Carangids

Carangids occupy 9th position with a production of 1.11 lakh tonnes, constituting 4.1% of 2.7 million t of marine fish production in India during 2000. Among the pelagic fishery resources, carangids constitute the fourth important resource and rank next to oil sardine, ribbonfishes and mackerel. This resource is comprised mainly of horse mackerels, round scads, queenfishes, trevallies, leatherjackets and pompanos and has emerged as one of the important resources especially in the mechanised sector. As many as 35 and odd species belonging to 21 genera have been observed to support the carangid fishery along the Indian coast and other species occur in stray catches. Small growing species like Selaroides leptolepis attain a maximum of 185 mm where as queenfishes and jacks grow to 1-2 m. The smaller species usually occur in large schools in shallow waters. Owing to the recent approach of value addition the economic importance of small sized carangids have also increased considerably. Considering the economic and commercial importance of this resource, a detailed account on the fishery, biology and stock assessment of 11 species have been reviewed