SARKAR Provakar, ISLAM Md Jayedul, HABIB A. H. M. Shafiullah,NEOGI Amit Kumer, and HABIB Kazi Ahsan, 3), *

Two New Records of Snapper (Perciformes, Lutjanidae) from Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh

SARKAR Provakar1), 2), #, ISLAM Md Jayedul1), 2), #, HABIB A. H. M. Shafiullah1),NEOGI Amit Kumer2), and HABIB Kazi Ahsan2), 3), *

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The present work documented two snapper species,Forster, 1801 andBloch, 1790, recently collected from the Saint Martin’s Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, during a survey on coral associated fishes of Bangladesh from July 2017 to September 2018. These two species were identified with morphological characteristics and by analyzing partial mitochondrialsequences. The document also included an updated checklist of snappers available in Bangladesh.

;;DNA barcoding;Bay of Bengal

1 Introduction

Fish species in family Lutjanidae Gill, 1861 of the order Perciformes are usually referred to as snappers. In the world, there are 135 valid species of snappers from 21 genera. They primarily inhabitcoral reefs in tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific (Allen, 1985; Allen and Talbot, 1985; Allen, 2013; Frick., 2020; Froese and Pauly, 2020). Some species are also found in brackish estuaries, mangroves and hypersaline lagoons while several others in deep-water and three in freshwater (Allen, 1985; Allen and Talbot, 1985).

The genusBloch, 1790 covers approximately 73 species, of them approximately 45 live in the Indo-West Pacific region (Allen, 1995; Iwatsuki., 1993, 2015; Allen, 2013; Nair and Kumar, 2018; Froese and Pauly, 2020). Identification and delimitation of snapper species have become a matter of argument in the past decades be- cause of their morphological similarity and the overlapp- ing diagnostic characteristics. Allen (1985) revised the ta- xonomy ofbased on their body shape, color and morphomeristic counts.

Only one genus (..) of family Lutjanidae and its 16 species have been reported in marine waters of Bangladesh until now (Hussain, 1970; Tomascik, 1997; Rahman., 2009; Saha., 2018),and some records need to be further verified.In this paper, two new records of snap- per species,andin Bangladesh are documented.

2 Materials and Methods

Several species of snapper were collected from Saint Martin’s Island during the survey on coral associated fish diversity from July 2017 to September 2018. The island locates in Cox’s Bazar district, the southernmost part of Bangladesh, facing the Bay of Bengal (Fig.1). The species were identified based on their morphological characteristics and meristic counts. The collected fish specimens have been morphologically identified according to the de- scriptions of Allen (1985), Anderson and Allen (2001), and Rahman(2009). Then, we used DNA barcoding tool to identify those species for further confirmation.

To obtain DNA barcode, partial sequence of mitochondrial COI gene was amplified and sequenced. DNA extraction, PCR amplification and DNA sequencing were con- ducted following the methods described by Habib. (2018). Sequences were analyzed using BLAST search en- gine provided by National Center for Biotechnology Information and Bold database. Finally, the sequences were submitted to GenBank. Sequences from different species were aligned and the phylogenetic tree was constructed with Neighbor Joining (NJ) method by applying 1000 boot- strap replicates using MEGA-7 (Kumar., 2016) bioinformatics software. Kimura-2 parameter (K2P) distance model (Kimura, 1980) was used for calculating the gene- tic distance among the sequences using MEGA-7. For phy- logenetic analysis, the sequences of conspecific species re- ported to GenBank from some regions of the world were used with the obtained sequences from present study. Two species of different genus,(Cuvier, 1830) and(Bloch, 1791) of Lutjanids, were used as the outgroup.

Fig.1 Location of Saint Martin’s Island (Sub-district, Teknaf; District, Cox’s Bazar) in Bangladesh.

3 Results

In the present study,Forster, 1801 (Fig.2) andBloch, 1790 (Fig.3) were recorded in Bangladesh for the first time.

