TamilNadu. Rec. JavadiHills,withnotesontheuniquecatchingmethod. Zool. Surv. India 91(3-4): 353-360. ‘Pari’.Matsya 14:47-52. Talwar,P.K. & A.G.Jhingran(1991): Inland fishesof Menon,A.G.K.(1992):Conservationoffreshwaterfishes India and adjacent countries. Oxford & IBH ofpeninsularIndia.FinalreportsubmittedtoMinistry PublishingCo. Pvt.Ltd.,NewDelhi.Vols.I&II, 1158 ofEnvironmentandForests(unpubl.).31 pp. pp. 21. RANGE EXTENSION OF OSTEOBRAMA COTIO PENINSULARIS SILAS TO KERALA The genus Osteobrama is found in the line with 55 to 60 scales; scale-rows IVi to 9/4 Oriental region and is restricted to Pakistan, between lateral line and base of pelvic fins; India, Bangladesh, MyanmarandChina(Talwar predorsal scales 21-24. andJhingran, 1991). This genus is characterised Osteobrama cotio peninsularis can be by having a dorsal fin inserted slightly behind easily identified from its closely related pelvic fins with 11 or 12 rays (8 or9 branched), subspecies by the presence of fewer branched a strong serrated spine and a long anal fin with rays in the anal fin, less than 10‘A scale-rows 14-36rays (11-13 branched). Thepresentreport between lateral line and pelvic fin, greater ofOsteobramacotiopeninsularisisbasedontwo number oflateral line scales and lesser number specimens collected from Periyar river, Central ofpre-dorsalscales. Itcanbedistinguishedfrom Kerala. O. cotio cotio in the lesser number ofbranched rays in the anal fin, less than lO’A scale-rows Osteobrama cotio peninsularis Silas between lateral line and pelvic fin; and it can also be distinguished from O. cotio cunma by Distinguishing characters: D iii-iv 8-9; the presence of greater number of lateral line A iii 28-31; PI 12-14; Vi 9. scales and fewerpre-dorsal scales. Body trapezoid and considerably Geographic distribution: Peninsular compressed, itsdepth2.2to2.9timesinstandard India: Maharashtra,Orissa,AndhraPradeshand length; abdominal edge trenchant from base of Kerala. pelvic fins to anal fin, but rounded in front of Remarks: The genus Osteobrama is pelvic fins. Mouth small; barbels absent. Dorsal represented by seven species in India, ofwhich spine weak and serrated. Scales small; lateral O. bakeri is endemic to Kerala. O. bakeri is the JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(3), DEC. 1999 481 MISCELLANEOUSNOTES only species reported so far from Kerala under report thus extends its distribution to the rivers this genus. Menon (1997) considers O. bakeri ofKerala. as rare in Kerala. Except O. cotio peninsularis the two other subspecies of O. cotio are Acknowledgements commonly distributed in North India, while the former is only distributed in the rivers of We are thankful to Dr. K. Rema Devi, peninsular India: Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Scientist, Zoological Survey ofIndia, Southern Pradesh (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Type Regional Station, Chennai for confirming our locality ofO. cotiopeninsularis is Pune. There identification ofthe species. was no authentic record on the occurrence of this species from the freshwaters of Kerala. August 6, 1998 C.R. BIJU While conducting a survey in Periyar river in K. RAJU THOMAS central Kerala, we collected the species from C.R. AJITHKUMAR Aluva region. The species is very rare in the Bombay Natural HistoiySociety, collections,asonlytwospecimenswereobtained HornbillHouse S.B. Singh Road, , along withsome otherPuntius spp. The present Mumbai400 023, India. References Menon,A.G.K.(1997): RareandendangeredfishesofMalabar,India.Zoo‘sPrint. 97(12):6-19. Talwar, P.K. &A.G.Jhingran(1991): InlandfishesofIndiaandadjacentcountries.Oxford& IBH PublishingCo.. NewDelhi. — 22. MYSTUSBLEEKER1(DAY) AN ADDITION TO THE FISH FAUNA OF KERALA Bleeker (1846) originally described we collected two specimens ofMystus bleekeri Bagrus keletius (Mystus bleekeri) from Bengal. (of5.4and6.0cmtotallength) fromOttasekara- In 1877 Day modified the taxon as Macrones mangalam thodu in Thiruvananthapuram dist. bleekeri (Talwar & Jhingran, 1991). It is The collection site has a mixed substrate of characterised by a depressed head and an detritus, mud, sand, cobble and bedrock, sand elongate, compressed body. Barbels four pairs, being the most dominant. the maxillary barbels extend posteriorly to the The diagnostic characters are the same as anal fin. A large adipose fin is present. Body those given in the original description, except colour in life is brownish above and lighter for some minor differences. below.Twolongitudinalbandspresentaboveand D. 1/7-8, P. 1/9-10, A. 9-10, C. 17 below the lateral line. There is also a dark shoulder spot on either side below the lateral The present record extends the range of line. distribution ofthe species to Kerala. Mystus bleekeri is generally confined to northern India and, according to Hora (1940), Acknowledgements the southernmost limit is the Mahanadi headwaters. It inhabits lakes, tanks and rivers. We thank Dr. K. Rema Devi, Scientist, There has been no report of this species from Z.S.I. Southern Regional Station, Chennai, for Kerala. While conducting a survey on the confirmingthe identification ofourspecies. We distributionoffreshwaterfishesinNeyyarRiver, alsothanktheKeralaForestDepartmentfortheir 482 JOURNAL. BOMBAYNATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, 96(3) DEC. 1999