On an instance of reduced number of anal spines in Scolopsis phaeops (Bennett) (Scolopsidae-Pisces)

Abstract

Apart from the principal character of possessing a backwardly directed spine on the suborbital bone, which is also serrated below, one of the features of the family Scolopsidae is the presence of three spines in the anal fin. Occasionally instances are met with in fishes where the number of spines in the anal fin are reduced. Such an instance of abnormality was recorded in Selaroides leptolepsis (Cuvier and Valenciennes) by Tandon (1959) and, as far as the author is aware, has not been reported in fishes belonging to other genera.