Fishery of sand lobster Thenus orientalis (Lund) along Chennai coast

Abstract

The sand lobster Thenus orientalis formed a minor fishery supplementing the trawl catches along Chennai coast. The annual landings of the species during 1982-1999 varied between 6.7 and 114.6t, with the catch trend showing gradual progress leading to sharp rise in 1991-95 followed by moderate decline. Main fishery season extended over September-February, with peak abundance in monsoon months, October-November. Females were slightly larger among population, as the mean-size was 156.9 mm, against 153.6 mm for male. The L” was 298.25 mm and K, 0.2967/yr for female and 288.91 mm and 0.3216/yr for males, which worked out the growth performance of 4.422 and 4.426 for the respective sex. The overall sex-ratio of M:F was 46.3:53.7 and the minimum size at maturity of female was 105.5 mm. The species showed two major spawning spells around February-March and June-August and peak recruitments appeared during January-February and May-July.