ON THE OCCURRENCE OF REDlGOBlUS ROMERl ( WEBER ) ( pISCES : GOBIIDAE ) IN THE MAINLAND OF INDIA

Through a recent survey of Dakshin Kannada, Kamataka, six specimens of Redigobius romeri (Weber) were collected by Zoological Survey of India parties. Talwar and Jhingran (1991) included six species under the composite genus Stigmatogobius with a remark that romeri has not been reported from Indian inland waters though recorded from some insular parts of the Indo-west Pacific. This is the first report of this species from the inland waters of the mainland of India. It has been reported earlier from Sulawesi, Mollucas, New Guinea, the Philippines, Fiji, Australia, Java, Andamans, all insular areas, and hence is of Ichthyological significance. The specific identity of the species is discussed.


INTRODUCTION
Through a recent survey of Dakshin Kannada, Kamataka, six specimens of Redigobius romeri (Weber) were collected by Zoological Survey of India parties.Talwar and Jhingran (1991) included six species under the composite genus Stigmatogobius with a remark that romeri has not been reported from Indian inland waters though recorded from some insular parts of the Indo-west Pacific.This is the first report of this species from the inland waters of the mainland of India.It has been reported earlier from Sulawesi, Mollucas, New Guinea, the Philippines, Fiji, Australia, Java, Andamans, all insular areas, and hence is of Ichthyological significance.The specific identity of the species is discussed.KEYWORDS: Gobiid fish, Redigobius romeri, neglectus, India.
A species similar to romeri but without the prolonged maxillary, he (1932) described as Stigmatogobius neglectus and remarked (1941) that "it is possible that this species is the female of Pseudogobiopsis romeri (Weber).In that case, the male will have a prolonged maxillary, while in the female the maxillary is not prolonged" Subsequently Koumans (1953) treated neglectus as a junior synonym of romeri.
In a recent work by Kottelat et. al. (1993) both the species were kept separate under different genera, romeri under Redigobius Herre and neglectus under the genus Pseudogobiopsis Koumans, with a note that this is possibly a synonym of Redigobius romeri as communicated to him by H. K.
Larson.Of the several generic characters of Redigobius given by Koumans (1953), a significant feature is the presence of numerous short canals radiating under the eyes.However, both romeri and neglectus have only two longitudinal canals on cheeks.The key provided by Kottelat op.cit.
assigns the species with radiating canals under eye to the genus Stigmatogobius and the species with only longitudinal rows under the genus Redigobius.This genus is also characterised by paired interorbital pores.(Fig. 280  The specimens collected from Karnataka bear some resemblance to the picture captioned as isognathus in pI.70 of Kottelat (op. cit.).However the description of both the species given in Koumans (1952) enables the identification of the Karnataka specimens as romeri especially by its bilobate tongue and paired interorbital pores whereas in isognathus the tongue is rounded and the species lack interorbital pores.
A comparison of the biometric details of the specimens from Karnataka with those of romeri Koumans 1953 •indicate no significant differences except in body depth, the present specimens being comparatively more slender.On dissection all the 6 specimens were observed to be females.Earlier females of this species have been described as neglectus by Koumans (1941).

SUMMARY
Redigobius romeri (Weber) is reported for the first time from the mainland of India.The specific identity of the species is discussed.
in Kottelat Figs.A & B are found to be interchanged).