Occurrence of the pig-faced file-fish Paramonacanthus choirocephalus (Bleeker) (Pisces: Plectognathi) at Mumbai

3 Pages·1997·2.4 MB·

by  B F Chhapgar

582 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HIST SOCIETY, Vol. 94 (1997)
,
cover near a rain water pool at Paoti village November 6, 1995 S. K. SHARMA
(Rewari district) along the road. It was sitting at Range Forest Officer,
the edge ofthe pool and was seen by torch light. Aravalli Afforestation Project,
Further south, one more specimen was collected Jhadol Dist.,
at Bizwar Chauhan village in Alwar district, Udaipur,
Rajasthan. (Rajasthan) 313 702
26. OCCURRENCE OF THE PIG-FACED FILE-FISH PARAMONACANTHUS
CHOIROCEPHALUS (BLEEKER) (PISCES: PLECTOGNATHI) AT MUMBAI
(With one text-figure)
The occasional finding offishes and other First dorsal spine above hind border of eye.
marine animals at Mumbai, where they do not Anteriorborder ofdorsal spine rough, withmany
normally live, has been discussed earlier in this (over60) tinyupwardpointing spinules, posterior
Journal (Chhapgar and Deshmukh, 1964; border with two rows of slightly longer and-
Chhapgarand Jatar, 1968). Chhapgar (1978) has stronger downward pointing spines. Origin of
also recorded the occurrence of two leather- anal fin below 2nd dorsal fin, both these fins
jackets, viz Osbeckia (formerlyAlutera) scripta hyaline. Pelvic shield with a movable spine at
(Osbeck) and Alutera monoceros (Linnaeus) its end.
A
from Mumbai. single specimenoffile-fishwas Colour earthy brown with an irregular
brought alive to the Taraporevala Aquarium on blackish patch below 2nd dorsal fin.
9th September, 1995, and lived there for over a Morphometry.- D I + 27, P 12, A27, C 12.
month. It was later identified as
Paramonacanthus choirocephalus (Bleeker). Total length 81 mm
mm
Description: Dorsal profile of snout Standard length 66
mm
slightly concave, that of back between the two Length ofhead (mouthto gill-cover) 22.8
mm
dorsal fins horizontal. Gill opening slightly Length ofsnout (mouthto anteriorborder oforbit) 16.8
mm
oblique, its upper end below hind border ofeye. Distance frommouthto base ofpelvic spine 32.7
mm
Diameter ofeye 6.9
mm
Diameteroforbit 8.4
mm
Supra-orbital width 6.0
Height ofbody (betweenorigins of2nd dorsal
mm
and anal fins) 29.0
Depth ofbody (from origin ofdorsal spineto
mm
pelvic flap) 36.5
mm
Length ofdorsal spine 17.0
mm
Lengthofbase of2nd dorsal fin 18.5
mm
Height of2nd dorsal fin 8.0
mm
Lengthofpectoralfm 7.8
mm
Lengthofbase ofanal fin 14.5
mm
Length ofcaudal fin 15.5
mm
Length ofcaudal peduncle 9.8
mm
Paramonacanthuschoirocephalus Height ofcaudalpeduncle 8.2
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
583
Height ofbody 2.3 in standard length, 2.8 Paramonacanthus choirocephalus can be
in total length. Head 2.9 in standard length, 3.6 distinguished from P. oblongus (= barnardi of
in total length. Eye 3.3 in head, 2.4 in snout, Fraser-Brunner) in having a shorter, deeper
—
and slightly morethaninter-orbital space. Height body depth 2.3 times in length in the former,
of 2nd dorsal fin 1/2 in length of snout. Length 2.8 times in the latter.
of caudal peduncle 1 1 in depth. Pectoral fin Fraser-Brunner (loc. cit.) created a new
.
about equal to distance between eye and lower species, P. horae, based on specimens from the
end ofpectoral fin base. east coast of India, Andaman Is, and Maldives,
Discussion: While Smith (1953) has mainly on the grounds that it has 12 rays on the
separated the leather-jackets Alutera Osbeckia pectoral fin, as against 14 in P. choirocephalus.
( ,
and Pseudalutarius into the family Aluteridae, But De Beaufort and Briggs have clarified that
)
Fraser-Brunner (1941), Munro (1955), De the holotype and other specimens in Bleeker’s
Beaufort and Briggs (1962), and Jones and collection all have only 12 rays. (Jones and
Kumaran (1980) have clubbedthemwiththe file- Kumaran also mention 12 rays, Munro gives
fishes into a common family Monacanthidae. counts only for the dorsal and anal fins, while
And while the others haveplaced file-fishes into Day mentions 13 rays.)
20 genera, De Beaufort andBriggs (loc. cit.) have Paramonacanthus choirocephalus has
assigned them to Monacanthus separating only been previously recorded from Chennai, eastern
Alutera, Oxymonacanthus, Paraluteres, coast of India, Andaman Is., Lakshadweep Is.,
Pseudaluteres and Psilocephalus. Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia
The genus Paramonacanthus can eastwards. This is the first record from Bombay
be distinguished from psilocephalus (=Mumbai).
(= Anacanthus) by the absence of a fleshy barb
on the lower jaw, and from Acanthaluteres, Acknowledgements
Alutera, Amanses, Hanomanctus, Navodon,
Osbeckia, Paraluteres and Thamnaconus in We thank the Curator, Taraporevala
having a movable pelvic spine. It differs from Aquarium, for making available the specimen
Oxymonacanthus in the absence ofa long snout for study, and Rishali G. Patki for assistance in
