Mobulidae are zooplanktivorous elasmobranchs, found circumglobally in tropical, subtropical and temperate coastal waters. It comprises of two recognized species of manta rays (Manta spp.) and nine recognized species of devil rays (Mobula spp.). Although the reports of mobulid fishery in India were only from 1960s, however it was commercially exploited only after 2007 for their valuable gillrakers. Mobula diabolus, M. tarpacana, M. japonica, M. kuhlii, M. thurstoni, Manta birostris and M. alfredi are the seven species which contributes to mobulid fishery. White gilled Mobula tarpacana is highly targeted for its high priced gill raker which fetches upto Rs. 8,000 kg-1 in dry weight. Few mobulid species has already reached the IUCN Red list status. Thorough monitoring of mobulid fish exploitation level is essential in India. It is necessary to ensure standardized sampling and modelling methodologies to estimate the stock position of these fishes from Indian waters.

An atlas on the Elasmobranch fishery resources of India. Raje, SG and Sivakami, S and Mohanraj, G and Manojkumar, PP and Raju, A and Joshi, KK (2007) An atlas on the Elasmobranch fishery resources of India. CMFRI Special Publication , 95 . pp. 1-253. [img] Preview. ...

Twenty four species of Pandalid shrimps reported from the Indian waters, of which six genera (Chlorotocella, Chlorotocus, Chlorocurtis, Dorodotes, Heterocarpoides and Stylopandalus) are represented by single species each. The genera, Plesionika and Heterocarpus are represented by eleven and seven species respectively. Plesionika adensameri (Balss, 1914) a deep-sea shrimp hitherto unreported from Indian waters is recorded from west coast of India. Information on some biological aspects of few Pandalid shrimps from Indian waters is also reported in the present paper.

This manuscript deals with the Bent-fin Devil Ray Mobula thurstoni for its first time occurrence in the Andaman & Nicobar waters around the Indian EEZ which is a new locality record confirming the range extension of the species to the southeast of Bay of Bengal (the Andaman Sea). A female specimen of 318mm disc length and weighing 2.47Kg was caught by a multiday bottom trawler operated off North Bay and was landed at Junglighat fishing harbour, South Andaman. A detailed diagnostic description and morphometric measurements of M. thurstoni is provided. For the first time this species has been described from Indian waters and compared with the other related species, and so documenting its first occurrence in the Andaman & Nicobar waters.

Abstract Plesionika (Spence Bate, 1888) is the most species diverse genus in the family Pandalidae and has wide geographic distribution all over the world. Plesionika spinipes Spence Bate, 1888 is one of the most important shrimps in the commercial deep-sea shrimp trawl fleet in the southern coast of India. The present study confirms that all previous records of P. spinipes in Indian fishery correspond to the closely similar species P. quasigrandis Chace, 1985. A table of morphological characters separating both species is provided.