The first report on the occurrence of Dactyloptena peterseni (Nyström, 1887) (Dactylopteriformes; Dactylopteridae) in the northern Arabian Sea

The Family Dactylopteridae consists of beautifully colored flying and helmet gurnards. Their enlarged pectoral fins are week and used as a defense display or as a warning behavior (Breder, 1963). The anterior part of the large pectoral fin is used to pursuit food (Poss and Eschmeyer, 1999). The Dactylopterids are distributed widely on sandy bottoms in tropical, sub-tropical, and warm-temperate waters (Hubbs, 1933; Eschmeyer, 1986; 1990; Nelson, 1994; Owfi, 2021). These are non-commercial fishes, which mostly caught as by-catch during commercial trawling operations. The Family Dactylopteridae currently contains two genera, Dactylopterus and Dactyloptena. The genus Dactylopterus comprised of one species Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus, 1758), whereas the genus Dactyloptena comprised of six species Dactyloptena orientalis (Cuvier, 1829; Jordan and Richardson, 1908; Froese and Pauly, 2020), D. gilberti (Snyder, 1909), D. papilio (Ogilby, 1910), D. tiltoni (Eschmeyer, 1997), D. macracantha (Bleeker, 1855) and D. peterseni (Nystrom, 1887).