New Record of Argyrops bleekeri (Family: Sparidae) in Indian Waters

Sparidae, commonly known as seabreams, are inhabitant of tropical and temperate coastal waters. They are occasional visitors of brackish waters, bays, coastal reefs, etc. They are one of the important food fishes. The family sparidae has about 129 species in 35 genera in Worldwide (Froese & Patily, 2010). The extensive literature stirvey on fish records of Indian coast shows records of 9 species from 7 genera in Indian waters (Talwar & Kacker, 1984; Froese & Pauly, 2010). During the surveys at Digha coast, authors have come across one specimen of the family Sparidae and after Close observation of distinguishing features, the specimen is identified as Argyrops bleekeri (Oshima, 1927), King Soldier Bream. The literature review shows that it is so far not reported in Indian waters and new addition to Indian icthyofauna.