Some aspects of spawning biology of Indian oil sardine Sardinella longiceps Valenciennes

Abstract

Although Homell (1910) made a few observations on the spawning habits and migratory movements of Indian oil sardine. Sardinella longiceps, the first concerted attempt to "understand its maturity and spawning habits and to delimit the spawning season can be said to have been made by Homell and Nayudu (1924). Following this, Devanesan (1943), while confirming some of the earlier findings, also contradicted certain others. Later, Nair (1953 & 1959) giving a detailed review of earlier investigations, did not agree with some of the observations of previous workers in addition to providing more information to our knowledge on the spawning habits of oil-sardine based on his study from 1948 to 1955. Since these authors had to divide their attention not only to administrative problems but also to various other aspects of biology of the fish at the same time, it is but natural that conclusions have been drawn with limited data at their disposal.