Record sized Alepes vari and Nematalosa nasus

The herring scad, Alepes vari is a common pelagic fish species in the family carangidae. The species is the largest fish of the scad genus Alepes and maximum length so far recorded all over the world oceans is 560 mm TL (Froese & Pauly, FishBase 2016, http://www.fishbase.org.). During a regular field visit, an unusually large specimen of A. vari was recorded from Kalamukku Landing Centre, Kerala on 25th May, 2016. This was a male individual measuring 600 mm in total length (TL) and weighing 1.6 kg (Fig. 1)and was caught by hook and line. Young ones occasionally occur in pelagic trawls and larger ones rarely occur in gill net and hook and line catches

Sphyraena arabiansis a new species of barracuda (Family: Sphyraenidae) from the south-west coast of India

A new species of barracuda Sphyraena arabiansis is described based on specimens collected from the eastern Arabian Sea off Kerala coast, India. The new species is morphologically similar to Sphyraena barracuda and both were so far considered as one species. Characters such as more and relatively small cycloid scales, 118-122 along lateral line, 11 along vertical axis above lateral line at first dorsal and 13 below the lateral line at anal origin; broad, round spoon shaped maxilla ending vertically below, before the anterior margin of the eye, narrow inter orbital area (4.2-5.13 in head length) and more prominent pointed paired central lobes of caudal fin make Sphyraena arabiansis sp. nov. clearly distinct from S. barracuda. Other distinguishing characters are prominent curve of the lateral line before the origin of first dorsal fin, absence of black spots on the body, white branchiostegal membrane, broad, thick and inwardly curved otoliths with round, blunt posterior end and an elongated, pointed anterior upper lobe. The mitochondrial Cytochrome oxidase C subunit 1 (COI) gene sequence studies revealed that the new species has distinct genetic divergence from S. barracuda and other species of the family occurring in the area

Rare occurrence of Bombay duck from Central Kerala

The occurrence of Bombay duck along south coast of India is very rare, especially Kerala coast. On 4th December, 2019, one specimen of Bombayduck, Harpadon nehereus measuring 252 mm in total length and weighing 114.5 g was landed at Chellanam landing centre, Kochi (9°47'56.8"N 76°16'32.2"E) by an outboard ringseiner unit operated at a depth of 30-50 m targeting Indian oil sardine. Morphometric and meristic characters of the specimen landed were recorde

Evolving market chains for Indian oil sardine

Indian oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps forms a major catch of traditional fisherman in Kerala throughout the year. After the peak landing of nearly four lakh tonnes in 2012, catches have showed a continuous decline to less than 50000 t in 2019. This trend has adversely affected the livelihoods of thousands of traditional fishermen. Oceanographic changes associated with El Niño has been identified as one of the reasons for this decline in sardine catches along the Kerala coas

Systematics, fishery and biology of the white sardine Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) exploited off Kerala, south-west coast of India

Landings of the white sardine Escualosa thoracata (Valenciennes, 1847) indicated a shift in their abundance from north-east to south-west coast of India and a sharp decline in the resource landings during the last decade along the entire range of its distribution. High local demand coupled with competitive price for the species might have led to overexploitation of this otherwise seasonal resources along the major areas of its abundance along the Indian coast. Detailed study on the systematics, fishery and biology of the species landed along Kerala coast was undertaken during 2015 and 2016. Stock assessment studies indicated near optimum fishing pressure on the resource along the Kerala coast

Length-weight relationships (LWRs) of Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Coryphaena equiselis (Linnaeus, 1758) from Southeastern Arabian Sea

This study reports the length-weight relationships of two dolphinfish species, namely Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus, 1758) and C. equiselis (Linnaeus, 1758) in the south-eastern Arabian Sea. Specimens in various length groups belonging to both the species were collected between April 2012 and May 2017 from Kerala waters, south-west coast of India. The fishes were caught by hook and line (hook no: VI-X) and drift gill net (mesh size: 90-160 mm). The length-weight relationships were established as TW = 0.0217FL2.786 (r2= 0.967) for C. hippurus and TW = 0.0183FL2.891 (r2=0.993) for C. equiselis

Abnormalities in Indian oil sardine

Routine sampling of Indian oil Sardine, Sardinella longiceps, for biological studies was done . On 31st December, 2017, out of 61 specimens collected, one sardine with blunted snout (Fig. 1) and one with deformed caudal fin (Fig. 2) was observed

Unusual heavy landings of flying gurnards at Munambam Fishing Harbour

Flying gurnards belongs to the familyDactylopteridae, distributed in tropical Indo-Pacificand Atlantic oceans. From the 7 speciesrepresenting two genera, Dactylopterus andDactyloptena only four species such asDactyloptena gilberti, D. macracantha,D. orientalis and D. peterseni are found in thewestern Indian Ocean. These are small to moderatesized marine bottom dwelling fish and mostlycaught by bottom trawls as by-catch in the nearshore waters and not having much commercialvalue

Fishery trends of large pelagics along the Kerala coast

The estimated average annual landings of large pelagics in Kerala during 2013 -2019 was 35678 t, which formed about 16% of the national average landings of large pelagics of India. The average group wise contribution during 2013-2019 was mainly by tunas (54%), billfishes (15%), seer fishes (14%) and barracudas (8%). The peak fishery occurred during October to March with trawl nets, gill nets and hooks & lines employed. The mechanized, motorized and traditional sectors tap the resources which have demand in the domestic as well as export markets and a supply chain is well established. Appropriate management measures for sustainable utilization are flagged

Observations on fishery and biology of yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788) from Lakshadweep waters

The yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares is a high value oceanic resource for which targeted fishing was initiated in 2008 in Lakshadweep islands. Pole and line, troll line and drift gillnet are the major gears operated in the islands using traditionally designed mechanised Pablo boats of 25 to 34 feet overall length. Fishing operation is mainly practised during September to May. The estimated landing of total fish from three islands of Lakshadweep (Minicoy, Androth and Agatti) during January–December, 2011 was 1555 t, of which tuna contributed 83%. Maximum yellowfin tuna landing was recorded from Minicoy (84%) followed by Agatti (9 %) and Androth (7%). Smaller sized yellowfin tuna with fork length (FL) measuring 42-46 cm were observed throughout the year. Swarming crab, Charybdis smithii was the dominant food component with index of relative importance (IRI) of 87.5 followed by Auxis thazard (IRI - 5.3) and Cheilopogon sp. (IRI - 0.8). Since the inception of the World Bank aided National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), on ’Developing a value chain for oceanic tunas in Lakshadweep islands’, targeted fishing for yellowfin tuna has resulted in 37% increase in the landing of this species