New Record of Champsodon Atridorsalis Ochiai & Nakamura, 1964 from the South Eastern Arabian Sea

The present study reports a new record of Champsodon atridorsalis from the Arabian Sea along the Indian coast. Two specimens were obtained from the experimental fishing conducted in F V Silver pompano off Alappuzha coast Kerala, southwest coast of India in October 2018. The species was observed to have a snout length greater than the eye diameter; premaxilla with a shallow notch lateral to symphysis; maxilla extending beyond the posterior margin of the eye; small fleshy tabs of skin in the lower fold of the skin of the eye. The intraspecies genetic distance in the 16 S gene of Champsodon atridorsalis retrieved from NCBI revealed 0.0% from Indian waters, while it showed 0.15% with the species recovered from the USA, confirming the species. The cluster analysis formed a single group showing homogeneity, and a sequence of Sardinella longiceps (KX590730) was used as an outgroup.