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Meticulous Taxonomic Evidence and Molecular Confirmation of Sphyraena forsteri Cuvier, 1829 (Carangiformes: Sphyraenidae) from the Southeast coast of India

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Abstract

Bigeye barracuda is a commercially valued species as food and game fish in the Indo-Pacific region. The taxonomic details of bigeye barracuda Sphyraena forsteri Cuvier, 1829 is poorly reported in the literature from Indian waters. The current taxonomic study identifies the S. forsteri based on different sizes of the specimens ranging from 255 to 376 mm total length and 83–271 g weight collected from three different landing stations along the Southeast coast of India. Totally, forty-five specimens were examined which include 21 males (46.67%) and 24 females (53.33%). Sphyraena forsteri is diagnosed with enlarged eyes; covered with very tiny cycloid scales all over the body; 101–120 lateral line scales; cheek scales 5–6.5; seven branchiostegal rays. Sphyraena forsteri differs from its congeners by having the gill raker counts; upper limb rough with tiny bony setae, 10–20 small tubercle spines on the first-gill arch (in lower limb) uniformly arranged with 4 to 5 bony setae in a single group with one large spine, gill raker absent. The genetic confirmation of S. forsteri was investigated using 668 bp sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. The species S. forsteri formed a stoutly supported clade against the five other congeneric species within the same family Sphyraenidae. This study provides a better taxonomic interpretation of S. forsteri with the molecular and combination of comprehensive morphological with detailed description of scale, otolith, vertebral characters of specimens from the Southeast coast of India.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful for the RUSA Scheme Phase 2.0 grant [F-24-51/2014–U, Policy (TN Multi-Gen), Department of Education, Govt. of India. Dt. 09.10.2018]. Authors acknowledge Indian Council of Agricultural Research - National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBFGR), Cochin for accepting the sample as non-type specimen. The authors thank the fisher people for providing samples and useful information. Ms. Sivaranjani would like to express thankfulness to the Head, Department of Fisheries Science, Alagappa University for the financial support under RUSA TBRP- Project Fellow.

Funding

RUSA Scheme Phase 2.0 grant [F-24-51/2014–U, Policy (TN Multi-Gen), Department of Education, Govt. of India. Dt. 09.10.2018].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630003, India

    Sivaranjani Sekar, Madhuri Krishnamoorthy & Divya Dharmaraj

  2. Department of Zoology, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641029, India

    Kannan Karuppiah

  3. Department of Fisheries Science, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630003, India

    Kumar Rajendran & Kannapiran Ethiraj

  4. Department of Zoology, Center for Distance and Online Education, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630003, India

    Kannapiran Ethiraj

Authors
  1. Sivaranjani Sekar
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  2. Kannan Karuppiah
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  3. Kumar Rajendran
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  4. Madhuri Krishnamoorthy
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Contributions

SS: Conceptualization, methodology, resources, investigation, software, writing—original draftKK: Methodology, data curation, formal analysis RK: Reviewing MK: MethodologyDD: AssistingKE: Supervision, administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kannapiran Ethiraj.

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Ethical Approval

Fishes used in this study are commercially available edible fishes. This research did not include the use of live animals. All fish used in this study were sampled as part of ongoing commercial and recreational fisheries sampling. This sampling project collected data to monitor commercial and recreational fisheries to promote sustainable fisheries management. As no fish was harvested intentionally for this study, no approval of research ethics committee was required to accomplish the goals of this study.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Sekar, S., Karuppiah, K., Rajendran, K. et al. Meticulous Taxonomic Evidence and Molecular Confirmation of Sphyraena forsteri Cuvier, 1829 (Carangiformes: Sphyraenidae) from the Southeast coast of India. Thalassas (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-024-00692-4

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