3.1 Blacktail Snapper Lutjanus fulvus Forster, 1801

3.1.1 Material examine

Specimens were collected from Saint Martin’s Island, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (20.611˚N, 92.327˚E) (Fig.1) by P. Sarkar. One specimen was assigned voucher no.F170- 9SM-14 and GenBank accession number MK340642 (mt- DNA COI gene sequence). The examined specimens were deposited in the Aquatic Bioresource Research Laboratory, Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics, Sher- e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

3.1.2 Diagnostic characteristics

Body is large, elongated and laterally compressed. Dor- sal profile of head is sharply sloped. Preorbital bone equal in width to eye diameter, preopercular notch and knob mo- derately developed. Mouth is large, terminal and pointed. Scale ctenoid, scale rows on back rising obliquely above lateral line. Crescentic vomerine tooth patch, without medial posterior extension; tongue smooth, without teeth. Jaws are medium and equal. Nostril rounded. Lateral line single, complete and curved. Caudal fin emarginated. Dorsal side whitish to pale yellow and ventral side yellowish in color. Dorsal fin yellowish in color with a reddish band near margin. Pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins are yellow in color. Caudal fins are black with a narrow white border. Morphometric measurements ofare given in Tables 1 and 2.

Fig.2 Lateral view of Lutjanus fulvus (Voucher: F1709- SM-14; SL 224mm).

Table 1 Comparison of meristic characteristics of Lutjanus erythropterus and Lutjanus fulvus from Saint Martin’s Island and other reference data

Table 2 Morphometric measurements of the specimen of Lutjanus erythropterus and Lutjanus fulvus collected in the present study

In the phylogeny, the specimen ofcollected from the Saint Martin’s Island of Bangladesh forms a single clade with the individuals of South Africa with 100% bootstrap support (Fig.4), which genetically validates the identification. Genetic distances between Bangladeshi,andSouth African and Indonesian spe- cimens were calculated as 3.5% and 5.8% for COI gene, respectively. The overall genetic distance was calculated as 4.8% among three individuals.

3.1.3 Remarks

isidentified according to its morphological and molecular characteristics. The morphological description and coloration offrom Bangladesh agree with the description of Allen (1985).

3.2 Crimson Snapper Lutjanus erythropterus Bloch, 1790

3.2.1 Material examine

Specimens collected from Saint Martin’s island, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (20.611˚N, 92.327˚E) (Fig.1) by P. Sar- kar and Md. Jayedul Islam. Two specimens were assigned voucher no. F1803SM-02 and F1803SM-03, and their Gen- Bank accession numbers of mtDNA COI gene sequences were assigned MK340640 and MK340641, respectively. The examined specimens were deposited in the Aquatic Bioresource Research Laboratory, Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural Uni- versity, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

3.2.2 Diagnostic characteristics

Body moderately deep, its depth 2.3 to 2.72 in standard length. Eye diameter 3.23–3.8 in head length. Dorsal pro-file of head sloped; mouth relatively small; pre-orbital bone smaller than eye diameter; pre-opercular notch and knob poorly developed; Vomerine tooth patch v-shaped,without medial posterior extension; no teeth on tongue.Upper jaw length smaller than distance between base of last dorsal and anal-fin rays. Scale rows on back rising obliquely above lateral line. Juvenile body color brownish to black, a broad, oblique, black band extending from mouth to beginning of dorsal fin; a large black spot present atbase of caudal fin (Fig.3). Morphometric measurements ofare in Tables 1 and 2.

Fig.3 Lateral view of Lutjanus erythropterus (Voucher, F1803SM-03; SL 98mm).

In the neighbor joining tree, two specimen ofcollected from Saint Martin’s Island of Bangladesh formed a single clade with Malaysian and Australian samples supported by a 100% bootstrap value (Fig.4). Genetic distance between two individuals of Bangladesh was calculated as 0.2%. Genetic distance between the sam- ples of Bangladesh, and Malaysian and Australian individuals were 0.2% and 0.9%, respectively. The overall ge- netic distance was 0.5%.

