International Journal of Marine Science 2016, Vol.6, No.45, 1-7
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A perusal of literature (Weber & de Beaufort, 1929, 1941; de Beaufort & Chapman, 1951, Gunther 1859 Smith &
Heemstra, 1986, FAO Species identification Sheet Vol.I, 1983) indicates the occurrence of the species in the
Indo-West pacific from East Africa to Japan and South to Northern Australia. In India, though known from the
west coast its bathy demersal fish is recorded for the first time from east coast as per no previous records are available.
The maximum size of the fish as reported (Gunther, 1859) is 20cm that usually occurs in the depth range of
100-500m and minimum population doubling time reported to be 1.4 – 4.4 years (Assuming T
max
x >3 years).
In the present study, an attempt has been made to define identification characteristics and characterizing its
population by studying its morphometric, meristic and size distribution etc.
Material and Methods
The specimens of
A. japonicum
representing different size ranges was obtained from the survey vessels deployed
for bottom trawling; particularly during the cruises of MFV. Matsya Jeevan, MFV. Samudrika, and MFV. Matsya
Shikari which are the trawlers of 36.5m (OAL), 28.8m (OAL) and 39.5m(OAL) respectively from the years
1998 - 2012.
The species was record at a depth of 130-131m about 14 nautical miles (kn) off Vatturupallepalem, Andhra
Pradesh between the Lat. 14°56’N / Long. 80°20.7’E and Lat. 14°52’N/ Long. 80°19’E in a single haul with
trawling duration of 1.5 hours resulted in a catch of 65kg. A random sampling collected from the total of 450
specimens. Measurement of total length (TL) varied from 5 to 14cm. The species recorded off Kalingapatnam by
Matsya Shikari was utilized for biological studies. In the west coast of India, the survey vessel Matsya
Nireekshani a combination trawler of 40.5m (OAL) recorded a total of 583 specimens, ranging from 5 to 12.5cm
with the total length sampled at random from the depth between 74 and 85m, in the area between Lat. 20°.00’N /
Long. 70°56’N and Lat. 22°14’N / Long.68°08’E.
The length frequency data sampled from east and west coast that approximately follows the so called Gussian
Distribution. The mathematical expression for the Gussian Distribution used in the present study
…… (1).
Different morphometric and meristic characters of the 52 sampled specimens were studied following the standard
least square method described by Snedecor (1967), Laevastu (1965) and followed by many worker viz., Dwivedi
and Menezes (1974), Chondar (1974), Sivaraj and Dwivedi (1982), Acharya and Dwivedi (1984), Gulati and
Acharya (2001) etc.
The regression of the morphometric characters (Y) viz., fork length, standard length, body depth, head length,
length of the caudal peduncle, taking the total length as the independent character (X) whereas, for the
morphometric characters viz., pre-orbital length, inter-orbital length and eye diameter, taking the Head length as
the independent character (X) were worked out, using the formula:
Y = a +
…… (2).
Where ‘Y’ is any dependent meristic character, ‘a’ and ‘b’ are constants.
The length-weight relationship was established by fitting equation of the form
W =
……. (3).
The length-weight relationship was established by fitting equation of Le Cren (1951).
Where ‘W’ is the weight of the fish (g) and ‘L’ its length (cm), ‘a’ and ‘b’ are the constants. The equation (3) was
expressed in the linear form by using logarithmic transformation as given below:
log = log + . log
…….. (4).
