Summary: | Due to difficulty in recognition, many true species have been covered under the synonyms of wide-spread species. To justify the identification of a widely distributed species, <i>Sillago sihama</i> from the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, an integrated approach including morphology and DNA barcoding was used. Two unrecognized species of <i>Sillago</i>, i.e., <i>Sillago</i><i>muktijoddhai</i> sp. nov. and <i>S</i>. <i>mengjialensis</i> sp. nov., were identified from the coastal area of Bangladesh. <i>S</i>. <i>muktijoddhai</i> sp. nov. has marked differences in the body color, anal fin color, number of gill rakers, snout length, and swimbladder. <i>S</i>. <i>mengjialensis</i> sp. nov. has notable differences in the anal fin color, snout length, and swimbladder and is distinguished from <i>S</i>. <i>muktijoddhai</i> sp. nov. by the body color and swimbladder. The morphological characters of 14 documented <i>Sillago</i> species with two posterior extensions of the swimbladder were referenced and distinguished to accredit the two new species. Genetic analyses of partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and 16S ribosomal RNA also supported the validity of the new species. This study has increased the number of recognized species of <i>Sillago</i> in the world and confirmed the prevailing misidentification of these two new species in Bangladesh as so-called <i>S</i>. <i>sihama</i>. Moreover, the study confirmed the misidentification of <i>S</i>. <i>mengjialensis</i> sp. nov. in Indonesia as <i>S</i>. <i>sihama</i> and the identification of unknown <i>Sillago</i> sp.1 in India.
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