International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.30, 292-296
292
Research Report Open Access
Malpigmentation in
Diagramma pictum
and
Pardachirus marmoratus
Collected
from the Arabian Sea Coasts of Oman
Laith A. Jawad
1
, Haithem K. Al-Busaidi
2
, Dawood Al-Mamary
3
, Assam Al-Rassadi
3
, Juma M. Al-Mamry
3
1 Flat Bush, Manukau, Auckland 2016, New Zealand
2 Animal and Plant Genetic Resource Centre, The Research Council (TRC) P O Box 1422 Alathaiba 130, Oman
3 Marine Science Research and Fisheries Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.30 doi
Received: 19 Jul., 2017
Accepted: 09 Aug., 2017
Published: 10 Aug., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Jawad et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Jawad L.A., Al-Busaidi H.K., Al-Mamary D., Al-Rassadi A., and Al-Mamry J.M., 2017, Malpigmentation in
Diagramma pictum
and
Pardachirus marmoratus
collected from the Arabian Sea coasts of Oman, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(30): 292-296 (doi
Abstract
Cases of partial hyper pigmentation and malpigmentation were reported from
Diagramma pictum
and
Pardachirus
marmoratus
collected from the Arabian Sea coasts of Oman. These cases are the first report on color anomalies in these two fish
species. Hyper pigmentation spots were observed mainly on the side of
D. pictus
,
while the malpigmentation patch was observed
across the body of
P. marmoratus
. Both cases are not pathological, but they have an economic effects that the melanic or the
ambicolored specimens may cause to the fishermen due to being unfavourable by the customers.
Keywords
Melanosis; Flatfish; Haemulidae; Color aberration; Salalah; Metamorphosis
Introduction
In fishes, malpigmentation occurs as either a deficiency (albinism or hypomelanosis) or an excess (melanism or
hypermelanosis) of pigmentation (Simon et al., 2009; Jawad et al., 2013), while xanthism or xanthochroism is a
certain form of hypomelanism, where the bright yellow or orange body coloration became prevailing (Lewand et
al., 2013). Such changes will reduce its marketing price as it can discourage the customer from buying and on the
survival of the fish in the environment (Heemstra and Randall, 1993). Malpigmentation in teleosts has been
widely studied in Pleuronectiform fishes in relation to developing asymmetry (Venizelos and Benetti, 1999;
Barton, 2010), but it has been also noticed in other fish groups in the wild but to a lesser extent (Brito and
Caramaschi, 2005; Jawad et al., 2013).
The flatfish usually has a symmetrical body skin in the period from hatching to metamorphosis in which
larval-type melanophores are evenly distributed. The pigmentation cells are speedily formed on only the ocular
side during the process of metamorphosis, while the blind-side skin shows no pigment pattern (Byun et al., 2007).
The ambicoloration could be partial, involving the parts on the ocular or the blind sides (Chabot et al., 2007). The
etiology of these abnormalities has not been resolved, although these conditions have no pathogenic effect on the
fish (Soutar, 1995).
Diagramma pictum
and
Pardachirus marmoratus
are among the commercially important fish species in Oman.
They are marine species living in association with reefs. Their distribution is confined to the Indian Ocean.
Diagramma pictum
is a solitary species prefers muddy, sandy or silty substrates in protected bays or estuaries
(Kuiter and Tonozuka, 2001). It feeds on benthic invertebrates and fishes (Sommer et al., 1996).
Pardachirus
marmoratus
lives in shallow coastal waters, on sand and mud bottoms (Sommer et al., 1996). It feeds mainly on
bottom living invertebrates. This species is characterized in producing a bitter toxic substance from the bases of
the dorsal and anal fin rays that deters predation, even by sharks (Lieske and Myers, 1994).
Jawad and Al-Mamry (2009), Jawad and AL-Kharusi (2013), Jawad et al. (2013), Jawad and Ibrahim (2014) and
Ibrahim and Jawad (2017) were the only works have been performed on the color aberration in fishes from the
Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman areas. No previous studies on ambicoloration of
P.
playfairi
have been done in
these areas before.
