Teleostei (teleosts) >
Scombriformes (Mackerels) >
Trichiuridae (Cutlassfishes) > Trichiurinae
Etymology: Trichiurus: Greek, thrix = hair + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; brackish; benthopelagic. Tropical; 21°N - 6°N, 76°E - 87°E (Ref. 6181)
Indian Ocean: east coast of India from Hooghly estuaries to Gulf of Mannar.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181); common length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6181)
Dorsal spines (total): 4; Dorsal soft rays (total): 116 - 129; Anal soft rays: 85. Body extremely elongate, compressed and tapering to a point. Pelvic and caudal fins absent; anal fin reduced to minute spinules. Anterior margin of the pectoral-fin spine serrated. Fresh specimens bright silvery white with semi-transparent dorsal- and anal-fin membranes; body becomes darker in formalin.
Benthopelagic to pelagic, in coastal waters and estuaries, comes often near the surface at night. Feeds on a wide variety of small fish and crustaceans. Caught mainly with shore seines, bag nets and coastal bottom trawls, mixed with other trichiurids in catches on the east coast of India. Marketed fresh and dried salted.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Nakamura, I. and N.V. Parin, 1993. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 15. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes,. scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(15):136 p. (Ref. 6181)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5020 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00191 (0.00078 - 0.00466), b=3.12 (2.91 - 3.33), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 4.0 ±0.66 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
