Fishes belonging to the family Molidae, commonly

called as ocean sun fishes or head fishes and known

as 'Kakhida' locally, are frequently observed in the

trawl net landings at Bhidia fish landing centre of Veraval,

mostly during the post-winter months

Dineshbabu, A P

Kizhakudan, Joe K

Manojkumar, B

Thomas, Sujitha

CMFRI Digital Repository

iH^-d H:/!.'} Mil mi MARINE FISHERIES INFORMATION SERVICE 1947-1996 No, ln7 , . . T T ^ TECHNICAL AND b I c l c H i EXTENSION SERIES ^ r s ^ ^ ^^^ mVrh^^ CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES 3T5^STr=TlT?«rFT RESEARCH INSTITUTE ^ ' ^ F T , iTTTrT COCHIN, INDIA INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 877 A record of sun fish Mola mola from coastal waters at Veraval TABLE l. Morphometric measurements (in mm} of Mola mola caught at Veraval Particulars Fish specimens Total length Breadth at the middle region Weight (kg) Length of dorsal fin Length of anal fln (mm) Shout to anal fin insertion Snout to dorsal fln insertion Eye diameter-horizontal Eye diameter -vertical Pectoral fln base breadth Dorsal fln base breadth Anal fln base breadth Snout to Insertion of pectoral '" Length of gill slit Inter-orbital distance Dorsal fln tip to anal fin tip Pectoral fln length Eyeball to snout Sex Liver weight (g) Gut length (m) Gut lengthrbody length ratio 1 1,000 650 46 440 410 780 640 50 40 50 200 170 300 50 280 1500 140 150 Male 1000 2.29 2.39:1 2 870 620 40 430 400 660 560 50 40 50 150 160 300 50 260 1300 100 140 Male 1250 2.60 2.50 : 1 3 1,030 700 49 450 420 800 660 50 40 50 200 170 300 50 280 1500 140 150 4 900 750 43 400 400 660 610 50 40 45 160 160 280 50 260 1400 120 150 Vlait Marine Aquariiun at CMFRX Rescfurcb (^entre. VlztilK^axii In, Xrlvandrum, Kerala Bnjoy tbe'efpeciacuiar'Underwater Wonders 21 Fig. 1. Sunflsh MolaMola landed al veraval. Fif<. 2. One ol the speciiiR-ii-s being weighed. Fishes belonging to the family Molidae, commonly called as ocean s u n fishes or head fishes and known as 'Kakhida' locally, are frequently observed in the trawl net landings a t Bhidia fish landing centre of Vera-val, mostly during the post-winter months . Though they are known to occur widely in warmer oceanic regions and inhabi t open waters upto 200-300 m depth, the present report is on speciments caught from the coastal waters . These fishes occur either soli-tary or in small schools and are known for their peculi-Fig. 3. Sunflsh cut open showing the coiled intestine, gili chamber, gill lamellae and the sucker lisli. Fig. 4. The uncoiled intestine of Moia mola. Visit Marine Aquarium at CMFRI Research Centre, Vizhis\jam in Trivandrum, Kerala Bi^oy t h e Spectacular Underwater Wonders 22 ar drifting nature. Three general of this family have so far been Identified, namely, Ranzania, Masturus and Mala. Four male sun Jlshes, (Linnaeus, 1758) were caught by trawl nets operating off Veraval at 25-50 m depth in March 1997 (Figs 1-4). The morphometric mea-surements of the specimens are listed in Table 1. A sucker fish Remora sp. was found attached in the gill cavity (Fig. 3). The authors are thankful to the survey staff Ms. Y.D. Savarla, J.D. Vanvl and J.P. Polara and the field assistants for assisting In the course of the work. Reported by B. Manoj Kumar, Joe, K. Kozhakudan, Suji-tha Thomas and A.P. Dineshbabu, Veraval Research Centre of C.M.F.R.I., Veraval - 362 269, India. Since the occurrence of this species is reported for the first time along the Kakinada coast, few morphometric measurements recorded on the specimen in mm are given below : Total length Standard length Head length Snout to pectoral base Pectoral fin lengt 488 387 122 106 75 Dorswal fin length Pelvic fin length Anal fin length Fin ray counts : Dorsal : X+10, Anal : 11+9, Pecto-ral : 1+13, Pelvic : 1+5 209 64 85 Reported by N. Burajrya, Kakinada Research Centre of CMFRI, Kakinada - 533 004. a 881 BOOK REVIEW Title Editor Publisher Price ISBN Year of publication No. of pages Size Binding A Field Guide to the Seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands Mathew, D. Richmond The Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) L 20; $ 32 91-630-4594-X 1997 448 165 X 242 mm Paperback Since the UNCED declaration on "protection of the oceans and all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semi enclosed seas and coastal areas and protection, rational use and develop-ment of their living resources", there has been a growing awareness the world over to organise environmental conservation programme, to pre-serve the coastal biodiversity and the habitats, to encourage the development that minimise nega-tive impacts on coastal live support systems. As the zone Is of immense importance and diverse economic use to man, the marine nations reali-sed the priorities and as such developed many management plans. The book under review "A guide to the Seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean Islands" edited by Matthew, D. Richmond is first step to achieve the priortitles in ICZM plan. It is an excellent com-pilation of all sea shore/coastal related patterns, processes and biological diversities in the tropi-cal waters of Eastern Africa and Oceanic Islands presented through 448 papers, 154 colour plates and 8 colour maps. This book is the result of 6 years preparation and contribution of 48 authors from 14 countries. The complexity involved in the subject matter and their editing is admirable. Although the central theme of the book is the taxonomlc description of species occurring in the seashores and coastal habitats, the introduction spread over 39 pages provides valuable informa-tion on the problems, prospects and developmen-tal needs in the seashore for future generations. This introduction itself is the contributions of 9 authors and very briefly touches diverse aspects. Here the editor has carefully integrated all rele-vant geological, physical, chemical and biological processes that have taken place in the shore habi-tats like mangroves, sea grass beds, rocky shores and cliffs, lagoons, coral reefs, biodiversity and ecological interactions, the people and their histo-rical, social and economic background, liveli-hood activities like mangrove harvest, coral mining, coir rope manufacture, salt production, fishing, acqaculture of sea weeds, bathsponage, crustaceans molluscs and fishes; the traditional visit Marine Aquarium at CMFRI Research Centre. Viashti^am In Trivandnun. Kerala Knjoy the Spectacular Underwater Wonders 24 

A record of sun fish Mola mola from

coastal waters at Veraval

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A record of sun fish Mola mola from coastal waters at Veraval

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