Malabar trevally
Encyclopedia
The Malabar trevally, Carangoides malabaricus, (also known as the Malabar jack, Malabar kingfish and nakedshield kingfish) is a species
of large inshore marine
fish of the jack family, Carangidae
. It is distributed throughout the Indian
and west Pacific Ocean
s from South Africa
in the west to Japan
and Australia
in the east, inhabiting reef
s and sandy bay
s on the continental shelf. The Malabar trevally is similar to many of the other species in the genus Carangoides
, with the number of gill rakers and the grey-brown colour of the tongue being the diagnostic features. The Malabar trevally is a predator, taking a variety of small fish, cephalopod
s and crustacean
s. The species is of minor economic importance throughout its range, caught by a variety of net and handline methods.
Carangoides, itself one of thirty genera in the jack family Carangidae
. The Carangids are Perciform fish in the suborder Percoidei
.
The Malabar trevally was first scientifically described by German ichthyologists Marcus Elieser Bloch
and Johann Gottlob Schneider
in the massive 1801 volume of Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum, a book which is the taxonomic authority of many fish species. The species was first published under the name Scomber malabaricus, implying the species was related closely to the true mackerel
s. This was found to be incorrect, and the species was first transferred to Caranx
, another genus of jack, and finally to Carangoides by Williams and Venkataramani in 1978, remaining there since. The species was also completely redescribed twice in its history, the first time by Williams in 1958 under the name Carangoides rectipinnus, and again in 1974 by Kotthaus, who named the species Carangoides rhomboides. These two names are considered junior synonyms under the ICZN
rules for classification and therefore are discarded.
In English, the species nearly always goes under the common name
of 'Malabar trevally', with the name 'Malabar kingfish' rarely used. A wide number of local names in other languages are also in use. 'Malabar' is a region of Southern India where the type locality of the fish, Tranquebar, was recorded from.
and anal fins. The top of the head is strongly elevated to nape
, and almost straight. Both jaw
s have bands of small villiform teeth, although the anterior teeth may be conical in shape. The gill raker
s number 8 to 12 on the upper limb and 21 to 27 on the lower limb of the first gill arch. The species has 24 vertebrae, 10 upper and 14 lower. The dorsal fin is divided into two segments; a short, high fin containing 8 spines and a second, long fin consisting of one spine followed by 20 to 23 soft rays. The anal fin has 2 detached spines followed by a single spine connected to 17 to 19 soft rays. The lateral line
has a moderate anterior curve before, intersecting the straight section between the twelfth and fourteenth soft rays of the second dorsal fin. The straight section of the lateral line contains 19 to 36 weak scute
s, and 31 to 55 combined scutes and scales on the entire line. The breast area of the fish is devoid of any scales, reaching from each pectoral fin back to the pelvic fin and occasionally to the origin of the anal fin. The species reaches a maximum known length 60 cm (23.6 in), although is much more common at below 30 cm (11.8 in).
The colour of the Malabar trevally is usually a silver overlain by a blush grey hue on the upper side of the fish fading to a silvery white on the underside and lower flanks. The opercle
has a single small black spot on the upper margin, and the tongue
is a distinctive greyish brown to brown. The caudal fin, soft dorsal and anal fins are pale greenish yellow to dusky, while other fins are hyaline
in appearance. The tips of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins are occasionally edged in a shade of white.
and Pacific Ocean
s. It occurs from South Africa
and Madagascar
in the west, north along the east African coast and into the Persian Gulf, but has not been recorded from the Red Sea since 1860, where a capture was reported under the name Caranx malabaricus. Its range stretches east to Sri Lanka
, Thailand
, Indonesia
and a number of small Pacific islands including Vanuatu
and New Caledonia
. It reaches as far north as Japan
, and south to northern Australia
. The species is rare in a number of Pacific nations, including Taiwan and Japan, with only a few recorded captures.
The species lives in a variety of inshore habitats, generally present in waters 30 to 140 m deep on coral
and rocky reefs. Juveniles tend to school in shallow sandy bay
s and are able to tolerate moderately turbid
waters. There has been at least one recorded capture from an estuary in Thailand, with this seemingly a rare occurrence.
in shallow bays, becoming more solitary at older age.
The species is not particularly aggressive, feeding on small plankton
ic and pelagic crustaceans such as krill
, prawn
s, shrimp
and mysids, as well as small squid
s and fishes. Geographical variation in diet is common, with fish in Malaysia taking species of polychaete
worms as the preferred species. Studies on gill filtering mechanisms has shown that the Malabar trevally's anatomy lies between two extremes, one which is a high filtration area characteristic of planktivorous species and the other of very low area which is associated with species which take large prey items. This further suggests the Malabar trevally can filter the small krill type prey as well as taking larger fishes and squid. Seasonal diet fluctuation in the species has been observed in northern Australia, where a seasonal abundance of squid causes the preferred prey to change from paenid shrimps to these squid.
