Studies on demersal fishes of the deep neritic waters and the continental slope 2 on Trichiurus auriga Klunzinger, with notes on its biology

Abstract

During the exploratory fishery surveys carried out from the deep neritic waters and the continental slope along the South West Coast of India, a species of ribbonfish (Family: Trichiuridae) hitherto not reported from the Indian seas was obtained. This species has been identified as the little known ribbon-fish Trichiurus auriga Klimzinger (1884) originally described from the Red Sea and subsequently reported only once from the Timor Sea. A re-description of this species along with a detailed comparison of its morphometric and meristic characters with related species is given here. A key to the identification of the seven known species of ribbon-fishes from the Indian seas is mcluded in addition to some aspects of the biology of T. auriga based on the material collected.