Biology and Fishery of the Slipper Lobster; Thenus Orientalis, in India

Abstract

Commercially exploited, edible lobsters in India belong to the families Palinuridae and Scyllaridae, the latter representing only one species, Thenus orientalis (Lund 1793). The introduction of mechanized trawlers for fishing and the attractive prices that export of frozen rock lobster tail fetched in the early 1970s resulted in the exploitation of lobster resources on a commercial scale. Thenus orientalis found along both the east and west coasts of India formed and continues to sustain fisheries of importance along the northwest and southeast coasts, where their landings are mainly as by-catch of trawlers. India has a multispecies lobster fishery: T. orientalis dominates the fishery in Gujarat and northern Tamil Nadu, Panulirus polyphagus Herbst, 1793 dominates in Maharashtra, Puerulus sewelli Ramadan, 1938 dominates in Kerala and Panulirus ornatus Fabricius, 1798 and F! homarus Linnaeus, 1758 dominates in southern Tamil Nadu