New Distributional Record of Triacanthus nieuhofii Bleeker, 1852 (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthidae) from Maharashtra, North West Coast of India

Background: Fishes of the family triacanthidae are highly diversified throughout the world, but studies on these fishes were very limited in India. Now a day’s catch of species belongs to this family increasing and showing new geographical distributions due to overfishing of top predators. Methods: Experimental fishing method was conducted by using the M.F.V Narmada-IV vessel of ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai. The vessel operated with a demersal trawl net with a cod-end mesh size of 30 mm. Spatial distribution map of the family Triacanthidae was generated from previous literature using the IDW interpolation method in Arc GIS 10.4. Result: New distributional record of silver tripodfish, Triacanthus nieuhofii Bleeker, 1852 was recorded for the first time from the Mumbai waters, northwest coast of India. Spatial map showing that the species of the family Triacanthidae were highly diversified along the east coast than the west coast of India