Abstract:Two specimens of gerreid fish were collected by trawl from Qiaogang, Beihai City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. These two specimens were identified as Gerres macracanthusBleeker, 1854 and represented the first record from the South China Sea. It could be distinguished by a combination of the following characteristics: Body compressed, oblong in shape, its depth 2.2 to 2.3 times in standard length. Dorsal and ventral profiles of body convex, and body deepest at the beginning of dorsal fin. Mouth small, protractible, pointing downward when protracted. Body covered with deciduous cycloid scales; scales on lateral line 41 to 43. Dorsal fin with IX spines and 10 soft rays, second spine laterally compressed and reducing to a filament, reaching the base of caudal fin when depressed; anal fin with Ⅲ spines and 7 soft rays, its third spine a bit more longer than the second anal-fin spine; pectoral fins long, tip of depressed fins reaching the first anal-fin spine; caudal fin deeply forked. Body silvery, with 7 to 10 blue-grayish dusky bands on upper half of sides, more apparent in juveniles. Dorsal fin hyaline except for the end of filamentous spine, which is black; anal, pectoral, and pelvic fins yellowish; caudal fin dusky yellowish, inner margins of two lobes of caudal fin dark, outer margin of lower lobe of caudal fin white.
