Systomus sarana, (Hamilton, 1822)

Species: S. sarana (Hamilton, 1822) View in CoL

English name: Olive barb

1822, Cyprinus sarana (Hamilton, 1822) Hamilton, F. [Buchanan] (1822). An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London.Pp i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

Page(s): 307, 388 (type locality: Ponds and rivers of Bengal).

Material examined: ZSI/ ANRC / M 28570 , 2 ex, (SL 129.09 – 176.8mm), Kalpong River , Diglipur, North Andaman island (Lat: 13° 9’ 37.89’’ N and Long: 92° 58’ 9.534’’ E) GoogleMaps ,

12.11.2022, Coll: Mrinal Kumar Das.

ZSI/ ANRC /M-28656, 2 ex, (SL 127.3–179.7mm), Kalipur stream, Diglipur, North Andaman (Lat: 13° 13’ 5.2752’’ N and Long: 93° 2’ 12.2532’’ E), 17.11.2022, Coll: Mrinal Kumar Das GoogleMaps .

Meristic characters: D III 8; A III 5; P I 14-16; VI, 8

Description: A total of four specimens ranging from

164.87mm to 213.06mm TL (total length) were used

Das and Sivaperuman for the studies of morphometric and meristic studies. Morphometric measurements and meristic data are presented in Table 1. The body is oblong and moderately compressed; its depth at dorsal origin is 37.35-40.26 %SL. Head small, its length 26.32-27.30 %SL. Head depth

19.02-27.30 %SL. Pre dorsal distance 48.03-57.06 and pre pelvic distance 47.42-48.01 %SL. Dorsal fin origin midway between the snout and the base of the caudal, dorsal fin origin anterior to pelvic-fin insertion vertically and dorsal fin length 24.32-26.85 %SL. The pectoral fin does not reach the pelvic fin. Length of pectoral fin 20.89-

22.69 %SL and length of the pelvic fin 19.01-20.08 %SL. Length and depth of caudal peduncle 17.86-19.57 and

13.02-14.52 %SL respectively. The caudal fin is forked; its length is 28.33-36.70 %SL. Post dorsal length ranges from 36.12 to 37.84 %SL. Eye diameter 23.00-24.02 %HL; inter-orbital width 41.80-45.97 %HL and Snout length

18.74-21.59 %HL. Dorsal fin with 3 spines and 8 soft rays, anal fin with 3 spines and 5 branched rays, pelvic fin with 1 spine and 8 branched rays, pectoral fin with 1 spine and 14-16 branched rays. The last ray of the dorsal fin is unbranched, strong and finely serrated posteriorly.

Colour: Fresh specimens: The body colour is silvery with golden reflections, and the fins are blackish, a light black band present surrounding the opercle. Pectoral, pelvic and anal fin light reddish in colour. Head and operculum black olive in colour. No black colour spot on the caudal base ( Figure 2a View Figure 2 ).

First record of the olive barb Systomus sarana (Hamilton, 1822) ( Cyprinidae : Smiliogastrinae ) from Andaman and Nicobar... Formalin preserved specimens: The dorsal side of the body is yellow, lateral sides are yellowish to brown on the head, behind the eye, the front of each scale is marked with a dark shade; dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, anal and caudal fins are whitish ( Figure 2b View Figure 2 ).

Distribution: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bhutan, India (throughout except peninsular India south of Krishna River), Nepal and Pakistan ( Talwar & Jhingran, 1991).

Habitat: S. sarana inhabits rivers, streams, ponds, beels, ditches, floodplains lakes, estuaries, and reservoirs ( Pethiyagoda, 1991; Jena et al., 2007).