Resumen de New distributional record of Canarytop Wrasse, Halichoeres leucoxanthus (Perciformes: Labridae) from East coast of India, Bay of Bengal
Paramasivam Kodeeswaran, C. P. Abhilash, T.T. Ajith Kumar, Kuldeep Kumar Lal
The Canarytop Wrasse, Halichoeres leucoxanthus Randall & Smith 1982, previously distributed from Maldives, Myanmar, Christmas Island (Australia), Thailand and Western Indonesia was recorded for the first time from Indian waters on the basis of six specimens (measures 53.1–66.3 mm SL) collected from the Gulf of Mannar, East coast of India. The species was diagnosed with the bicoloured body, striking yellow dorsally and milky white ventrally; three dark or black spots on the dorsal fin; a single black spot located mid-laterally on the fifth branched ray towards the basal region of the caudal fin. The partial mitochondrial COI gene of H. leucoxanthus was generated and the genetic analysis reveals that, H. leucoxanthus was closely related to Halichoeres chrysus Randall 1981 and Halichoeres iridis Randall & Smith 1982 with a genetic distance of 7.2% and 6.4%, respectively. The present study reports the range extension of H. leucoxanthus in Indian waters based on meristic, morphometric and phylogenetic details
