First occurrence of two Blennidae fishes from Vellar Estuary, Southeast coast of India
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Abstract
Two specimens of Omobranchus punctatus (Valenciennes, 1836) and one specimen of Omobranchus ferox (Herre, 1927) were collected for the first time from the oyster bed ecosystem of the Vellar Estuary, Tamil Nadu. Omobranchus ferox was clearly distinguished by the presence of a vertical crest posterior to the eye, while Omobranchus punctatus was easily recognized by the presence of horizontal stripes extending from the posterior operculum to the caudal peduncle. The head region lacked cirri or spikes, and the base of the dorsal fin contained yellow spots. The identity of both species was further confirmed at the molecular level using the DNA barcoding technique.
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