Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Perciformes (Perches)
Family: Sciaenidae (Drums or croakers)
Genus: Pterotolithus
Species: P. maculatus
Synonyms
Otolithoides maculatus (Cuvier, 1830)
Otolithus bispinosus Cuvier, 1830
Otolithus maculatus Cuvier, 1830
Otolithus submaculatus Blyth, 1860
Common/local names
English: Spotted croaker and Blotched tiger-toothed croaker
Bangladesh: Guti poa (গুতি পোয়া) and Lombu (লম্বু)
Distributions: Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Huda et al., 2003); North-east coast of India, Myanmar, Malay Peninsula and Borneo (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000). Very common in the Bay of Bengal and estuaries of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).
Morphology: Body slender with large terminal mouth. Head low and horizontal or greatly curved. Dorsal fin with a deep notch and anal fin inserted behind middle of soft dorsal fin. Lateral line slightly curved (Rahman, 1989 and 2005),47-51 scales on lateral line (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Body color grayish dorsal and silvery-golden below (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). 3 or 4 rows of black blotches on upper half of body. But the blotch pattern absent in juvenile. Gill rakers 8-9 on lower arm of first arch. Fins are yellowish.
Fin formula:
D. IX-X: I/30; P1. 18; P2. I/5; A. II/10-11 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D IX+I 30-34; A II 10-12; P i 17; V I 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
Maximum length: 45 cm ((Rahman, 1989 and 2005; Huda et al., 2003).
Habitats: Bay of Bengal and estuaries (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Juveniles are found in Indian estuaries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
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REFERENCES
Blyth E (1860) Report on some fishes received chiefly from the Sitang River and its tributary streams, Tenasserim Provinces. Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal v. 29 (no. 2): 138-174.
Cuvier G and Valenciennes A (1830) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome cinquième. Livre cinquième. Des Sciénoïdes. Histoire naturelle des poissons. v. 5: i-xxviii + 1-499 + 4 pp., Pls. 100-140.
Huda MS and Haque ME. 2003. Field Guide to Finfishes of Sundarban, Aquatic Resource Division, Sundarban, Sundarban Biodiversity COnservation Project, Bangladesh Forest Department, Khulna, Bangladesh, p. 145.
IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.
Rahman AKA. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 329-330.
Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 355-356.
Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 2, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, p. 866.
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