Page 19 - Collective Article_2017

7.2. Biometric characteristics of Anthias anthias from off Damietta

E. H. Kh. Akel, S. I. Rizkalla

caudal peduncle; standard length is three times that of
body depth; the rays of the pelvic fins are longer than the
anal fin base; the lateral line ends at the base of the caudal
fin and the caudal fin is lunatic. Operculum with 3 flat
spines. Meristic counts: dorsal fin X+15; pectoral fin 17;
anal fin III+7; and ventral fin I + 5. Colour: body pinkish;
three yellow lines on the sides of the head; tips of dorsal
spines and rays yellow and caudal fin yellow. Comparing
these results with those obtained by Tuncer et al. (2011) in
Turkish waters for the same species, it was found that the
meristic counts in both areas are the same.

Table 3: Morphometric characters and meristic counts of An-
thias anthias (Linnaeus, 1758) collected by bottom trawler off
Fig. 25: Anthias anthias (Linnaeus, 1758) caught off Damietta Damietta (Egyptian Mediterranean waters) on 23/8/2016 at 15
(Egypt) on 23/8/2016 at depth 15- 20 m. - 20 m depth.
The family Serranidae (sea basses) consists of three Morphometric characters Length (mm) %
subfamilies. Of these subfamilies, Anthiinae includes 20 Total length (TL) 128 -
genera with about 170 species (Nelson, 1994). Anthias Standard length (StL) 83 64.84 (TL)
anthias (Linnaeus, 1758), commonly known as the Head length (HL) 26 20.31 (TL)
Swallowtail sea perch, is a tropical fish distributed in the
Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic, from mainland Eye diameter (ED) 9 34.61(HL)
Portugal and the Azores south to Namibia (Tortonese, Inter orbital distance (IO) 6 23.08 (HL)
1986). In the eastern Mediterranean, it is recorded in Pre Dorsal fin length (PreD) 28 21.87 (TL)
Egypt (El-Sayed, 1994; Rizkalla et al., 2016) and Turkey Pre Anal fin length (PreA) 30 23.44 (TL)
(Tuncer et al., 2011). This species is characterised by
hermaphroditism. Pre Pectoral fin length (PreP) 28 21.87 (TL)
Two specimens of Anthias anthias (Family: Pre Ventral fin length (PreV) 29 22.66 (TL)
Serranidae) were found as bycatch obtained by bottom Dorsal fin length (DL) 47 36.72 (TL)
trawler operating off Damietta (Egypt) (31º33`39.39 N,
31º51`43. 25 E) on August 23 2016. The trawling depth Anal fin length (AL) 15 11.72 (TL)
rd
ranged between 15-20 m. The fish measured 12.8 and Pectoral fin length (PL) 25 19.53 (TL)
13.5 cm in length. Its description, as regards biometric Ventral fin length (VL) 45 35.16 (TL)
data, is poor (Rizkalla et al., 2016). The aim of this study, Body depth (BD) 28 21.87 (TL)
therefore, was to provide the first biometric description
for this species in Egypt (Fig. 25). Caudal peduncle depth (CdD) 10 7.81 (TL)
The description was carried out according to Upper jaw length (UJ) 13 50.00 (HL)
Tortonese (1986). Morphometric and meristic characters Lower jaw length (LJ) 13 50.00 (HL)
are given in Table 3. Meristic Number (Spines+rays)
Diagnosis: Morphometric characters: dorsal fin with
10 spines (third one is elongated) and 15 rays; pectoral fin Dorsal fin X + 15
with 17 rays; anal fin with three spines followed by seven Anal fin III +7
rays; ventral fin with one spine and 5 rays. Table 3 shows Pectoral fin 17
that the dorsal fin is situated on the same vertical line with Ventral fin I + 5
the pectoral fin; that body depth is three times that of the

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