New distributional record of four Dragonet species (Perciformes: Callionymidae) from Odisha coast, India with comments on occurrence of other Callionymus species in Indian waters

Abstract

The present paper reports four uncommon fish species of dragonets of the family Callionymidae viz. Callionymus filamentosus Valenciennes, 1837, C. hindsii Richardson, 1844, C. margaretae Regan, 1905 and C. recurvispinis (Li 1966) for the first time from Odisha coast, India. Diagnosis, morphometric and meristic characters of the recorded species are provided herein. The records of Callionymus species in Indian waters are discussed. It is concluded that only 15 species of the genus Callionymus are occurring in India, while reports of C. belcheri, C. japonicus, C. kaianus and C. melanopterus are erroneous.