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Ambassis ambassis

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA ACTINOPTERYGII PERCIFORMES AMBASSIDAE

Scientific Name: Ambassis ambassis
Species Authority: (Lacepède, 1802)
Common Name/s:
English – Commerson's glassy perchlet
Synonym/s:
Ambassis commersonii Cuvier, 1828
Ambassis klunzingeri Steindachner, 1881
Ambassis productus Guichenot, 1866
Centropomus ambassis Lacepède, 1802
Chanda commersonii (Cuvier, 1828)
Taxonomic Notes: Ambassis ambassis was originally described as Centropomus ambassis by Lacepède (1802) from Réunion, western Mascarenes, southwestern Indian Ocean. Günther (1859), Talwar and Jhingran (1991) and Jayaram (1999) considered Ambassis ambassis as a synonym of Ambassis commersoni, which should be other way round (Anderson and Heemstra 2003).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published: 2011
Assessor/s: Dahanukar, N.
Reviewer/s: Madhusoodana Kurup, B., Basheer, V.S., Krishna , K.K. & Cox, N.A.
Contributor/s: Molur, S.
Justification:

Ambassis ambassis is assessed as Least Concern as it is widely distributed and currently there is no known major threat to the species. Nevertheless, research is required on population trends, ecology, harvest trends and threats to the species.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: Ambassis ambassis is found in the Indo-West Pacific from subtropical eastern South Africa to Kenya, Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius (Anderson and Heemstra 2003, Harrison 2005), Seychelles  (Playfair 1868), Zanzibar (Playfair and Günther 1867), Borneo (Fowler 1905), India (Raj 1916, Talwar and Jhingran 1991, Jayaram 1999, Bijukumar and Sushama 2001, Ramanujam and Anbarasan 2009) and north Australasia (Day 1875).
Countries:
Native:
Australia; India; Indonesia; Kenya; Madagascar; Malaysia; Mauritius; Réunion; Seychelles; South Africa; Viet Nam
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: No information is available on the global population status of Ambassis ambassis. The species is considered to be very rare in Madras (Raj 1916) and Bharathpuzha River in Kerala (Bijukumar and Sushama 2001). Percent abundance of this species in the estuary between Orange River and Kosi Bay of South Africa is 1.86% and its contribution to the total biomass of fishes is 0.01% (Harrison 2005).
Population Trend: Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:

Ambassis ambassis prefers estuarine environments but it may enter into freshwater system. It is mainly found in the ascending rivers and brackish water lakes (Talwar and Jhingran 1991). The species is also known from volcanic crater lakes in Madagascar (Anderson and Heemstra 2003).  It attains a total length of around 6 inches (Day 1875).
Systems: Freshwater; Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): No information is available on threats to Ambassis ambassis.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

Currently there is no specific action plan directed towards Ambassis ambassis. Research on the population status, ecology, harvest trends and threats to the species is essential.
Citation: Dahanukar, N. 2011. Ambassis ambassis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.
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