Pomadasys stridens, the striped piggy or lined piggy, is a grunt from the western Indian Ocean and is one of a group of Indo-Pacific marine species which have colonised the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, a process known as Lessepsian migration.

Pomadasys stridens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Haemulidae
Genus: Pomadasys
Species:
P. stridens
Binomial name
Pomadasys stridens
(Forsskål, 1775)
Synonyms[2]
  • Sciaena stridens Forsskål, 1775
  • Rhonciscus stridens (Forsskål, 1775)
Pristipoma stridens - 1835 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - UBA01 IZ13000144

Description

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Pomadasys stridens has a silvery body which is slightly darker dorsally than it is ventrally. It has 3-4 golden-brown stripes along its body, merging towards the caudal peduncle,[3] and a dark blotch on the operculum.[4] It has a relatively large head with a small, slightly oblique mouth and two pores on the tip of the chin which lie in front of a short indentation.[3] It has 12 spines and 13–14 soft rays in the dorsal fin with 3 spines and 3 soft rays in the anal fin.[4] It grows up to 23 cm[5] standard length but averages 10 cm,[3] with females normally growing to a slightly larger size than males.[6]

Distribution

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Pomadasys stridens is indigenous to the western Indian Ocean from the Red Sea south along the eastern African coast to South Africa, east to the western coast of India, including the Persian Gulf, Lakshadweep archipelago and the Maldives; it is also found off Madagascar, the Seychelles and Mascarene islands.[4][6] Recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean in 1969 in the Gulf of Genoa, it was later found in the Bardawil Lagoon in Egypt and extended north in Levantine waters with a known population off İskenderun, Turkey.[7][8][9]

Habitat

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Pomadasys stridens is found in waters over sandy and muddy substrates down to a depth of 55m,[3] but has been associated with reefs[4] and with rocky tidal pools.[5]

Biology

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Pomadasys stridens spawns between December and March in the Persian Gulf,[6] while in the Mediterranean it takes place during the summer,[3] and the fish form pairs during spawning.[4] It is a carnivorous species and the crustaceans, molluscs, small fish and polychaete worms make up the majority of its diet. It is a social species and fish in larger groups fed better than those in smaller groups[5]

Fisheries

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Pomadasys stridens is not regarded as a food fish in South Africa where it may be caught as a bait fish but it is regarded as a commercially important food fish in the northern Indian Ocean in areas such as the Gulf of Aqaba, Persian Gulf and the Bitter Lakes in Egypt.[6][4]

References

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  1. ^ Al Abdali, F.S.H.; Al Buwaiqi, B.; Al Kindi, A.S.M.; Ambuali, A.; Borsa, P.; Carpenter, K.E.; Russell, B.; Govender, A. (2019). "Pomadasys stridens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T18161519A46663974. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T18161519A46663974.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Synonyms of Pomadasys stridens (Forsskål, 1775)". Fishbase.org. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e J.C. Hureau. "Pomadasys stridens". Marine Species Identification Portal: Fishes of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean. ETI Bioinformatics. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Pascualita Sa-a; Cristina V. Garilao (2017). R. Froese; D. Pauly (eds.). "Pomadasys stridens (Forsskål, 1775) Striped piggy". Fishbase.org. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Amtyaz Safi; M. Atiqullah Khan; M. Zaheer Khan; M. Usman Ali Hashmi (2013). "Observations on the Food and Feeding Habits of Striped piggy, Pomadasys stridens (Forsskal, 1775) (Family; Pomadasyidae) from Karachi Coast, Pakistan" (PDF). International Journal of Fauna and Biological Studies. 1 (1): 7–14.
  6. ^ a b c d Sajjad karimi; Nasrollah Mahbobi Soofiani; Fatemeh Paykanheirati; Elham Katiraei (2014). "Reproductive Biology of Stripped Piggy (Pomadasys stridens Forsskal, 1775) in Northern Part of Persian Gulf (Bushehr) (English abstract)". JAIR (in Persian). 2 (3): 87–100.
  7. ^ Okan Akyol; Vahdet Ünal (2016). "First record of a Lessepsian migrant, Pomadasys stridens (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Haemulidae) from the Aegean Sea, Turkey". Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria. 46 (1): 53–55.
  8. ^ Samuel P. Iglesias; Lou Frotté (2015). "Alien marine fishes in Cyprus: update and new records" (PDF). Aquatic Invasions. 10 (4): 425–438. doi:10.3391/ai.2015.10.4.06.
  9. ^ Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea (Pomadasys stridens). 2nd Edition. 2021. 366p. CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco.https://ciesm.org/atlas/fishes_2nd_edition/Pomadasys_stridens.pdf