ending in a dorsal mouth, from Pervagor in morphometry and fin-ray count.
having the dorsal spine originating behind the
middle ofthe eye, and fromLaputa innothaving May 26, 1997 B.F. CHHAPGAR
two rows of 8-12 strong downwardly directed Taraporevala Aquarium,
spines on the anterior face ofthe dorsal spine. It Mumbai.
MULEY
differs from Stephanolepis in having a smooth S.B.
skin with minute scales. AssistantFisheriesDevelopment Officer, Sangli.
Refe ENCES
Chhapgar, B.F. (1978): TheLeather-jacket,Aluterascripta of the family Chaetodontidae from Bombay.
(Osbeck) feeding on the Portuguese man-of-war J. Bombaynat. Hist. Soc. 65(1): 58-63, 5 text-figs.
Physalia utriculus(LaMartiniere).J. Bombaynot. Day, F. (1878): Fishes ofIndia 1 : 693, pi. 179.
Hist. Soc. 74(3): 541-543, 1 text-fig. DeBeaufort, L.F. &JohnC. Briggs(1962):In:MaxWeber
Chhapgar, B.F. & S.K. Deshmukh (1964): Furtherrecords & L.F. De Beaufort’s The fishes of the Indo-
oflobstersfromBombay.J. Bombaynat.Hist. Soc. Australian Archipelago XI: 325.
61(1): 203-207, 1 pi. Fraser-Brunner, A. (1941): Notes on the Plectognath
& A
Chhapgar, B.F. J.K. Jatar(1968): Records ofrarefishes fishes. VI. synopsis ofthe genera ofthe family
1
.
584 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 94 (1997)
Aluteridae, and descriptions ofseven new species. Jones, S. & M. Kumaran (1980): Fishes ofthe Laccadive
Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (11)8:325, text-fig. 6. Archipelago: 683, fig. 581.
Jones, S. (1969): Catalogue offishes from the Laccadive Munro, Ian S.R. (1955): Themarineand freshwaterfishes
Archipelago in the reference collections of the ofCeylon: 274, pi. 53.
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Bull. Smith, J.L.B. (1953): The sea fishes ofSouthern Africa:
Cent. Mar. Fish. Res. Inst. 8: 31 1138 (onlyParamonacanthus bamardi pi. 88.
),
27. PIERIS BRASSICAE LINNAEUS (LEPIDOPTERA: PIERIDAE) IN DELHI
There are numerous records ofthe Large its appearance on the plains of India indicate
Cabbage White (Pieris brassicae L.) from the several gaps in our knowledge.
plains adjoining the Himalaya. It appears Several authors have observed that this
sporadically and has been recorded from insect breeds freely on cruciferous plants in the
Amritsar (Sanders 1930), Peshawar and plains during the cold weather and early hot
Fatehgarh (Peile 1937), Lucknow, (Rhe Philipe, weather. It has been recorded on the wing
1902) and “E. Bengal, Behar” (Maxwell-Lefroy between late October and late May but there are
1909). no records between June and early October.
Recently, Rose and Venkatesh (1995) bred Presumably, the weather is too warm during this
the species inPatialafrom eggs collected locally. period. This observation has led to the
Donahue (1967) predicted the appearance assumption that brassicae is only a sporadic
ofthis butterfly in Delhi. On 10th April, 1996, migrant on the plains.
found a female brassicae beside the road south In other parts ofits range, this butterfly is
of Yusuf Sarai in New Delhi. The specimen is known to be capable of surviving severe and
worn and the abdomen is flaccid, indicating that prolonged winter conditions in the pupal stage.
oppositionhadtakenplace. On 13th April, 1996, There is no work on the tolerance of the
I saw a male ofthe species in aprivate garden in diapausing pupae to severe summer conditions
Defence Colony andon 15thApril, 1996, another experienced ontheplains ofIndia. Ifit is proved
male in the company of Catopsiliapyranthe L. that the pupae cannot tolerate the heat, then the
at Dhaulakuan, in the scrub at the intersection traditional explanation ofthe appearance ofthis
ofRidge Road and Sardar Patel Marg. insect on the plains will hold true. On the other
In India, it has been suggested that these hand, if pupae can survive the summer heat, it
insects migratefromthehillsforthe cold weather indicates the need for work to clarify whether
and early hot weather, breed on cultivated brassicae is actually aresident on theplains or a
Cruciferae and returntothehillsforthe summer, sporadicmigrant. Inanyevent, we have aninsect
although no return flight has been observed that is either repeatedly attempting colonisation
(Maxwell-Lefroy, 1909; Wynter-Blyth, 1957). but failing, or has established a very tenuous
Femalebutterflies ofthis species, fertilised foothold on the plains, so tenuous that when
butwithout mature eggs, are capable oftravelling compared with its fecundity in the hills and the
400 km without food in a few days. The stations cooler parts of its range, its scarcity has led to
onthe plains where brassicae hasbeenrecorded, the impression that it is a migrant.
i.e. Peshawar, Amritsar, Patiala, Lucknow and
now Delhi, are well within the dispersal range April 15, 1997 PETER SMETACEK
from Himalayan breeding grounds. Jones Estate, Bhimtal,
However, perusal of the literature Nainital,
concerning the early stages ofthis butterfly and U.P-263 136.