Studies on the age and growth of the malabar sole, Cynoglqssus semifasciatus, Day

Abstract

For the development of a scientific management policy for any fishery, it is essential to know among other things, the rate of growth of the species concerned and the changes in the age-composition of its stocks from season to season and from year to year. The present paper deals with the results of investigations which were designed to collect information on these two aspects in relation to the Malabar sole, Cynoglossus semifasciatus. Although this forms a valuable fishery along the Malabar Coast no attention has been paid in the past to a detailed investigation of its biology. There are however, brief general references to certain aspects of this species by Chidambaram and Venkataraman (1946) and Devanesan and Chidambaram (1948) in their accounts of the fisheries of the West Coast of Madras State. A detailed study of the fishery and biology of this species has been carried out by the present authors at Calicut and a short note forming part of this work has recently been published (1951) on the possibility of age determination in this species by means of scales.