Field Identification of Tunas from Indian Waters

The Family Scombridae is one of the largest and most economically important fish family which comprises of most advanced scombroid fishes such as mackerels, tunas and bonitos with 54 valid species in 15 genera (Collette et al., 2001). Among them, tunas are one of the important food fishes exploited all over the world. Altogether 9 species in 6 genera are contributing to the Indian tuna fisheries. Indian tunas are classified into two categories such as (i) Coastal tuna and (ii) Oceanic tuna. Euthynnus affinis, Auxis thazard, A. rochei, and Sarda orientalis are considered as coastal tuna where as Thunnus albacares, T. obesus, T. tonggol, Katsuwonus pelamis, and Gymnosarda unicolor are mostly oceanic in nature

केरल में सीबास लाटस कालकारिफर का कारीगरी पिंजरा पालन

कृपया पूरा लेखा पढ

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

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

Indiscriminate exploitation of juvenile black pomfret by ring seines along Kerala coast

Black pomfret, Parastromateus niger is an highly esteemed food fish with a very good demand in local and export markets. Unusual heavy landings of juvenile black pomfret was observed at the Kalamukku Landing Centre on 22nd and 23rd August 2016. On 22nd August, a big shoal of about 2 tonnes (t) of juvenile black pomfret was caught by one mechanised inboard (280 HP engine) ring seine unit. Similarly, on 23rd August about 1.25 t of juvenile black pomfret was landed by two mechanised inboard ring seine units with 440 HP engine power

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

भारतीय जलक्षेत्र से ट्यूना की क्षेत्रीय पहचान

भारतीय जलक्षेत्र से ट्यूना की क्षेत्रीय पहचा

Multiday fishing during southwest monsoon along the Kerala coast

In 2015, the uniform Monsoon Fishing Ban along the west wast was promulgated for a period of 61 days by the Government of India, but was observed only for 47 days (June 15th - July 31st) in the state of Kerala. The traditional fishermen operating artisanal crafts as well as motorized fishing crafts with outboard motors (OBM) were permitted to operate in the territorial waters during this period. The major gears that operated during this period in the past years were ring seines. During the monsoon, the sea is very rough making it difficult for even experienced fishermen to go fishing

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