Occurrence of Loliolus hardwickei (Gray,1849) from southwest coast of India

A single specimen of the little Indian squid Loliolus hardwickei was caught by trawl net bythe research vessel “F.V Silver Pompano” on 18th March 2014. It was caught from waters off Cochin at a depth of about 20 m (09°58´30´´N;76°06´18´´E). The specimen was previously described as Loliolus investigatoris(Goodrich,1896). Nevertheless, it is now reported that Loliolus investigatoris is a junior synonym of Loliolus hardwickei.This species is known to inhabit estuarine and coastal waters to a maximum depth of 30 m (FAO species catalogue for Fishery purposes, Cephalopods of the World No.4, Vol.2, 2010). The current specimen was 56.8mm in length and had weight of 13.39 g