''Pempheris mangula'', the black-edged sweeper, Moluccan sweeper or black-margin bullseye is a species of

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

from the family

Pempheridae Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xan ...

. The history of the identification of the Indo-Pacific sweepers is complex and this species has been identified as the ''"

Pempheris vanicolensis ''Pempheris vanicolensis'', the Vanikoro sweeper or greenback bullseye is a species of Indo-Pacific fish from the family Pempheridae, the sweepers. Description ''Pempheris vanicolensis'' has a compressed body which is deepest at the origin of th ...

"'' which has colonised the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea via the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

by Lessepsian migration but this identification is not universally accepted.

Description

''Pempheris mangula'' has a

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

consisting of 49-60 pored scales with 4.5-5.5 scale rows above lateral line; 14-18, normally 16, scales around the caudal peduncle. Only the tip of the dorsal fin is blackish. The very large eye has a diameter which is equal to 13.0-15.3% of the standard length and 43.6-51.5% of the head length. The deep body is 44.6-49.1% of the standard length in depth. The flans are usually marked with irregular faint longitudinal light stripes. It also has 6 spines and 9-10 soft rays in the dorsal fin while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

has 3 spines and 34-42 soft rays. It has a count of 25 vertebrae.

Distribution

''Pempheris mangula'' has been said to have a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the eastern coast of Africa and Madagascar to the north western coast of Australia as far south as New South Wales, but being absent from the South China Sea and the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...

. It is also been claimed to be the species of sweeper which has colonised the eastern Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal but see Taxonomy section below. In the Mediterranean it was first recorded in 1979 off Lebanon. It has reached as far as the coast of Libya and the Aegean Sea.

Biology

''Pempheris mangula'' is normally a solitary species which spends the day in caves or under overhangs in coral reefs. It is a nocturnal species which feeds on zooplankton in open waters at night. The spawning season of this species is shorter in the Mediterranean, where it lasts from April to September, whereas spawning is year round in the Red Sea. They prey mainly on the larval and adult stages of planktonic crustaceans. They depart from their daytime shelters at dusk and congregate nearby before moving inshore where they disperse into small groups to feed. Prior to sunrise, they reassemble near the entrance to their shelter, so they can go in it at first light, once the school has sufficient numbers.

Taxonomy

There is some debate around the true limits of ''Pempheris mangula'' and originally the sweepers which were identified as Lessepsian migrants in the Mediterranean Sea were identified as ''P. vanicolensis'' but then it was proposed that that species does not occur in the Red Sea, ''P. mangula'' was then stated to be the Red Sea species which had colonised the Mediterranean. Other workers have stated that ''P. mangula'' is an eastern Indian Ocean species, found no further west than the east coast of India and that the Red Sea members of the genus ''Pempheris'' are '' P. flavicycla'', '' P. rhomboidea'' and '' P. tominagai'', and that the Mediterranean invader is ''P. rhomboidea''.

Fishbase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

still treats ''P. rhomboidea'' as a synonym of ''P. mangula''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1860447

mangula Mhangura (formerly Mangula) is a small town and former mining community in the Doma District of Mashonaland West Province, in northern Zimbabwe. Geography It is located northwest of Harare. The name was probably derived from the Shona ...

Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier