Grunts (Actinopterygii Perciformes: Haemulidae) of Bangladesh with two new distributional records from the northern Bay of Bengal assessed by morphometric characters and DNA barcoding

Grunts (family Haemulidae) are among the most commercially important fish in Bangladesh. This paper provides brief diagnostic characters of five previously reported grunt species: Plectorhinchus pictus (Thunberg, 1792); Pomadasys andamanensis McKay et Satapoomin, 1994; Pomadasys argenteus (Forsskål, 1775); Pomadasys argyreus (Valenciennes, 1833); Pomadasys maculatus (Bloch, 1793) and two new distributional records: Pomadasys guoraca (Cuvier, 1829) and Plectorhinchus macrospilus Satapoomin et Randall, 2000. The fishes were collected from the Saint Martin’s Island coral reef-like ecosystem and the adjacent sea of the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh. The examined specimens were identified and diagnosed based on their morphometric characters and DNA barcoding COI gene. The new records of Pomadasys guoraca and Plectorhinchus macrospilus from Bangladesh greatly extend their distributional range in the Bay of Bengal. An updated checklist of grunts of Bangladesh is provided.