Little is known of its breeding cycle, with the only publication on the subject part of a 1984 study in Indian waters. It was found that the Malabar trevally's breeding period was between February and October in this location, with the main peak from July to September. Each individual spawn
ed only once per year. The size at which the species is first able to breed is 161 mm (6.3 in) for both sexes, with the amount of eggs produced related to each individual's length and weight. In South Africa, seasonal small shoals of juveniles are known from parts of the coast, suggesting a single spawning event also. The species is relatively short lived like many tropical species, but has a fairly rapid population turnover.
, and studies have shown that at the current level of removal, the species is ecologically
sustainable. In India and parts of South East Asia however, the species is more commercially important and taken in larger quantities than anywhere else. The FAO
recorded a total of 278 t (273.6 LT) of the fish were caught as bycatch from the Persian Gulf in 2001. The species is caught by a variety of methods hook-and-line, bottom trawls, gill nets, and traps. In South Africa, the species is often caught by angler
s using light tackle and baits such as prawns and small fish, as well as occasionally being speared by divers. It is considered, like most carangids, to be poor to fair table food, becoming dryer at larger sizes with larger fish having an increased chance of carrying Ciguatera
poisoning.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of large inshore marine
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
fish of the jack family, Carangidae
Carangidae
Carangidae is a family of fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, and scads.They are marine fish found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. It is distributed throughout the Indian
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and west Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
s from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in the west to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the east, inhabiting reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s and sandy bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s on the continental shelf. The Malabar trevally is similar to many of the other species in the genus Carangoides
Carangoides
Carangoides is a genus of tropical to subtropical marine fishes in the jack family, Carangidae. They are small to large sized, deep bodied fish characterised by a certain gill raker and jaw morphology, often appearing very similar to jacks in the genus Caranx...
, with the number of gill rakers and the grey-brown colour of the tongue being the diagnostic features. The Malabar trevally is a predator, taking a variety of small fish, cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...
s and crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s. The species is of minor economic importance throughout its range, caught by a variety of net and handline methods.
Taxonomy and naming
The Malabar trevally is one of twenty one species in the genusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Carangoides, itself one of thirty genera in the jack family Carangidae
Carangidae
Carangidae is a family of fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, and scads.They are marine fish found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. The Carangids are Perciform fish in the suborder Percoidei
Percoidei
Percoidei is one of eighteen suborders of bony fish in the order Perciformes. Many commercially harvested fish species are contained in this suborder, including the snappers, jacks, whitings, groupers, bass, perches and porgies.-Divisions:...
.
The Malabar trevally was first scientifically described by German ichthyologists Marcus Elieser Bloch
Marcus Elieser Bloch
Marcus Elieser Bloch was a German medical doctor and naturalist. He is generally considered one of the most important ichthyologists of the 18th century.- Life :...
and Johann Gottlob Schneider
Johann Gottlob Schneider
Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider was a German classicist and naturalist.-Biography:Schneider was born at Collm in Saxony...
in the massive 1801 volume of Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum, a book which is the taxonomic authority of many fish species. The species was first published under the name Scomber malabaricus, implying the species was related closely to the true mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
s. This was found to be incorrect, and the species was first transferred to Caranx
Caranx
Caranx is a genus of tropical to subtropical marine fish in the jack family Carangidae, commonly known as jacks, trevallies and kingfishes. They are moderate to large sized, deep bodied fishes which are distinguished from other carangid genera by specific gill raker, fin ray and dentition...
, another genus of jack, and finally to Carangoides by Williams and Venkataramani in 1978, remaining there since. The species was also completely redescribed twice in its history, the first time by Williams in 1958 under the name Carangoides rectipinnus, and again in 1974 by Kotthaus, who named the species Carangoides rhomboides. These two names are considered junior synonyms under the ICZN
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
rules for classification and therefore are discarded.
In English, the species nearly always goes under the common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
of 'Malabar trevally', with the name 'Malabar kingfish' rarely used. A wide number of local names in other languages are also in use. 'Malabar' is a region of Southern India where the type locality of the fish, Tranquebar, was recorded from.
Description
The Malabar trevally has the typical body profile of a jack, with a strongly compressed body almost ovate in shape with long dorsalDorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
and anal fins. The top of the head is strongly elevated to nape
Nape
The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is referred to by the word nucha, which also gives the adjective corresponding to "nape" in English, "nuchal"....
, and almost straight. Both jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
s have bands of small villiform teeth, although the anterior teeth may be conical in shape. The gill raker
Gill raker
Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch and are involved with filter feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the bony part of the gill. Rakers are usually present in two rows, projecting from both the...
s number 8 to 12 on the upper limb and 21 to 27 on the lower limb of the first gill arch. The species has 24 vertebrae, 10 upper and 14 lower. The dorsal fin is divided into two segments; a short, high fin containing 8 spines and a second, long fin consisting of one spine followed by 20 to 23 soft rays. The anal fin has 2 detached spines followed by a single spine connected to 17 to 19 soft rays. The lateral line
Lateral line
The lateral line is a sense organ in aquatic organisms , used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail...
has a moderate anterior curve before, intersecting the straight section between the twelfth and fourteenth soft rays of the second dorsal fin. The straight section of the lateral line contains 19 to 36 weak scute
Scute
A scute or scutum is a bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, the feet of some birds or the anterior portion of the mesonotum in insects.-Properties:...
s, and 31 to 55 combined scutes and scales on the entire line. The breast area of the fish is devoid of any scales, reaching from each pectoral fin back to the pelvic fin and occasionally to the origin of the anal fin. The species reaches a maximum known length 60 cm (23.6 in), although is much more common at below 30 cm (11.8 in).
