Five whale sharks Rhiniodon typus Smith, weie landed during April, 1988 at three centres on the southwest coast between St. Andrews in the Trivandrum district of Kerala and Colachel in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The five specimens were landed within 14 days within a coastal stretch of about 70 km caught from less than 15 m depth

Joel, J J

Lazarus, S

Philipose, K K

Vincent, S G

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MARINE FISHERIES INFORMATION SERVICE S- •-, / . No. 88 OCTOBER 1988 ^ecAfttccit a*u/ ^cc^ruH^n C^i ei^eo CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE COCHIN, INDIA INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH w ON FIVE WHALE SHARKS LANDED ALONG THE TRIVANDRUM-KANYAKUMARl COAST* Five whale sharks Rhiniodon typus Smith, weie landed during April, 1988 at three centres on the south-west coast bstween St. Andrews in the Trivandrum district of Kerala and Colachel in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Silas (Mar. Fish. Infor. Sen., T & E Ser., 66, 1986) has listed an exhaustive collection of reports on the landings of whale sharks in the Indian and adjacent waters. Along the west coast of India alone there have been at least 57 instances of wh;ch seven aie from the area covered in the present report. The first of the present records (Fig. 1), a 6.06 m long female specimen weighing about two tonnes, was from Panathura fish landing centre, 10 km south of Trivandrum. The shark got enclosed in a shore seine operated within a km from shore at a maximum depth of 15 m. The net suffered considerable damage while being dragged ashore by a large contingent of fishermen. • Reported by S. Lazarus, Jacob Jerold Joel, K. K. Philippose and S. G. Vincent, Vizhinjam Research Centre of CMFRI, Vizhin-jam. About 40 numbers of sucker fish (Echeneis sp.). were found attached on its body surface by their suckers. Their physical attachment was firm until the shark was brought to shore and the fishermen removed them. The body measurements (in cm) of the shark are given below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Total length Standard length Head length Width of mouth from angle to angle Vertical height of 1st dorsal fin Vertical height of 2nd dorsal fin Vertical height of anal fin Length of caudal fin: (i) along upper margin (ii) along lower margin (lower lobe) Snout to 1st dorsal Snout to 2nd dorsal Snout to pectoral Interspace between first and second dorsals Length of pectoral fin along outer margin 606 458 131 106 56 25 22 148 91 257 390 • 131 133 : 103 19 14. Length of pelvic fin 15. Length of 1st dorsal 16. Length of 2nd dorsal 17. Tip of snout to 1st gill slit Fig. I. Whale shark Rhiniodon typus Smith, caught at Panathura. The second instance was at St. Andrews, a fishing village near Thumba, which is about 15 km north of Trivandrum. This male specimen was encountered in 40 a shore seine on the same day at about 10 A.M. The 72 measurements collected were: length of upper caudal 29 lobe - 197 cm, length of lower caudal lobe - 127 cm 92.5 and height of caudal peduncle - 40 cm. The livei in both the cases was removed for extiacting oil and the rest, except for the caudal fins, was towed back and discarded in the sea. The other three specimens were landed on 18-4-1988 at 12.30 P.M. at Kottilpadu, a fishing village near Colachel. The only information about the specimens was from a Tamil daily ('Dinamalar' dated 20-4-1988) which reported that each specimen was 24 feet long and weighed 1,500 kg each. Satyanarayana Rao (Mar. Fish. In/or. Serv., T & E Sen., 66, 1986) has recorded five cases of whale shark landing within a span of 24 days in a 40 km stretch caught from 16 to 27 m depth in Dakshina Kannada coast. In the present case the five specimens were landed within 14 days within a coastal stretch of about 70 km caught from less than 15 m depth. 

On five whale sharks landed along the Trivandrum-Kanyakumari coast

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On five whale sharks landed along the Trivandrum-Kanyakumari coast

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