Download New Record of Neobythites steatiticus Alcock, 1894 from the Marine

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New Record of Neobythites steatiticus Alcock, 1894 from the Marine
Waters of Iraq
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Laith A. Jawad1*, Mustafa A. Al-Mukhtar2, Abbas J. Al-Faisal2, Tariq Hammed2
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Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand
Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
Correspondence author: [email protected]
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Abstract: The first record of Neobythites steatiticus in the Iraqi waters of the
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Arabian Gulf is reported based on a single specimen 370 mm in total length,
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obtained from south of Faw City Peninsula, Basrah, Iraq, Arabian Gulf. This
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account represents the northernmost range extension of this species in the north
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of the Indian Ocean. The specimen is larger than the type specimen of the
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species and larger than other specimen obtained from other locations and it is
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considered a record size for this species.
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Key words: New record; new range extension; Ophidiidae; Basrah; Arabian
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Gulf
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1 Introduction
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The family Ophidiidae comprises 261 valid species, into four sub-families with
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Neobythitinae being the largest with 185 valid species (Eschmeyer and Fong,
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2014). This species, Neobythites steatiticus, (Alcock, 1894) is present in the
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Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal (Froese and Pauly,
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2014). In spite of the several publication that appeared on the marine fish fauna
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of Iraq during the last few decades (Khalaf 1961; Mahdi 1971; Al-Daham 1982;
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Al-Hassan and Al-Badri 1986; Al-Hassan and Miller 1987; Hussain et al. 1988),
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the marine ichthyofauna is still far away from being fully investigated and
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documented and huge amount of taxonomic work is waiting to be done (Jawad
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2012). Low fishing sampling effort along the continental slope in the Arabian
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Sea might be the reason for the lack of information on the deep-water fish
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communities in the Arabian Gulf (Nielsen, 2002). Moreover, such delay in the
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progress of ichthyological investigation in the Iraqi marine waters is mainly due
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to the political unrest in the area.Recently, several programs have been started
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to survey the Iraqi waters of the Arabian Gulf in order to study the fish
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biodiversity of this area and aiming to build up a list of species that present in
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the northwest part of the Arabian Gulf.
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The Neobythites steatiticus was first described by Alcock in 1894 from Bay of
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Bengal. Since then it has been reported from different localities world-wide
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(Nielsen, 2002; Uiblein and Nielsen, 2005; Eschmeyer and Fong, 2014).
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This study reports the occurrence of N. steatiticus in the Arabian Gulf coasts of
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Iraq. This species is rare, but it is known from the Arabian Gulf area (Nielsen et
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al., 1999; Nielsen, 2002; Uiblein and Nielsen, 2005) and the present record
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represents the first record to the Iraqi marine waters.
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2 Materials and methods
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the Neobythites steatiticus specimen was caught on 4th February 2014, near the
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southern coast of Faw City Peninsula, Iraq, Arabian Gulf (latitude : 29˚49ˊ
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46.01″ N ; longitude : 48˚ 45 ˊ 53.17″ E) by fishermen using 240 × 10 m
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drifting gill nets of 35 × 35 mm mesh size. This specimen was measured with
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dial callipers to the nearest 0.1 mm. The fishermen usually make two to three
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hauls per hour. The morphometric and meristic details were recorded according
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to Fischer and Bianch (1984). The specimen is then fixed in 10% formaldehyde
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solution and then preserved in 70% ethanol for deposit in the ichthyological
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collection of the Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Iraq (Cat. No.
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MRSCI00012).
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3 Results
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The specimen of N. steatiticus is identical to the general description of this
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species (Neilson, 1995) with standard length of 385 mm (Table1, Figure 1).
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Table 1. Morphometric and meristic characters of Neobythites steatiticus
collected from the Arabian Gulf coasts of Iraq (TL: Total Length ; HL: Head
Length; SL : Standard Length).
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Morphometric characters
Present
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370
Total length (mm)
Holotype
Nielson, 2002
n = 10
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Standard length (% in TL)
350 (94.6)
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113-115
Head length (% in SL)
83(39.5)
(28)
(25.5-31.0)
Eye diameter (% in HL)
18(3.6)
5.1
4.8-5.9
Predorsal fin length (% in SL)
17.7(8.4)
(24.5)
(24.5-28.0)
Pelvic fin length (% in SL)
59(28)
(14)
(13.5-17)
Preanus length (% in SL)
163(78)
(40)
(40-46)
Dorsal fin rays
90
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88-93
Anal fin rays
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72-76
Pectoral fin rays
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24-27
Pseudobranchial filaments
2-4
2/3
2-4
Long rakers on anterior gill arch
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11-12
Caudal fin ray
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Meristic characters
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Figure 1. The specimen of Neobythites steatiticus (370 mm Total length) caught
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the Marine Waters of Iraq.
