Rare occurrence of deepsea snake mackerel off Nagapattinam coast in the Bay of Bengal

Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Smith, 1843) has a wide distribution in tropical and temperate seas of the world. The species is considered to be benthopelagic in occurrence between 200 and 1000 m, depth, and probably not reported to occur in the northern Indian Ocean. Balasubramanian (2007) reported on the occurrence of this species during 2004-06 in the landings of large meshed gillnets operated off Tuticorin coast in the Gulf of Mannar. A catch of 4 specimens of Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Fig. 1) belonging to the family Gempylidae (snake mackerels) were observed at Chennai Fisheries Harbour on 5.3.2009