Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-x9fsb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-24T05:51:48.139Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New record of two dragonets, Callionymus gardineri and C. omanensis (Teleostei: Callionymidae) from the Indian waters, with a description of female C. omanensis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2025

Sivakumar Ragul*
Affiliation:
Department of Fisheries Resource Management, College of Fisheries Science, Kamdhenu University, Veraval, GJ, India
H. L. Parmar
Affiliation:
Department of Fisheries Resource Management, College of Fisheries Science, Kamdhenu University, Veraval, GJ, India
*
Corresponding author: Sivakumar Ragul; Email: nivinragulsiva@gmail.com

Abstract

From December 2023 to November 2024, regular surveys were conducted to document finfish bycatch in the trawl fishery landing at Veraval Fishing Harbour, northeastern coast of the Arabian Sea. As an outcome of this exploration, three male specimens of Callionymus gardineri and five (four males and one female) specimens of C. omanensis were collected. Both species were recorded for the first time from the north-western Arabian Sea, coastal waters of India, accompanied by a new maximum length record for C. omanensis (Lmax = 122.1 mm standard length). Callionymus omanensis was originally described based on a single male specimen, whereas the description of female C. omanensis was interpreted. While the exact justification for their distribution in this new locality remains unknown, both dragonet species likely moved eastwards from their native habitats along the western Arabian Sea coast. This strongly suggests a significant research gap in our understanding of low-value deep-sea trawl bycatch, necessitating further exploration to improve biodiversity assessments. Herein, the detailed meristic counts and morphometric measurements are compared, and updated distributional information is collated.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Fricke, R (1983) Revision of the Indo-Pacific Genera and Species of the Dragonet Family Callionymidae (Teleostei). Braunschweig: J. Cramer.Google Scholar
Fricke, R (1986) Callionymidae. In Smith, MM and Heemstra, PC (eds), Smiths’ Sea Fishes. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 770774.Google Scholar
Fricke, R, Eschmeyer, WN and Fong, JD (2024a) Eschmeyer’s catalog of fishes: Genera/species by family/subfamily, updated 11 May 2024. http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp. Electronic version (accessed 23 October 2024).Google Scholar
Fricke, R, Eschmeyer, WN and van der Laan, R (2024b) Eschmeyer’s catalog of fishes: Genera, species and references, updated 11 May 2024. (http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp). Electronic version (accessed 23 October 2024).Google Scholar
Fricke, R, Jawad, LA and Al-Mamry, JM (2014) Callionymus omanensis, a new species of dragonet from Oman, north-western Indian Ocean (Teleostei: Callionymidae). Journal of Fish Biology 85, 13031319. doi:10.1111/jfb.12460.Google ScholarPubMed
Ragul, S, Parmar, HL, Mahadevan, G and Fricke, R (2024a) A new record of the small-headed flounder, Laeops parviceps Günther, 1880 (Pleuronectiformes: Bothidae) from India, Indian Ocean. Zootaxa 5538(3), 290292. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5538.3.6.Google Scholar
Ragul, S, Parmar, HL, Mahadevan, G and Fricke, R (2024b) First record of two cardinalfishes (Teleostei: Apogonidae) from northwestern India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 104, e117. doi:10.1017/S0025315424001061.Google Scholar
Regan, CT (1908) Report on the marine fishes collected by Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner in the Indian Ocean. The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Second Series Zoology 12(3), 217255. Pls. 23–32.Google Scholar