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Not AvailableLength–weight relationship (LWR) was estimated for 12 elasmobranch species; five shark species, four species of rays and three species of guitar fishes from north- eastern Arabian Sea, India. Five major landing centres of Maharashtra were selected; Satpati (Lat. 19°43′15′′N, Long. 72°42′00′′E), Naigaon (Lat. 19°19′32′′N, Long. 72°48′54′′E), Versova (Lat. 19°08′33′′N, Long. 72°48′11′′E), New ferry Wharf (Lat. 18°57′29′′N Long. 72°51′01′′E) and Sassoon dock (Lat. 18°54′42′′N, Long. 72°49′33′′E). Samples were collected fortnightly during August 2016 to October 2017 from various gears; drift gill nets (Hung length 114–143 m and #100–270 mm) off Satpati coast at 35–50 m depth, dol nets (length 50–65 m and cod end # 30–69 mm) in Naigaon at 38–50 m depth and trawl (length 33–72 m and cod end # 17–32 mm) in Versova, New ferry Wharf and Sassoon dock operated at 20–50 m depth. Multiday fishing was carried out with 2–3 fishing trips in a month, each trip with duration of 7–13 days. Soaking time of gill net and dol net varied from 4 to 8 hr while each trawl haul lasted for 3–4 hr. Length–weight/Disc-width-weight relation-ship showed good fit with r2 values varying from 0.818 to 0.999. In addition to infor-mation on LWR, new maximum size for three species of elasmobranchs is reported in this paper.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableBackground: Fishes of the family triacanthidae are highly diversified throughout the world, but studies on these fishes were very limited in India. Now a day’s catch of species belongs to this family increasing and showing new geographical distributions due to overfishing of top predators. Methods: Experimental fishing method was conducted by using the M.F.V Narmada-IV vessel of ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai. The vessel operated with a demersal trawl net with a cod-end mesh size of 30 mm. Spatial distribution map of the family Triacanthidae was generated from previous literature using the IDW interpolation method in Arc GIS 10.4. Result: New distributional record of silver tripodfish, Triacanthus nieuhofii Bleeker, 1852 was recorded for the first time from the Mumbai waters, northwest coast of India. Spatial map showing that the species of the family Triacanthidae were highly diversified along the east coast than the west coast of India.Not Availabl

Troubled waters: Threats and extinction risk of the sharks, rays and chimaeras of the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters

The extinction risk of sharks, rays and chimaeras is higher than that for most other vertebrates due to low intrinsic population growth rates of many species and the fishing intensity they face. The Arabian Sea and adjacent waters border some of the most important chondrichthyan fishing and trading nations globally, yet there has been no previous attempt to assess the conservation status of species occurring here. Using IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria and their guidelines for application at the regional level, we present the first assessment of extinction risk for 153 species of sharks, rays and chimaeras. Results indicate that this region, home to 15% of described chondrichthyans including 30 endemic species, has some of the most threatened chondrichthyan populations in the world. Seventy‐eight species (50.9%) were assessed as threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable), and 27 species (17.6%) as Near Threatened. Twenty‐nine species (19%) were Data Deficient with insufficient information to assess their status. Chondrichthyan populations have significantly declined due to largely uncontrolled and unregulated fisheries combined with habitat degradation. Further, there is limited political will and national and regional capacities to assess, manage, conserve or rebuild stocks. Outside the few deepsea locations that are lightly exploited, the prognosis for the recovery of most species is poor in the near‐absence of management. Concerted national and regional management measures are urgently needed to ensure extinctions are avoided, the sustainability of more productive species is secured, and to avoid the continued thinning of the regional food security portfolio