A brief note on portunid crab, Charybdis (Goniohellenus) omanensis septentrionalis from southwest coast of India

Crustacean Fisheries Division of ICAR-CMFRI, has recently taken up a two year programme on experimental trawling using fishing vessel F.V. Silver Pompano. Samples were collected from different bathymetric stations off Kochi and Alappuzha during fortnightly intervals. Samples in the last fortnight of August 2016, collected at a depth of 65m off Alappuzha, included a good number of Charybdis (Goniohellenus) smithii along with fishes and other crustaceans. While segregating the samples of swarming crab C. (G.) smithii, approximately 5 kg of small sized Charybdis sp. was also collected. This species was not included in the earlier samplings of the programme as well as in the commercial fishery landings. Hence detailed studies were carried out and found the species is C.(G.) omanensis septentrionalis, a new record in the Indian seas