Cuttlefish is one of the commercially important

group of cephalopods caught by multi-night trawlers

along the coast of Karnataka. The catch rate of

cuttlefish in multiday trawlers varies from <5 kg/haul

during December-April period to 50-300 kg/haul

during the peak fishing season in August-

September

Dineshbabu, A P

SampathKumar, G

Sasikumar, Geetha

CMFRI Digital Repository

Marine Fisheries Information Service T&E Ser., No. 207, 2011 37which rarely frequent the inshore waters. Thisspecies is an important game fish in northern SouthAmerica (Fishbase). Reported to attain a size of75 cm, the adults of this species appear to be morestrictly oceanic when compared to the commondolphinfish, C. hippurus. This species is observedto form schools, which follow the moving boats andsometimes found to occur under floating objects inthe open sea. It is found to feed on small fishesand oceanic squids. Spawning occurs in oceanicwaters and the eggs and larvae are pelagic. Alwaysit is marketed in fresh condition and considered anexcellent food fish.Length measurements of the 15 specimenswere taken. The total length ranged between232 and 321 mm with an average size of289.9 ± 26.36 mm and weighed between 137 and251 g with an average weight of 202 g. Sex ratioof 25% for females and 75% for males  werenoticed. Most of the ovaries were observed to bein maturing stages.Fig. 1. Coryphaena equiselisFirst record of scalloped ribbonfish Zu cristatus (Bonelli, 1819) at ChennaiS. Mohan, S. Selvanidhi and S. RajapackiamMadras Research Centre of CMFRI, ChennaiA specimen of scalloped ribbonfish, Zu cristatus(Fig. 1.) was landed by trawlnet at Kasimedu FishLanding Centre at Chennai on 25.02.2009. This isthe first record of the species along the Chennaicoast. This specimen measured 75 cm in total lengthand weighed 408 g. The dorsal soft rays werecounted as 125. The colour of the fish was silvergrey but comparatively paler along the ventral region,dorsal fin scarlet; caudal fin reddish black. Thescalloped ribbonfish is reported to have a commondistribution along the coasts of Eastern Atlantic,South Africa, Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Indo-Pacific and  Eastern Pacific.Unusual catch rates of cuttlefish in a multiday trawlerGeetha Sasikumar, A. P. Dineshbabu and G. SampathkumarMangalore Research Centre  of CMFRI,  MangaloreCuttlefish is one of the commercially importantgroup of cephalopods caught by multi-night trawlersalong the coast of Karnataka. The catch rate ofcuttlefish in multiday trawlers varies from <5 kg/haulduring December-April period to 50-300 kg/haulduring the peak fishing season in August-September. On December 8, 2008, a multi-nighttrawler (15 m overall length) landed record catch ofFig. 1. Zu cristatusMarine Fisheries Information Service T&E Ser., No. 207, 20113819.8 t of cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis at MangaloreFisheries Harbour with an average catch rate of 990kg–1 haul. The trawling was done at a towing speed of2.5 knot between 5 am and 6 pm. The resource washauled from fishing grounds off Kaup from 55-60 mdepth in rocky areas. The bottom trawl was modifiedby providing 90-100 numbers of rubber sinkers of 75mm diameter in the footrope. The catch predominantlyconsisted of cuttlefish weighing above 1 kg (grade 1).Due to poor export demand, the cuttlefish auction ratewas only Rs. 70/ kg earning a revenue of Rs. 13.8lakhs for the catch.Cuttlefish landings in multiday trawler at MangaloreFisheries HarbourRare occurrence of the oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus along Chennai coastS. Mohan, S. Rajan and S. RajapackiamMadras Research Centre of CMFRI, ChennaiThe oil fish, Ruvettus pretiosus (Cocco, 1833)has a distribution in Mediterranean Sea; Antalaya Bayand also seem to have a wide distribution in tropicaland temperate seas of the world. The occurrence ofthis species is not so far reported from Chennai coastTable 1. Morphometric measurements (mm) of RuvettuspretiosusTotal length : 553Standard length : 440Snout to origin of Ist dorsal : 122Length of Ist dorsal fin : 185Head length : 133Snout to pectoral : 140Pectoral length : 73Body depth : 102Eye diameter : 25Sex : FemaleTotal weight : 1.030 kg.Fig. 1. Ruvettus pretiosusbut, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum and Ruvettuspretiosus belonging to the family Gempylidae havebeen reported from large meshed gillnets alongTuticorin coast in the Gulf of Mannar during2004-2006 by Balasubrmanian (2007). A specimenof R. pretiosus (Fig. 1 and 2) belonging to the familyGempylidae (snake mackerels), measuring 553 mmwith a weight of 1030 g was recorded from trawllandings at Chennai Fisheries Harbour in the first weekof March 2009. The trawler operated between 150and 200 m depth, at a distance of 250 - 300 km alongthe north-east towards the Nagapattinam coast. Theoil fish, R. pretiosus has a very rough skin, the scalesare interspersed with spinous bony tubercles and itsbody is uniformly dark blue in colour. Its stomach wasempty and the gonad was mature. The morphometricmeasurements of the specimen are given in Table 1.Fig. 2. Close up view of spine like scales of R. pretiosus

Unusual catch rates of cuttlefish in a multiday trawler

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Unusual catch rates of cuttlefish in a multiday trawler

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