Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

A new distributional record of bramble shark Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) from the seamount of Lakshadweep Islands with description on skeletal rings

Volume 55 Issue 2

S. Ramachandran, A. E. Ayoob and P. P. Koya

doi: 10.6024/jmbai.2013.55.2.01787-05

Abstract

A female bramble shark Echinorhinus brucus (1175mm TL) was caught in the bottom set perch line operated by the fishing boat “Museum” belonging to the Department of Fisheries, UT of Lakshadweep during it’s regular exploratory survey on the seamount of Kavaratti Island in the month of May 2011. The area of operation was at Lat.10°33.08 N; Long.72° 39.3 E off Kavaratti at the depth of 66-165m during night fishing. Despite the fact that, this species was reported from various landing centres of India and although its distribution range includes the Lakshadweep seas the present paper is the first report that confirms its distribution in the seamounts of the Lakshadweep Islands. The paper also describes the skeletal rings of the lateral line in this species for the first time.

Keywords

Echinorhinus brucus, skeletal ring, Lakshadweep Island.

Date : 28-02-2014