First record of occurrence of Boulenger’s anthias Sacura boulengeri (Heemstra, 1973), Family: Serranidae, in Indian waters

Abstract

Previously known only from the Gulf of Oman off Muscat and Pakistan off Sindh, this record is the first from Indian waters for Boulenger’s anthias, Sacura boulengeri. Morphometric and meristic characters of the specimens collected from the west coast of India complement those of the specimens from the Gulf of Oman (05 adult males; lectotype) and Pakistan (01 adult male) examined by Heemstra and Randall (1979)and Moazzam and Osmany (2004) respectively. Hitherto known only from male specimens, the present study records the morphometric and meristic characteristics of a female specimen. The identification key provided by Heemstra and Randall (1979) requires to be revised as the number of gill rakers present in the lower limb of the first gill is lesser than that stipulated as a diagnostic character in the earlier works.