Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 53, 2023, 123–127 

 |  DOI 10.3897/aiep.53.105318

First record of Mastacembelus notophthalmus

(Actinopterygii: Synbranchiformes: Mastacembelidae)
for Belitung Island, Indonesia
Veryl HASAN1, Lucas O. VIEIRA2, Josie SOUTH3, Felipe P. OTTONI2
1 Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, Indonesia
2 Laboratory of Systematics and Ecology of Aquatic Organisms, Federal University of Maranhão, Chapadinha, Maranhão, Brazil
3 School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

https://zoobank.org/64BC7326-F255-40D4-A528-51DAD5A635F4

Corresponding author: Veryl Hasan ([email protected])

Academic editor: Jan Kotusz  ♦  Received 21 April 2023  ♦  Accepted 19 June 2023  ♦  Published 14 July 2023

Citation: Hasan V, Vieira LO, South J, Ottoni FP (2023) First record of Mastacembelus notophthalmus (Actinopterygii:
Synbranchiformes: Mastacembelidae) for Belitung Island, Indonesia. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 53: 123–127. https://doi.
org/10.3897/aiep.53.105318

Abstract
This study was conducted aiming to record for the first time the occurrence of Mastacembelus notophthalmus Roberts, 1989 in Be-
litung Island (Indonesia), and update the geographic distribution of this species. Although this species is categorized as LC accord-
ing to the IUCN Red List, it is rarely reported in fish inventories, with few specimens sampled. Moreover, data on the geographic
distribution, population size, and other population details of M. notophthalmus are scarce and insufficient to predict possible threats
and propose appropriate conservation measures and policies. A single specimen of Mastacembelus was collected using a fish trap on
20 February 2023, in a swamp, located in the middle course of the Lenggang River, Belitung Island, Indonesia. This specimen was
identified as M. notophthalmus and this finding constitutes the southernmost record for this species, expanding its geographic range.
In addition, the new record site is about 700 km south-east of the nearest locality in Peninsular Malaysia, about 250 km south-east of
the nearest locality in Bangka Island, about 600 km south-east of the nearest locality in Sumatra, and about 500 km south-west from
the nearest locality in Borneo. Better ecological and biological data concerning distribution, habitat, and stressors is crucial to reas-
sess the conservation status of M. notophthalmus, and possible future conservation measures and policies. Therefore, we emphasize
here the urgency for more comprehensive and accurate data to facilitate conservation assessments and management in Indonesia.

Keywords
distribution extension, freshwaters, life below water, native species, spiny eel

Introduction lus Scopoli, 1777, it is consumed as food by local fishers,

therefore overexploitation is the main conservation threat
Mastacembelus notophthalmus Roberts, 1989 is a fresh- to M. notophthalmus (see Britz 2007; Brown et al. 2010;
water spiny eel species representing the family Mastacem- Day et al. 2017). There are currently no active conserva-
belidae (see Kottelat 2013; Fricke et al. 2023). This species tion measures in place for this species as there are broad
has an IUCN Red List (International Union for Conserva- ecological data deficiencies regarding geographic distri-
tion of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species) status of bution, potential threats, and population dynamics. Cur-
least concern (LC), usually occurring in large rivers, with rent knowledge regarding geographic distribution is likely
clear or slightly turbid water and pebbles as substrate (Ah- to be underestimated as very few specimens of this species
mad 2020). Like other species of the genus Mastacembe- are collected during general fish surveys (Ahmad 2020).

Copyright Hasan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
124 Hasan et al.: First record of Mastacembelus notophthalmus for Belitung Island, Indonesia

