Over the past decades the numbers of Elasmobranchs have declined drastically worldwide, jeopardising the food security of some of the world’s less developed countries. The present study provides information about current status and diversity of batoids in gillnet fishery in northern coastal waters of Sri Lanka. The batoid landings were monitored monthly during the period from January to December, 2016. These fishes were mainly caught with bottom set gillnets operated frequently by Outboard Fibre Reinforced Plastic (OFRP) boats. The mesh size of the gillnet and net panels used varied from 2’-22’ and 6-15 pieces respectively. 26 batoid species belonging to two orders (Myliobatiformes and Torpediniformes) and five families viz., Dasyatidae, Myliobatidae, Mobulidae, Rhinobatidae and Narcinidae were recorded in commercial landings. Of the recorded families, higher number of species belonged to the family Dasyatidae and of that 55% were Himantura species. Females with pups were observed for the species of Gymnura micrura and Aetobatus narinari with disc width ranging from 40-55 cm and 75-110 cm respectively. The disc width for Gymnura micrura and Aetobatus narinari pups were 10-12 cm and 20-35cm respectively. The observation of high proportion of juveniles and sub adults of Rhinoptera javanica (Javanese cownose ray) indicates the presence of a nursery ground adjacent to Jaffna peninsula.

Batoidea, disc width, fishery, OFRP, rays