A member of the Tetraodontiform family Triacanthidae has been recorded for the first time in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
The Short Nosed Tripodfish, Triacanthus biaculeatus, is widespread across the whole Indo–West Pacific, ranging from the Persian/Arabian Gulf to South Africa (Eastern Cape) India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, China, Korea, central Japan, Western Australia, and Queensland, according to a recent paper published in the journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria. But it is so far unknown from the Arabian coasts and Madagascar and the new study constitutes the first documented record of this species for the Red Sea.
A relative of Pufferfish, Filefish, and Triggerfish, Triacanthus biaculeatus lives at depths ranging from the surface to 60 meters over shallow sandy, weedy or muddy habitats. The species was caught at Jizan, on the southern coast of Saudi Arabia during fishing experiments on a shrimp trawler, and was caught in seven hauls as part of a stock assessment for the area. There it occurs at depths from 11-34 meters.
Unlike several other range extensions we’ve covered, which are thought to be the result of Lessepsian migration, The Shortnosed Tripodfish’s expansion into the Red Sea is thought to be natural, not man-made, and it is highly likely that a breeding population has already established in the Southern Red Sea, according to the authors.
For more info go to https://doi.org/10.3897/ aiep.54.115071
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