Mastacembelus notophthalmus is known to occur in Results

the western portion of Peninsular Malaysia (Malaysia)
(Roberts 1989; Shafiq et al. 2014; Ahmad 2020; Fricke Family Mastacembelidae Swainson, 1839
et al. 2023); in the northern and central portions of Su- Genus Mastacembelus Scopoli, 1777
matra (Indonesia) (Roberts 1989; Ng et al. 2019; Ahmad
2020; Ng and Tan 2020; Fricke et al. 2023); and in the Mastacembelus notophthalmus Roberts, 1989
western portion of Borneo (Indonesia) (Roberts 1989; (Fig. 1; Table 1)
Kottelat et al. 1993). And recently, Hasan et al. (2023a)
reported the species for Bangka Island (Indonesia). In New records. Belitung Island, East Belitung Dis-
addition, Hasan et al. (2023a) argued that it is possible trict, Indonesia; middle course of the Lenggang River;
that M. notophthalmus occurs in other islands close to the 02°57′14″S, 108°09′21″E; 20 February 2023; W. Kusu-
West Malaysia mainland, Sumatra, and Borneo. mah leg.; caught with a fish trap; 1 ♂ (ANMH0007).
This work records for the first time the occurrence of Identification. The specimen collected in the Leng-
M. notophthalmus in Belitung Island (Indonesia). This re- gang River, Belitung Island (Indonesia), was identified as
cord represents the southernmost record for this species, Mastacembelus notophthalmus (Fig. 1) based on charac-
extending its geographical distribution further south, and ters proposed by Roberts (1989). The diagnostic features
recording its occurrence on one additional island. In ad- exhibited by the specimen include: (1) a dark vertical
dition, we provide here a detailed and updated map of the bar below eye; (2) dorsal region mostly dark brown with
geographic distribution of M. notophthalmus. some yellowish irregular vermiculated marks; (3) ventral
region yellowish with incomplete and inconspicuous dark
brown horizontal stripe; and (4) caudal, dorsal, and anal
Methods fins yellowish with vertical dark brown bars (see Fig. 1).

A single specimen of Mastacembelus notophthalmus Table 1. Meristic and morphometric characters of Mastacembe-
(Fig. 1) was collected using a fish trap on 20 February lus notophthalmus from the Lenggang River, East Belitung Dis-
2023, in a swamp, located in the middle course of the trict, Belitung Island (presently reported study; AMNH0007),
Lenggang River, (02°57′14″S, 108°09′21″E), Lenggang and Malay Peninsula (Roberts 1989).
Village, Gantung Sub-District, East Belitung District, Mastacembelus notophthalmus
Meristic data
Belitung Island, Indonesia (Figs. 2 and 3). The collec- AMNH0007 Roberts 1989
tion site is characterized by having slow water flow and Dorsal spines 37 37–39
abundant water plants on the river (Fig. 4). The speci- Dorsal-fin rays 81 73–86
men was preserved in formalin 10% (Hasan et al. 2019). Anal-fin rays 82 69–85
Pectoral-fin rays 26 24–26
It was deposited in the Ichthyological Collection of the
Caudal-fin rays 18 15–18
Airlangga Natural History Museum (ANMH), Faculty Morphometric data; absolute value
of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Airlang- Standard length, (SL) [mm] 410.5 248.0
ga, Surabaya, Indonesia. Morphometric data; relative values (in percent of SL)
The morphological inspection of the specimen fol- Head length 1.48 —
lowed Roberts (1989), complemented by photographs Snout length 0.46 —
of the life specimen which were taken immediately after Predorsal length 6.69 —
capture, aiming to document the coloration pattern in life. Preanal length 6.57 —

Figure 1. Live specimen of Mastacembelus notophthalmus from the Lenggang River, East Belitung District, Belitung Island, Indo-
nesia, 410.5 mm SL (AMNH0007) (photograph: W. Kusumah).
Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 53, 2023, 123–127 125

Figure 2. Map of the known distribution of Mastacembelus notophthalmus. The new record in Belitung Island, Indonesia (black
square); published records (black triangles) are based on Roberts (1989), Kottelat et al. (1993), Ng et al. (2019); Ahmad (2020); Ng
and Tan (2020), and Hasan et al. (2023a).

Figure 4. Collection site of the presently reported Mastacem-

belus notophthalmus (AMNH0007); slow water flow and abun-
Figure 3. The presently reported collection site of Mastacem-
dant water plants on the river, Lenggang River, in East Belitung
belus notophthalmus on the Lenggang River in East Belitung
District, Belitung Island, Indonesia (photograph: W. Kusumah).
District, Bangka Island, Indonesia.

