Sri Lanka
Checklist of Endemic Marine Fish Species
This list of marine fish species found exclusively in Sri Lanka is based on the taxonomy used in FishBase 2004 (2004). For further details on possible inaccuracies in the list see Sources & Caveats.
FishBase 2004: a global information system on fishes. DVD. WorldFish Center - Philippine Office, Los Banos, Philippines. Published in May 2004.
The current version of this electronic database is accessible here.
OC = a FishBase occurrence record suggests a specimen from another country outside normal stated range (these vary widely in reliability from obvious misidentifications to being almost certainly correct)
Paraploactis taprobanensis (Aploactinidae)
Parabothus polylepis (Bothidae) Manyscaled Flounder
Plectorhinchus ceylonensis OC (Haemulidae) Sri Lanka Sweetlips
Parascolopsis capitinis (Nemipteridae)
Scolecenchelys vermiformis (Ophichthidae)
Pseudochromis dilectus (Pseudochromidae) Sri Lankan Dottyback
Chlorurus rhakoura (Scaridae)
Aseraggodes ocellatus (Soleidae)
Helcogramma billi OC (Tripterygiidae)
Additional endemic marine fish species that were not included in FishBase 2004 are given below. This list is primarily based on information from the 13 March 2009 version of the Catalog of Fishes database (current version here) and includes species described through 2008. In addition to the 9 endemic marine fish species listed above, these additional 2 species total 11 species of marine fishes known solely from Sri Lanka.
Antennablennius ceylonensis (Blenniidae)
Helcogramma serendip (Tripterygiidae) 2007