Johnius amblycephalus (Bleeker, 1855)

(Common name: Bearded croaker)

(Fig. 5, Table 6)

Umbrina amblycephalus Bleeker 1855: 412 (type locality: Ambon Island, Molucca Islands, Indonesia. Syntypes: RMNH 8289).

Johnius amblycephalus (Bleeker, 1855): Sasaki, 2000: 621; Sasaki, 2001: 3139; Mohamad Faisal, 2009: 97; Ambak et al. 2010: 174; Matsunuma et al. 2011:139; Atan et al. 2010: 194; Lim et al. 2018: 138; Seah et al. 2021: 99.

Johnius coitor (non of Hamilton, 1822): Ng et al., 2015: 327.

Johnius dussumieri (non of Cuvier, 1830): Mohsin & Ambak, 364; Chin, 1998: 186.

Material examined. Non-types: NMMB-P37076 (10, 106.49 to 153.76 mm SL), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 4 March 2017 ; NMMB-P26538 (3, 145.85 to 173.38 mm SL), Pulau kambing, Terengganu, Malaysia, 30 December 2014 ; NMMB-P34752 (163.89 mm SL), Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia, 3 March 2017 ; NMMB-P34753 (108.1 mm SL), Bako, Sarawak, Malaysia, 17 March 2017 ; Endau, Johor, Malaysia, 10–11 June 2014; NMMB-P21557 (123.38 mm SL), Endau, Johor, Malaysia, 10–11 June 2014; NMMB-P32820 (129.9 mm SL), Pangkor Island, Perak, Malaysia, 11 September 2009 ; NMMB-P34754 (4, 85.66 to 148.65 mm SL), Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, 7 March 2017 ; NMMBP26503 (129.06 mm SL), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 4 April 2017 ; NMMB-P21532 (143.7 mm SL), NMMBP26498 (2, 138.08 to 141.6 mm SL), Pantai Remis, Perak, Malaysia, 4 June 2014 ; NMMB-P21530 (153.77 mm SL), Kuala Kurau, Perak, Malaysia, 1–2 June 2014; NMMB-P26501 (3, 120.21 to 146.75 mm SL), Kuala Kedah, Kedah, Malaysia, 19 May 2014 ; NMMB-P25512 (3, 105.03 to 134.51 mm SL), Tanjung Gemok, Pahang, Malaysia, 10 June 2014 .

Diagnosis. A species of Johnius with the following combination of characters: Snout steep, bluntly rounded, projecting in front of upper jaw; mouth inferior; a stiff, blunt barbel on chin; lower jaw with a band of villiform teeth; gill rakers stiff, less than 1/2 length of gill filaments at angle of arch, 6 to 9 on lower limb of first gill arch; second spine moderately short, 20 to 36% of head length; caudal fin slightly rhomboidal, S-shaped or truncate; scales small, 7 to 12 scale rows above lateral line to origin of dorsal fin, 13 to 18 scale rows below lateral line to origin of anal fin (Hanafi et al. 2023).

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific, west to Pakistan, east to southern China and northeastern Australia.

Remarks. Johnius amblycephalus can be easily differentiated from the rest of other Johnius species in the East Malaysian waters by the presence of a single mental barbel at the lower jaw. Johnius amblycephalus is abundant and was available collected from stretching the Sabah and Sarawak states, Malaysia until Taiwan waters (Hanafi et al. 2023).