Annotated Checklists of Lethrinid Fishes from Thoothukudi Coast, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The Gulf of Mannar and wadge bank has well organised fishery trend for Major Perches. In Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi was considered as important fishing region with a coast length of 163.5 km which falls on part of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. Lethrinus fish species contributes around 34% among the major perches landed in Thoothukudi coast. Lethrind group fishes are well known as Pigface Breams or Emperor Fishes. They belongs to the suborder Percoidei, which containing many families whose inter relationships are understood poorly. This checklist will provide baseline data for the further research on lethrinid fishery the study describes the species landed from the ecosystem based on fishing gear, landing centre and seasonal occurrence.