NEW RECORD OF OCCURRENCE OF INDIAN YELLOW BOXFISH : OSTRACION CUBICUS ( LINNAEUS , 1758 ) FROM DIGHA , NORTHERN EAST COAST OF INDIA

Digha, apart from a famous tourist destination being beautiful beaches, also known for one of the important marine fish landing station in West Bengal as well as along east coast of India. First ever effort of listing of marine and estuarine fishes of Digha was made by Manna & Goswami (1985), who listed 168 species. Later Goswami (1992) elaborated faunal list from this coast with 239 species of fishes including freshwater species. Talwar et al. (1994) also described the marine and estuarine fishes of West Bengal and reported around 170 species. The last updated report of marine fauna of Digha was published by Chatterjee et al. (2000) who reported 212 species from 145 genera and 88 families. All these literatures did not have report about Indian Yellow Boxfish Ostracion cubicus (Linneaus, 1758) in this area.


DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
The major key of the species for identification were the body enclosed in bony box-shaped carapace where pelvic skeleton was absent and fins consisted of soft rays where spines were absent (Fig. 1).The present sample of specimen was juvenile due to its bright yellow colouration with black spots and small size (-10 cm).The fin details of the species were D.9, P.9, A.9, C, 10.Carapace 4-ridged and spine less; ridges blunt, but above as wide as high; back convex, but without any distinctly raised ridge along the median line.The carapace formed a broad bridge across the back of the tail.Inter-orbital space was concave.Teeth were conical, minute and about 10 in either jaw, and of reddish-brown colour.Dorsal and anal fins were highest anteriorly; caudal truncated and equal to about 1/5 of the total length.Scutes very minute, about 10 between the gillopening and the tail, 5 or 6 transversely and 5 or 6 across the ventral surface.Colouration-brightly yellow coloured with black spots.The fins were yellowish and covered with black spots or immaculate.As its ages, the brightness fades and very old specimens have bluegrey colouration with the faded yellow.These may be the most characteristic of fishes with their bodies encased in a bony carapace.The family is also notable

DISTRIBUTION
Ostraciidae are contributed by fourteen genera with about thirty three species worldwide (FAO, 2009).The Yellow Boxfish found in reefs throughout the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean as well as the south eastern Atlantic Ocean.Out of these 33 species under Ostraciidae family, five species are reported in Indian waters (FAO, 2009).This particular species is widely distributed in Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiin and Tuamoto islands, north to Ryukyu islands, south to Lord Howe Island, Maldives, Andaman islands, Sri Lanka and Australian coast (Smith, 1986).
But, in India it has very restricted records of distribution.Francis Day (1967) Kapoor et al., (2002) reported this species on Chennai coast but location of occurrences was not mentioned in his report.The other ichthyology reports on east coast viz., Barman et al., (2004;2007)  All the existing literature in the northern east coast of India does not cover this species.Hence, this is the first ever site record of Gstracion cubicus (Linnaeus, 1758) on Digha coast in Northern east coast of India.
The occurrence of this species in the area also highlights the need of extensive field studies to update the existing list of ichthyofauna in the region.
reported the presence of this species in the Indian sea, no coastal region was mentioned.The extensive literature survey for occurrences records of this species on Indian coasts shows that this species is earlier reported in Lakshadweep islands, Andaman & Nicobar islands as well as Chennai coast.Rao et al., (2000), Kamala Devi & Rao (2003) & Rao (2003) reported Gstracion cubicus in Andaman islands, Anderson & Hafiz (1987) in Maldives as well as Kumaran & Jones (1980) and