Sillaginids possess similar taxonomic characters, which make the specific identification difficult, and many true species may be hidden in the synonymy of wide-ranging species. There are currently 36 valid species of sand whitings in the family Sillaginidae. Thirteen valid species are reported from Indian waters and six species are reported from the Arabian Sea. Investigations into the sillaginid diversity off the west coast of India revealed the presence of a species from the Arabian seawhich, on examination, proved to be very similar to the types of Sciaena malabarica. Based on conventional taxonomic analysis and DNA barcoding, we therefore raise Sillago malabarica (new combination) from the synonymy of S. sihama and re-describe it here. Distinctive characteristics of the species include XI-XII spines in the first dorsal fin; I, 21–24 rays in the 2nd dorsal fin; 3–4/7–8 gill rakers on 1st gill arch, Head length 25.2–30.4; Snout length 39.4%–46.8% HL; post-orbital length 34%–37.5% HL, 34 total vertebrae (abdominal: 13, haemal: 4 and caudal: 17); single sharp spine on the opercular edge; swim-bladder with eight or nine lateral processes extending from entire lateral surface of main body of swim bladder; golden silvery body, dorsal and anal fins hyaline, with yellow tips and the absence of a mid-lateral streak or dark bands. Apart from re described species S. malabarica, original S. sihama is also recorded from Indian waters, in our studies.

新罗非鱼具有相似的分类学特征，这使得很难进行具体鉴定，而且许多真实物种可能隐藏在大范围物种的同义词中。Sillaginidae科目前有36种有效的沙白种。印度水域报告了13种有效物种，阿拉伯海报告了6种。对印度西海岸的喜马拉雅物种多样性进行的调查显示，存在来自阿拉伯海的一种物种，经检查，该物种与马拉西亚的夏亚埃纳（Sciaena malabarica）的类型非常相似。因此，在常规分类学分析和DNA条形码的基础上，我们从S. sihama的同义词中产生了Sillago malabarica（新组合）并在这里重新描述。该物种的显着特征包括第一背鳍中的XI-XII棘。I，第二背鳍中有21–24射线；第一st弓上有3–4 / 7–8 ill耙，头长25.2–30.4；鼻子长度39.4％–46.8％HL；眼眶后长34％–37.5％HL，椎骨总数34个（腹部：13，血：4，尾：17）；眼睑边缘有一条锋利的脊柱；从游泳膀胱主体的整个侧面延伸出八个或九个侧向突起的游泳膀胱；体呈金色银色，背鳍和臀鳍透明，有黄色尖端，没有中外侧条纹或黑带。除了重新描述的物种S.木棉，原S. sihama也从印度水域的记录，在我们的研究。