Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Perciformes (Perches)
Suborder: Stromateoidei
Family: Stromateidae (Butterfishes)
Genus: Pampus
Species: P. argenteus
Synonyms
Stromateoides argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788)
Stromateus argenteus Euphrasen, 1788
Stromatioides nozawae Ishikawa, 1904
Common/local names
English: Silver pomfret
Bangladesh: Foli chanda (ফলি চান্দা)
Distributions: Bay of Bengal, India, Hong Kong, Malay Archipelago and Japan (Shafi and Quddus, 2003); India and Malay Archipelago (Day, 1958);
Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000)
Morphology: Body strongly compressed and somewhat oval in shape. Dorsal and ventral profiles about equally convex. Moderately small mouth with weak jaws. Eye with feeble adipose lids. Nearly horizontal mouth and small gape present, maxillary enlarged to below anterior margin of eye. Teeth in jaws presented in a single row and closely set fine. In adult teeth is rudimentary.
Dorsal and anal spine appears in a truncated form above skin. Anterior portion of soft dorsal elevated. Dorsal rays of posterior two-thirds of fin decreases abruptly in height also short and equal in length. Anterior portion of anal rays elongated and it reaches to the middle of caudal in immature fish. Pelvic absent, pectorals elongated and pointed. Caudal fin forked with pointed lower lobe which is much larger than upper. Scales are small and deciduous in shape.
Head length 3.8-4.0 times in standard length and 6.2-6.5 in total length; Height 1.3-1.5 in standard, 2.3-2.5 in total length; Eye diameter is 4.0; Snout 1.0; Interorbital 1.6 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
Upper surface of the body is neutral gray and purplish shine. Silvery color present at the side of body and head. Upper portion of opercle contain a dark spot. Dorsal, anal and caudal dotted with black where dorsal and anal grey, caudal and pectoral yellowish. Outer half of all fins darker than inner half and in immature it is much darker.
Fin formula: D. VII/ 1/15-16; P1. 7+16-17; P2. 6(1/5); A. 14(2/12) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
Maximum length: 22.2 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 60 cm (Huda et al., 2003).
Habitats: 100 m depth of muddy bottom (Shafi and Quddus, 2003). Young ones ascend estuaries in Khulna (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Available in the Sundarbans (Huda et al., 2003).
Food and feeding: Feeds on bottom dwelling invertebrates (Shafi and Quddus, 2003)
Fishery info: Important food fish in Bangladesh and of excellent taste; taken in both fresh and dried conditions.
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REFERENCES
Day, F. 1958. The Fishes of India: being a Natural History of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwater of India., Burma and Ceylon. Reproduced in 1958 by William Dowson and Sons, London. p. 247.
Euphrasen BA (1788) Beskrifning på 3:ne fiskar. Kongliga Vetenskaps Akademiens nya Handlingar, Stockholm 9: 51-55, Pl. 9.
Forster JR (1795) Indische Zoologie, … Zweyte sehr vermehrte Auflage (second edition). Halle. Zoologia Indica, sistens descriptiones animalium selectorum. Second Edition.: 4 unnum. pp. + i-iv + 2 + pp. 1-42 (main text) + p. 138 (Faunula Indica), Pls. I-XII + 3 unnumb. pls.
Huda MS, Haque ME, Babul AS and Shil NC (ed.) (2003) Field guide to finfishes of Sundarban, Aquatic resources division, Sundarban, Boyra, Khulna, Bangladesh, p. 175.
IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.
Ishikawa C (1904) Notes on some new or little known fishes of Japan. Part I. Proceedings of the Department of Natural History, Tokyo Imperial Museum. 1: 1-17, Pls. 1-7.
Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 266-267.
Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 291-292.
Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2003) Bangopshagorer Matsho Shampad (in Bengali) Kabir Publications, Dhaka, Bangladesh. p. 391.
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