The colour of the Malabar trevally is usually a silver overlain by a blush grey hue on the upper side of the fish fading to a silvery white on the underside and lower flanks. The opercle
Operculum (fish)
The operculum of a bony fish is the hard bony flap covering and protecting the gills. In most fish, the rear edge of the operculum roughly marks the division between the head and the body....
has a single small black spot on the upper margin, and the tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
is a distinctive greyish brown to brown. The caudal fin, soft dorsal and anal fins are pale greenish yellow to dusky, while other fins are hyaline
Hyaline
The term hyaline denotes a substance with a glass-like appearance.-Histopathology:In histopathological medical usage, a hyaline substance appears glassy and pink after being stained with haematoxylin and eosin — usually it is an acellular, proteinaceous material...
in appearance. The tips of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins are occasionally edged in a shade of white.
Distribution and habitat
The Malabar trevally is broadly distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian OceanIndian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
s. It occurs from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
in the west, north along the east African coast and into the Persian Gulf, but has not been recorded from the Red Sea since 1860, where a capture was reported under the name Caranx malabaricus. Its range stretches east to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and a number of small Pacific islands including Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
and New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. It reaches as far north as Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and south to northern Australia
Northern Australia
The term northern Australia is generally known to include two State and Territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory . The part of Western Australia north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included...
. The species is rare in a number of Pacific nations, including Taiwan and Japan, with only a few recorded captures.
The species lives in a variety of inshore habitats, generally present in waters 30 to 140 m deep on coral
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
and rocky reefs. Juveniles tend to school in shallow sandy bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s and are able to tolerate moderately turbid
Turbidity
Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality....
waters. There has been at least one recorded capture from an estuary in Thailand, with this seemingly a rare occurrence.
Biology
The Malabar trevally often schools, especially as juvenilesJuvenile (organism)
A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...
in shallow bays, becoming more solitary at older age.
The species is not particularly aggressive, feeding on small plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
ic and pelagic crustaceans such as krill
Krill
Krill is the common name given to the order Euphausiacea of shrimp-like marine crustaceans. Also known as euphausiids, these small invertebrates are found in all oceans of the world...
, prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
and mysids, as well as small squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
s and fishes. Geographical variation in diet is common, with fish in Malaysia taking species of polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
worms as the preferred species. Studies on gill filtering mechanisms has shown that the Malabar trevally's anatomy lies between two extremes, one which is a high filtration area characteristic of planktivorous species and the other of very low area which is associated with species which take large prey items. This further suggests the Malabar trevally can filter the small krill type prey as well as taking larger fishes and squid. Seasonal diet fluctuation in the species has been observed in northern Australia, where a seasonal abundance of squid causes the preferred prey to change from paenid shrimps to these squid.
Little is known of its breeding cycle, with the only publication on the subject part of a 1984 study in Indian waters. It was found that the Malabar trevally's breeding period was between February and October in this location, with the main peak from July to September. Each individual spawn
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
ed only once per year. The size at which the species is first able to breed is 161 mm (6.3 in) for both sexes, with the amount of eggs produced related to each individual's length and weight. In South Africa, seasonal small shoals of juveniles are known from parts of the coast, suggesting a single spawning event also. The species is relatively short lived like many tropical species, but has a fairly rapid population turnover.
Relationship to humans
The Malabar trevally is of minor importance to fisheries in most regions it inhabits, often considered too small to be worth actively targeting. In these regions, it still forms a considerable proportion of the bycatchBycatch
The term “bycatch” is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting...
, and studies have shown that at the current level of removal, the species is ecologically
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
sustainable. In India and parts of South East Asia however, the species is more commercially important and taken in larger quantities than anywhere else. The FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
recorded a total of 278 t (273.6 LT) of the fish were caught as bycatch from the Persian Gulf in 2001. The species is caught by a variety of methods hook-and-line, bottom trawls, gill nets, and traps. In South Africa, the species is often caught by angler
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
s using light tackle and baits such as prawns and small fish, as well as occasionally being speared by divers. It is considered, like most carangids, to be poor to fair table food, becoming dryer at larger sizes with larger fish having an increased chance of carrying Ciguatera
Ciguatera
Ciguatera is a foodborne illness caused by eating certain reef fishes whose flesh is contaminated with toxins originally produced by dinoflagellates such as Gambierdiscus toxicus which lives in tropical and subtropical waters. These dinoflagellates adhere to coral, algae and seaweed, where they are...
poisoning.