A New Confirmed Distributional Record of Milk Sole, Aseraggodes kobensis (Steindachner 1896), from the Northeastern Indian Ocean

This article is based on the nine specimens of milk sole, Aseraggodes kobensis (Steindachner 1896), collected from the Andaman waters. The present work happens to be the first geographical record of A. kobensis in the northeastern Indian Ocean. This record from off the Andaman coast bridges an apparent gap in the geographical distribution of milk sole in the Indo-Pacific biogeographic region. Phenotypic characters were enumerated and compared with the voucher specimens from the original description, Arabian Sea, and Malaysia hence proving the morphological identification. The key distinguishing characteristics of A. kobensis from congeners were the smaller head length and slender tendrils at the anterior tip of the snout and chin. A short standardized Mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene was targeted to generate the sequence for molecular taxonomy. A 629 bp long sequence was obtained and submitted to GeneBank as the first barcode from Indian waters (GeneBank accession number: OR568995). Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree showed a distinct clade of Andaman isolate of A. kobensis with other species of the family Soleidae. A redescription of A. kobensis based on the morphological and molecular analysis has been presented in this article.