First record of Rama Rao’s scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis ramaraoi Randall and Eschmeyer, 2001 (Scorapenidae) from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Coast, India
Muddula Krishna NARANJI*, Govinda Rao VELAMALA Department of Marine Living Resources, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 530003, India.
Abstract
The first record of Scorpaenopsis ramaraoi Randall and Eschmeyer, 2001 from east coast of India is reported based on eight specimens ranging from 52-152 mm SL. Specimens were collected from the shallow waters of Lawsons Bay rocky shore and Tenneti Park Beach, Visakhapatnam, south east coast of India. This species is distinguished from its closest relatives by tympanic spines separate, suborbital ridge with four stout spines, longitudinal scale series 45-49. This paper presents the first report and also provided detailed morphological data of S. ramaraoi based on recently collected specimens.
