Albinism in Engraved catfish from Northeast Arabian Sea

In Maharashtra, catfishes form 2.3% of fishery landings and is dominated by ariid catfishes. The major species supporting the fishery include Osteogeneiosus militaris, Plicofolis tenuispinis, P. dussumieri, Nemapteryx caelata and Netuma thalassina. In October 2018, two albino specimens of the Engraved cattfish Nemapteryx caelata (measuring 37 and 40 cm in Total Length, TL) was collected from the landings of a commercial trawler operated off Mumbai at 50 m depths (Fig.1). Though an estimated 2.7 tonnes of catfishes were landed in the same week, additional albino specimens were not observed. Albinism or lack of pigmentation is caused by a disorder in an enzyme that controls melanin metabolism. Albinism in marine fishes has been sparsely reported and documented and reports from India indicate most of them are from the northern Arabian Sea. Both albino specimens of the Engraved catfish N.caelata mentioned in the current report are retained in the museum collections of ICARCMFRI at Mumbai