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It is characterised by the following set of characters: teeth are granular to
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needle-like with vomer tooth bended in shape; dorsal fin is distinguished with
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the presence of ocellus located posterior to anus; anal fin is black at the middle
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with white strip at both distal and proximal ends; there are 3-4 faint broad dark
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vertical bars indistinct on body.
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The other characters include: body robust with large and heavy head.
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Operculum with large spine. Snout bluntly pointed, equal in length to eye and
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extends over the mouth. Eyes are large with orbital folds. Large nostrils, the
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anterior is a small tube near the tipoff the snout, the posterior with large
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foramen. Posterior margin of preopercle without spines Mouth is large with
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maxillary extending behind the posterior border of the orbit. There are 1-3 short
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rakers on the anterior gill arch and 2-4 long rakers on upper branch, one long
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raker in angle. The lower branch has 7-9 long, 6-9 short rakers and 2-4 long
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pseudobranchial filaments. Head, body, base of dorsal and pectoral fins covered
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with small scales. Ventral fin nearly reaches base to anal fin. Lateral line
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indistinct. Pectoral fins with large fleshy scaly base reach vertical at anal fin
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origin.
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4 Discussion
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The standard length of the present study (350 mm) is larger than the type
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specimen obtained from Bay of Bengal by Alcock (1894) (129 mm), larger than
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that reported by Nielson (2002), but the meristic characters fall within the range
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given by Nielson (2002) and larger than any specimens reported by Neilson
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(1995) and by Uiblein and Nielsen (2005). This size makes our specimen is the
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largest size ever recorded for this species.
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The marine environment of the north part of the Arabian Gulf and in particular
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the environment of the Iraqi marine waters is different from that in the
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remaining parts of the gulf. Furthermore, it is even different from the
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neighbouring Kuwaiti marine environment (Al-Yamani et al., 2004). The
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environment of the Iraqi marine waters where the present species is obtained is
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characterised in receiving freshwater flux from two main sources, the Shat al-
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Arab River in the north east and oligihaline waters from the greater marsh area
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at the northwest through Khor al-Zubair, a north western extension of the
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Arabian Gulf. Such huge amount of water of different quality turns the
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environment of the marine Iraqi waters from hypersaline to an estuarine one.
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This amount of water has a local effect on the marine waters of Iraq and carries
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nutrients and particulate organic matter to this area and considered important for
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productivity of the northwestern Arabian Gulf (Hussain and Ahmed,
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1999).Although the Kuwaiti marine environment is very close to the Iraqi one,
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it differs from the former in several physical and chemical characteristics.
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The coastal area of Kuwait is characterised in having sediment movement
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which turns it into a depositional environment with its southern part is marked
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by a narrow rocky tidal flat partially covered by sand and sandbars (Al-Kandari
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et al., 2009, Al-Yamani and Saburova 2010, 2011).
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The environment of the remaining parts of the gulf has a shallow depth and
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restricted water exchange, it is the characterized by extreme sea-surface
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temperatures (Riegl, 2001; Sheppard and Loughland, 2002), hyper-saline
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conditions occur year-round (Reynolds, 1993) and a moderate to low primary
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production found within the southern part of the gulf (Nezlin et al., 2007). The
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majority of the southern and the western areas of the Gulf have a soft-sediment
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habitats (John and George 2006). These mats can form an essential habitat and
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food source for fish and other macrofauna (Al-Zaidan et al., 2006).
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With such differences in the nature of the environment in the three parts of the
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Arabian Gulf, it is difficult for most of the fish species to adapt for such big
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changes in the habitats. So far the species in question is reported from the
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southern Gulf (Nielsen, 1995) a habitat that is very different in its nature from
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that of the northern part of the gulf in general and the Iraqi marine environment
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in particular. It is characterized by extreme environmental conditions, with
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physical extremes not observed in tropical reefs anywhere else in the world
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(Sheppard et al., 1992; Coles, 2003; Riegl, 2003). Despite these conditions, fish
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communities do develop in this area (Riegl, 1999; Burt et al., 2008), indicating
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that a variety of fish fauna can survive at or above the elevated sea temperatures
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predicted for much of the world in the coming decades (IPCC, 2007).
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The present record of N. steatiticus from the Iraqi marine waters demonstrates
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clearly that it can explore and inhabit the new environment far different from
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what it uses to live in and indicating a significant range extension of its
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previously known distribution.
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In addition to fact that this species is rare (Neilson, 1995), the lack of previous
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confirmed records of this species from the Iraqi marine waters may be due to
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the lack of ichthyological surveys. It might reaches this destination using ballast
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water from ships as the Arabian Gulf is considered to be one of the busiest
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waterways in the world. Until further specimens of this species became turns up
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and its biology becomes known, we will remain not know whether it has
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established sustainable population in this region.
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Acknowledgments
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We would like to thank Marine Science Centre, Basrah University for giving us
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the opportunity to study and publish on the presence of this species.
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