SCIAENIDAE


Pennahia anea, 9.3 cm SL
(photo by Koichi Shibukawa)


Pennahia anea
(Bloch, 1793)
Donkey Croaker

D X-XI, 22-24; A II, 7; P2 I, 5; LGR 9-12.

Body moderately deep. Snout pointed, but not swollen or projecting. Posterior margin of maxilla reaching a vertical through posterior margin of orbit. No barbels on chin. Teeth well differentiated into large and small in both jaws, but none canine-like. Gill rakers slender, as long as gill filaments at angle of arch. Caudal fin truncate. Scales cycloid on head and flanks, elsewhere ctenoid. Swimbladder carrot- shaped, with 17 to 22 pairs of fanlike appendages along its sides, first not entering head. Color: body grayish light brown dorsally, becoming paler ventrally, with increasing silvery reflection to whitish abdomen. Gill cover with a diffused dark blotch. Upper two-thirds of spinous portion of dorsal fin dusky. Size: maximum length 30 cm SL. Distribution: widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, from the Persian Gulf east to western Indonesia. Remarks: occurs in shallow coastal waters to depths of 60 m.