Broad-mouthed mullet, Paramugil parmatus (Cantor, 1849)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Mugiliformes (Mullets)
Family: Mugilidae (Mullets)
Genus: Paramugil
Species: P. parmatus

Synonyms
Chelon parmatus (Cantor, 1849)
Liza melinoptera (non Valenciennes, 1836)
Liza oligolepis (Bleeker, 1859)
Liza parmata (Cantor, 1849)
Mugil oligolepis (Bleeker, 1859)
Mugil parmatus (Cantor, 1849)

Common/local names
English: Broad-mouthed mullet and Giantscale mullet
Bangladesh: Bata (বাটা)

Distributions: Indo-west Pacific (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Body robust. Head dorsally flattened and preorbital greatly curved. Scales ctenoid, 28 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005); 26-31 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) scales along lateral series. Small scales on second dorsal, caudal and anal fins. 20-22 rows of scales between snout and first dorsal and 11 rows in transverse series (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Head 3.6 in standard, 4.7 in total length; height 4.3 in standard, 5.5 in total length; eye 3.5 in head; snout 0.8; interorbital 1.3 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Pectoral fin 73-77% of head length (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Grayish body color above, silvery on sides and below. Second dorsal and caudal fins with black edge (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fin formula:
D1. IV; D2. 1/8; P1. 15; P2. 1/5; A. 3/9 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D1 IV; D2 I 8; A III 9; P 15; V I 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)

Maximum lengths: 20 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: Inhibits shallow coastal waters, enter lagoons and estuaries; common in the Hooghly estuary (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

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REFERENCES

Bleeker P. 1859. Derde bijdrage tot de kennis der vischfauna van Soembawa. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië v. 19: 434-440.

Cantor TE. 1849. Catalogue of Malayan fishes. Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal v. 18 (pt 2): i-xii + 983-1443, Pls. 1-14.

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. 275-276.

Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 300.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 2, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 892-893.

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