Some aspects of the biology of the ribbon fish Trlchiurus haumela (Forskal)

Abstract

Ribbon fishes of the genus Trichiurus occupy an important place among Indian marine fishes judged by the magnitude of the fishery they support. Delsman (1926) gave an account of six kinds of eggs and larvae of this genus from Java Sea. Chacko (1950) reported the occurrence of eggs and larvae of T. (?) savala from waters around Krusadai Island. Tang and Wu (1936) published a preUminary note on the spawning ground of T.Japonicus in Poi-hai, Gulf of ChihU. Prabhu (1950) gave a short account of the breeding habits of T. haumela. Venkataraman (1944) and Chidambaram and Venkatraman (1946) dealt with the feeding habits and natural history respectively. Jacob (1949) published some notes on their bionomics. In a detailed work on the food and feeding relationships of the fishes of Singapore, Tham Ah Kow (195Q) has described the feeding habits of T. haumela. Recently Vijayaraghavan (1951) has published the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the stomach contents of T.haumfk and T.sayala at Madras. Mahadevan (1950) has described the histology of the alimentary tract of Thgmiela. Devanesan and Chidambaram (1948) have enumerated in a brief account, certain points of fisheries interest in these species in the Madras State. With a view to obtaining accurate information on the fishery biology of T. haumela, the most common Madras species, a detailed investiga- tion on this species was taken up at Madras during 1947-49 and the results obtained were supplemented, by further observations during subsequent years.