Fig.4 Neighbor-joining tree for COI gene sequences of Lutjanus fulvus and Lutjanus erythropterus. Bootstrap support of >80% are shown above branches. Scale represents substitutions per site (GenBank accession numbers and source countries are given in parenthesis).

3.2.3 Remarks

The color pattern (both species are red in color) and appearance of juvenileis similar to those ofjuvenileThe Crimson snapperis distinguishable from.has the dark band on the caudal peduncle extending from dorsal profile to below lateral line without touching the ventral profile, and a white border anterior from dorsal profile to just below lateral line.has the dark band extending throughout the caudal peduncle from upper to lower parts on sides, and white borders on both the anterior and posterior.

4 Discussion

is distributed inIndo-Pacific: East Africa to the Marquesas, Line islands to East Africa, from Australia to southern Japan, and Hawaii (Anderson and Allen, 2001). Also recorded from the Red Sea, Andaman Sea, Myeik Archipelago, USA, Indonesia, Maldives, French Polynesia, Solomon Island, Phillipines, Persian Gulf, and India (Allen, 1985; Kapoor., 2002; Russell, 2016; Rus- sell., 2016; Howard, 2018; Psomadakis., 2019; GBIF.org., 2020). However, no valid record offrom Bangladesh marine waters (Hussain, 1970; Tomascik, 1997; Rahman., 2009; Saha., 2018; GBIF.org., 2020). So, this is the first distributional record offrom Bangladesh.

is widespread in the Indo-West Pacific from Australia and New Guinea to the Gulf of Oman, Andaman Sea of Myanmar, India, northward to sou- thern Japan, and Jeju Island, south to New South Wales, Australia, New Caledonia, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, In- donesia (Allen, 1985; Anderson and Allen, 2001; Fricke., 2011; Kim., 2012; Russell, 2016; Psomadakis., 2019; GBIF.org., 2020). According to Allen (1985),is common in the Indian Ocean. However, there is no valid record offrom Bangla- desh’s marine waters (Hussain, 1970; Tomascik, 1997; Ra- hman., 2009; Saha., 2018; GBIF.org., 2020). So, this is the first distributional record offrom Bangladesh.

During our entire survey period, we identified a total of 11 species of snappers from Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh, including the two new species described in the pre- sent study. From different valid reports together with present study, we updated the checklist of snappers of Bangladesh (Table 3) which indicates that a total of 19 species of snappers have been reported in the country until now, whereas a total of 46 species of snappers of 8 genera have been recorded from Indian waters (Velamala., 2017; Nair and Dinesh Kumer, 2018; Froese and Pauly, 2020). Bangladesh has arelatively smaller maritime area and a very small coral island (about 8 sq. km) than India. How- ever, the diversity of Bangladesh snappers is relatively high. The Saint Martin’s Island is the only Island in Bang- ladesh that supports coral ecosystem. The unique habitat of coral reefs of this island supports a great diversity of marine animals.

Table 3 An updated checklist of snappers found in marine waters of Bangladesh

Among 19 species of snappers reported from Bangladesh, we failed to find the species,,,,,in our survey.reported by Hussain (1970) needs to be verified because it is a fresh water species identifiedin China, Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands (Séret, 1997). We have excludedfrom the checklist. The newly identifiedandfrom the Saint Martin’s Island in the present study indicate that Bangladesh may host more species of family Lutjanidae, which may have been overlooked in past surveys.

Acknowledgement

This research was funded by a competitive research grant of PIU-BARC, NATP-2 project of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council.

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April 17, 2020;

September 7, 2020;

December 3, 2020

© Ocean University of China, Science Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2021

# The two authors contributed equally to this work.

. E-mail: ahsan.sau@gmail.com

(Edited by Qiu Yantao)