First record of Mola ramsayi from the Sea of Oman, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The first record of the southern ocean sunfish Mola ramsayi in Omani waters is reported based on a single 916 mm total length specimen found stranded on the coasts of Sur City 193 km south of the Omani capital Muscat, 22835 ′ 10.22 ′′ N 59830 ′ 18.91 ′′ E. This account also represents the third northernmost record of a south ocean sunfish in the Indian Ocean. Morphometric and meristic data are provided and compared with those of 5 specimens caught off United Arab Emirates, Brazil and India. The southern ocean distribution of M. ramsayi is corrected in this report.

Molecular and Morphological Identification of <i>Mola</i> Sunfish Specimens (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Molidae) from the Indian Ocean

“…A has been found only in the Pacific Ocean, around Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and the Galápagos Islands (Bass et al 2005;Yoshita et al 2009;Thys et al 2013), where Bass et al (2005) and Thys et al (2013) called it M. ramsayi. The present study confirmed that both of the specimens from Oman, which were first published as Mola ramsayi and Mola mola (Jawad et al 2012;Jawad 2013), are genetically and morphologically Mola sp. A.…”

“…Owing to a dearth of recorded sightings and catch data of Mola sunfishes in the Indian Ocean (Pope et The two specimens from Oman were originally regarded as belonging to species because of apparent differences in their morphology (Jawad et al 2012;Jawad 2013), but the present study, based on both genetics and morphology, found them to be the same species (Table 2). The counts of the clavus fin rays and ossicles of these specimens in the previous studies (Jawad et al 2012;Jawad 2013) were lower than those in this study (Table 2). OMMSFC 1085 was identified as M. ramsayi by Jawad et al (2012) because of its supposed lack of a smooth band in the clavus, but we found such a smooth band in this specimen ( Fig.…”

“…OMMSFC 1085, 91.6 cm TL, coast of Sur, Sultanate of Oman, 10 September 2011, stranded (Jawad et al 2012); OMMSTC 1097, 135.0 cm TL, coast of Quriat, Sultanate of Oman, 1 April 2012, stranded (Jawad 2013). The whole bodies of both specimens are deposited in the fish collection of the Marine Science and Fisheries Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.…”

“…The two specimens were re- examined based on photographs in order to reconfirm the expression in each of them of the four diagnostic characters proposed by Fraser-Brunner (1951), which were also used by Jawad et al (2012) and Jawad (2013): number of ossicles; number of clavus fin rays; presence or absence of a smooth band of reduced denticles along the base of the dorsal fin, clavus, and anal fin; and comparison of ossicle size and width of spaces between ossicles. Moreover, two diagnostic characters proposed by Yoshita et al (2009) for distinguishing Mola sp.…”

“…Here we obtained two further specimens (OMMSFC 1085 and OMMSTC 1097) from the Indian Ocean for DNA and morphological analyses. Using the morphological descriptions of Fraser-Brunner (1951), these two specimens had been identified as M. ramsayi and M. mola, and they were published as the first records of each species from Omani waters (Jawad et al 2012;Jawad 2013). No other records of Mola are known from this region so far.…”