BIOTROPIA Vol. 28 No. 3,2021: 274 - 277 D O I :  10.1 1598/btb.2021.28.3.1276 

BEARDLESS BARB Cyclocheilichthys apogon 
(VAZENCIENNES, 1842) (CYPRINIFORMES: CYPRINIDAE) 

I N  MADURA ISLAND, INDONESIA 

VERYL HASANl*, SOEMARN02, MAHENO SRI WIDOD03 AND 
DEWA GEDE R A I a  WIADNYA4 

'Department ofFisb Health Management and Aquaculture, Uniuersitas Airlanga, Surabaya 601 15, Indonesia 
2Agmecotecbnology Department, AgriczIlture Faculty, Uniuersitas Bramjaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia 

'Aquatic Resources Management Department, Fisheries and Marine Science Facult), Uniuersitas Brawqaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia 
4Fisheries and Marine Resources Utilixation Department, Fisheries and Marine Science Facalty, Universitas Brawjqa, 

Malang 6 5  145, Indonesia 

Received 25 June 2019/Accepted 11 December 2019 

ABSTRACT 

The freshwater fish Beardless Barb Cyclocbeilichtbys apogon (Valenciennes, 1842) is a native species of Southeast 
Asia, including Western Indonesia area (Borneo, Sumatra and Java). Previously, the species was found only in the 
mainland of Java Island. This paper provides the first record of C. apogon in the Lembung River, one of the major 
rivers in Madura Island, Indonesia, thereby extending the species distribution up to 150 krn northeast from the 
place of earlier record. The specimens of C. apogon were characterized as follows: dorsal fin rays 12; anal fin rays 
8 - 9; pectoral fin rays 17 - 18; lateral line scales 34 - 35. A detailed description of the morphological characters of 
the specimen is provided in this manuscript. 

Keywords: Cyprinid, distribution, freshwater fish 

INTRODUCTION 

In the last glacial era, Southeast Asia and 
Western Indonesia (Sumatera, Borneo and Java) 
were still connected as a single area called 
Sundaland, where many blocth rivers were 
connected to each other, extendmg from 
Indochina to the Java Sea (Voris 2000). Major 
rises in sea level in the South China Sea and Java 
Sea that occurred in that era had chided the 
Sundaland into several archipelagos (Pubellier & 
Morley 201 4). This geographical change has 
resulted in the isolation of several freshwater 
fishes (Hubert e t  al. 2015), one of which was the 
Beardless Barb Cyclocheilichtt5y.r apogon (Weber & 
de Beaufort 19 1 6). 

C. apogon (Class: Actinopterygii; Order: 
Cypriniformes; Family: Cyprinidae) is a 
freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia and 
Western Indonesia (Rainboth 1996; Icottelat 

'Corresponding author, email: veryl.hasan@fpk.unair.ac.id 

2001; I<enthao & Jearranaiprepam 2018). The 
species is distributed widely in rivers across 
mainland Java, including East Java, Central Java 
and West Java (Weber & de Beaufort 1913; 
Roberts 1993). As reported in this paper, 
C. apogon was recently sighted in Lembung River, 
Madura Island, thereby widening the previously 
known distribution range of this species. 

MATERIALS A N D  METHODS 

Nineteen (19) live specimens of C. apogon 
were obtained from local fishermen during a 
fieldwork carried out on 22 - 23 March 2019 in 
Lembung River (7O02'21" S, 113°46'35" E) 
(Fig. 1). Administratively, the site is located on 
Madura Island, Sumenep Regency, East Java 
Province, Indonesia. The fishng gear used by 
the fishermen was a small hook fastened with 
molluscs as the baits (Stein eta/. 2012). 



Cyclocheilichtbys apogon on Madura Island - Hasan et al. 

Figure 1 Lembung River, Madura Island where the Cyclocheilichthys qbogon were collected on 23 March 2019 

To ensure the identity of C. apogon, its of the skin above the upper lip. Other 
morphological characters were analysed using morphological characters of the 5 preserved 
the Weber and de Beaufort's (1916) model. specimens are as follows: 12 dorsal fin rays; 8 - 9 

anal fin rays; 17 - 18 pectoral fin rays; 34 - 35 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

The nineteen (19) live specimens of C. apogon 
had total lengths between 7.8 and 16.1 cm and 
total weights between 55.5 and 204 g. Five (5) of 
these were preserved in 96% alcohol solution 
(Hasan e t  al. 2019) and deposited as laboratory 
specimens at the Hydrobiology Laboratory, 
Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia 
(UB.0002). The remaining fourteen (1 4) were 
transported in polyethylene bags with oxygen 
and were kept as livestocks at the Fish 
Reproduction Laboratory, Brawijaya University, 
Malang, Indonesia. 

Identification 

Qclocheikichth_ys apogon was distinguished from 
the other species of Qclocheidichth_ys by having no 
barbels in the snout but with conspicuous folds 

lateral line scales; head pointed, lips swollen, 
with both lips evenly curved; dorsal deeply 
concave, origin of dorsal is opposite to 13th scale 
of lateral line and nearly in the middle of a line, 
connecting the end of the snout and the end of 
the shortest caudal rays, the location of which is 
nearer to snout in young specimens, far behind 
the origin of ventrals; anal concave, with a rather 
weak third spine that is longer than half head; 
pectorals reach the ventrals; ventrals are about 
equal to the pectorals, reaching or surpassing the 
anal; caudal deeply incised, while the lobes are 
rounded. Coloration in fresh specimen: 
yellowish brown, upper parts are dark brown, 
and each scale has a dark spot at the base; 
vertical fins have darkish colors, the others more 
or less hyahe. A blotch was also found at the 
end of the lateral line. All of these characters 
were found in every specimen collected from 
Lembung River, Madura Island (Fig. 2). 