Meristic and morphometric characters of the M. notoph- or Cuvier, 1832; Mastacembelus erythrotaenia Bleeker,
thalmus specimen from Belitung Island are presented in 1850; and Mastacembelus favus Hora, 1923); number of
Table 1. These meristic features also support the identifi- dorsal spines (37) (vs. 34–35 in M. unicolor, 33–34 in M.
cation of the species as M. notophthalmus. erythrotaenia, and 33–35 in M. favus); number of dor-
The specimen identified in the presently reported study sal-fin rays (81) (vs. 68–70 in M. erythrotaenia); number
as M. notophthalmus differs from other species of the genus of anal-fin rays 82 (vs. 68–69 in M. erythrotaenia); number
Mastacembelus occurring in Indonesia and surroundings of pectoral-fin rays 26 (vs. 24–25 in M. erythrotaenia); and
by the following features: the presence of a dark vertical number of caudal-fin rays (18) (vs. 19–22 in M. unicolor,
bar below the eye (vs. absence in Mastacembelus unicol- 14–15 in M. erythrotaenia, and 12–15 in M. favus).
126 Hasan et al.: First record of Mastacembelus notophthalmus for Belitung Island, Indonesia

Discussion gill nets, dip nets, fyke nets, and fish traps evidently have
a low detection probability for Mastacembelus spp., this
The new record of Mastacembelus notophthalmus pro- is due to their thin, elongated body shapes allowing them
vided here for Belitung Island, specifically for the Leng- to escape from nets, which utilize the most commonly
gang River, Lenggang Village, Gantung Sub-District, used mesh sizes. If using traditional methods, we rec-
East Belitung District, Belitung Island, Indonesia, is the ommend using mesh sizes ranging from 20 to 50 mm
southernmost record for this species, expanding its geo- or crayfish traps with fine mesh sizes to prevent escape
graphic distribution. In addition, the new record site is (Çoban et al. 2021). Combining electro-fishing methods
about 700 km south-east of the nearest locality in Pen- with molecular approaches, such as eDNA, and tradi-
insular Malaysia, about 250 km south-east of the nearest tional net surveys would likely exponentially increase
locality in Bangka Island, about 600 km south-east of the detection levels for uncommonly caught species. There
nearest locality in Sumatra, and about 500 km south-west is an active fishery for Mastacembelus spp. in Indonesia
from the nearest locality in Borneo. New records of fresh- (Ahmad 2020), thus implementing a fisheries-dependent
water fishes are essential contributions to the natural sci- catch assessment survey would supplement fisheries in-
ences (Hasan et al. 2022). They are necessary to support dependent data. This would serve a dual purpose as a
appropriate conservation-related decisions and environ- biodiversity survey and generate vital information on the
mental impact assessments (Hasan et al. 2023b; Nurjirana overall state of the fishery, allowing inference regarding
et al. 2022; Hasan et al. 2021). Therefore, this new record population structure, size, and exploitation.
fills an important gap in the geographic distribution of the
species, as well as registering an additional island for the
species (Fig. 3). Author contributions
It is important to emphasize that, despite being cate-
gorized as least concern (LC) according to the IUCN Red Data curation: VH. Investigation: VH, LOV, JS, FPO.
List, this species is rarely reported in fish inventories, Methodology: VH, FPO. Resources: VH. Writing – orig-
with few specimens sampled (Ahmad 2020). Moreover, inal draft: VH, LOV, JS, FPO. Writing – review and edit-
according to Ahmad (2020), data on the geographic dis- ing: VH, LOV, JS, FPO.
tribution, population size, and other population details of
M. notophthalmus are scarce and insufficient to predict
possible threats and propose appropriate conservation Acknowledgments
measures and policies. Better ecological and biologi-
cal data concerning distribution, habitat, and stressors is The authors thank Mr Wanda Kusumah, Mr Firman Yus-
crucial to reassess the conservation status of M. notoph- nandar, and Mr Imam Wijaya as our guide, and the Uni-
thalmus, and possible future conservation measures and versitas Airlangga, Indonesia, for funding our research
policies. Therefore, we emphasize here the urgency of ob- (No. 254/UN3/2023). FPO thanks the Conselho Nacio-
taining more comprehensive and accurate data to facilitate nal de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil
conservation assessments and management in Indonesia. (CNPq; grant 307974/2021–9 to FPO), and the Fundação
Given these needs, and the recent reports documenting de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento Científico e
a far broader distribution for M. notophthalmus than his- Tecnológico do Maranhão, Brazil (FAPEMA) for provid-
torically considered (Hasan et al. 2023a), we provide some ing the financial and infrastructure support to carry out
implementation recommendations to increase knowledge his scientific research. The authors thank two anonymous
in the region. Traditional fish sampling using seine nets, reviewers for their useful comments.

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