Protonibea diacanthus (Lacepède, 1802)
Blackspotted croaker
photo by Randall, J.E.

Family:  Sciaenidae (Drums or croakers)
Max. size:  165 cm TL (female); max.weight: 23 kg; max. reported age: 8 years
Environment:  demersal; brackish; marine; depth range 5 - 100 m
Distribution:  Indo-West Pacific: west coast of the Persian Gulf and along the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, north to Japan and south through the Philippines and Borneo to New Guinea and northern Australia.
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 10-11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 22-25; Anal spines: 2-2; Anal soft rays: 7-7. 7-8 gill rakers on the lower limb of the first arch.
Biology:  Found in coastal waters over muddy bottoms, off the sea-bed. Ascend tidal rivers and estuaries (Ref. 9772). Feed mainly on crustaceans and small fishes. Also caught with bottom trawls (Ref. 9772). Sold fresh and dried salted (swim bladder) in markets. An important food fish. Minimum depth range based on occurrence (Ref. 118911).
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT); Date assessed: 30 July 2018 (A2b) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


Source and more info: www.fishbase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.