BIOTROPLA Vol. 28 No. 3,2021 

Figure 2 Specimen of Cyclocheilichth_ys ajbogon captured on 23 March 2019 from Lembung River, Madura Island 

Distribution 

The discovery of C. apogon in the Lembung 
River, Madura Island, is the first record of this 
species beyond its type locality (mainland Java: 
Batavia, Buitenzorg, Ngawi, Surabaya and 
Pasuruan) (Weber & de Beaufort, 1916), and 
represents the easterly extension of its 
previously known distribution that is about 150 
km away (Fig. 3). 

This new record of native species 
Cyclocbeilichth_ys apogon in the Lembung River, 
Madura Island, whch is its first outside 
mainland Java is an important contribution in 
understanding species diversity and 
biogeography (Souto-Santos 2019). This new 
record of C. apogon has improved one's 
knowledge and understanding of the species 
particularly on its extended distribution range 
toward further northeast. 

Several studies on Indonesian freshwater 
fishes were focused on single rivers. Crossocheilzls 
obsczlrms was recorded in Sumatra (Tan & 
I<ottelat 2009), and on Batang Hari Basin 
(Tan & Kottelat, 2008). C. obscnm also observed 
on Musi Basin where the &stance between the 
location of the first and the second recording 
was more than 250 km (Iqbal e t  a l  (2017). The 
presence of C. apogon on Madura Island is 
probably due to the previous connection of 
Lembung River to East Sunda River during the 
last glacial era (Hanebuth et al. 2000; 
Sathamurthy & Voris 2006). The connection 
was then being cut off and Lembung River 
became isolated due to rising sea levels. Besides 
geological factors, the spread of freshwater 
fishes outside the mainland could occur due to 
human induced factors. 

Figure 3 Known distribution of Cyclocheidchthys apogon. Black square are the previous records of the species based on 
Weber and de Beaufort's (1916) observation, mainland Java. The Black triangle is the recent record on 
Lembung River, Madura Island 



Cyclocheilichth_ys qbogon on Madura Island - Hasan et aL 

CONCLUSION 

Cyclocbeilicht&r upogon is a Southeast Asian 
native freshwater fish that is not only found in 
mainland Java, but also in the island of Madura 
which is at the eastern end of Java. The 
existence of C. upogon in such a remote area is an 
added information on the distribution of 
freshwater fishes in Indonesia. 

REFERENCES 

Hanebuth T, Stattegger I<, Grootes PM. 2000. Rapid 
flooding of the Sunda Shelf: a Late-Glacial sea- 
level record. Science 288(5468):1033-5. 

Hasan V, Tamam MB. 2019. First record of the invasive 
Nile Tilapia, Oreocbromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 175 8) 
(Perciformes, Cichlidae), o n  Bawean Island, 
Indonesia. Check List 15(1):225-7. 
https://doi.org/ 10.15560/15.1.225 

Hubert N, Icadarusman, Wibowo A. 2015. D N A  
barcoding Indonesian freshwater fishes: challenges 
and prospects. D N A  Barcodes 3:144-69. 
https://doi.org/l0.l515/dna-2015-0018 

Iqbal M, Yustian I, Indriati W, Setiawan D, Setiawan A. 
2017. Crassocheihs obscums Tan & Kottelat, 2009 
(Teleostei, Cyprinidae): distribution extension and 
first record for Musi basin, South Sumatra, 
Indonesia. Check List 13(6):1121-4. 
https://doi.org/l0.15560/13.6.1121 

Kenthao A, Jearranaiprepam P. 2018. Morphometric 
Variations and Fishery Unit Assessment of 
Cyclacheilichth_ys qbogon (Actinopterigii: Cyprinidae) 
from Three-Different Rivers in North-Eastern 
Thailand. Pakistan Journal Zoology 50(1):111-22. 

Icottelat M. 2001. Fishes of Laos. Sri Lanka &I<): Wildlife 
Heritage Trust. 

Rainboth WJ. 1996. Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong. 
F A 0  Species Identification Field Guide for 
Fishery Purposes. Italy (IT): FAO. 

Pubellier M., Morley CK. 2014. The basins of Sundaland 
(SEAsia): Evolutionand boundary conditions: 
Marine and Petroleum Geology 58:555-78. 

Roberts TR. 1993. The freshwater fishes of Java, as 
observed by Kuhl and van Hasselt in 1820-1823. 
Zoologische Verhandelingen 285:l-94. 

Sathiamurthy E, Voris HK. 2006. Maps of Holocene sea 
level transgression and submerged lakes o n  the 
Sunda Shelf. The Natural History J Chulalongkorn 
University 2:l-44. 

Souto-Santos ICA, Ferraro GA, Jennings WB, Vergara 
GLS, Buckup PA. 2019. Geographic distribution 
of Phallocems eigenmann, 1907 (Cyprinodontiformes, 
Poeciliidae) in the Ilha Grande Bay Hydrographic 
Region, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Check List 
15(1):181-92. https://doi.org/10.15560/15.1.181 

Stein JA, Shultz AD, Cooke SJ, Danylchuk AJ, Hayward 
I<, Suski CD. 2012. The influence of hook size, 
type, and location o n  hook retention and survival 
of angled bonefish (Albula uzllpes). Fisheries 
Research 113:147-52. 

Voris HK. 2000. Maps of Pleistocene sea levels in 
Southeast Asia: shorelines, river systems and time 
durations. Journal of Biogeography 27(5):1153-67. 

Weber MCW, de Beaufort LF. 1916. The fishes of the 
Indo-Australian Archipelago 111, Ostariophysi: I1 
Cyprinoideaapodes, Synbranchi. Netherlands (NL): 
Brill.