Coitor croaker, Johnius coitor (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii  (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Perciformes (Perches)
Family: Sciaenidae (Drums or croakers)
Genus: Johnius
Species: J. coitor

Synonyms
Bola coitor Hamilton, 1822
Sciaena coitor (Hamilton, 1822)

Common/local names
English: Coitor croaker
Bangladesh: Koitor (কইতর), Koitor poa (কইতর পোয়া) and Decre poa (ডিক্রি পোয়া)

Distributions: Bangladesh, east coast of India, Myanmar, through the East Indies, to east coast of Australia (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

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

Morphology: Body elongate with inferior mouth. Lateral line up to tip of caudal fin. 52-58 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005); 48-51 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) scales on lateral line. Caudal fin rhomboid shared. Body color light golden-yellow with a light purple/blue sheen; spinous dorsal fin with a dusky edge; soft dorsal, anal and caudal fins with a dull green/gray border (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Fin formula:
D. IX-XI I/17-31; P1. 16-17; P2. 6 (I/5); A. II/7 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D X+I 26-29; A II 7; P i 15-16; V I 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)

Maximum lengths: 19 cm TL (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 16 cm SL (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: Rivers and estuaries of Bangladesh (Rahman, 1989 and 2005). Inhibits coastal waters and estuaries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Fishery information: Minor fishery in the Hooghly estuary (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

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REFERENCES

Hamilton F (1822) An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

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. 331-332.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 358.

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. 858.

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