Due to increased fishing activity, catches of larger species and individuals decrease. Behaviour, reproductive biology and life history data are fundamental to determine vulnerability to fishing. Groupers (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) are valuable targets for fisheries in many parts of the world but are highly susceptible to heavy and unregulated fishing. For many regions, biological information on groupers necessary for management purposes is still scarce. The North Andhra region, central east coast of India, has been the centre for a variety of fishing activities for a long time. Many species of groupers are landed by a variety of gears at fishing harbours and nearby fishing villages of this region. The present paper incorporates data on species diversity and length groups represented in the catches, results of length-weight relationship studies, length at first maturity, and fecundity of grouper species belonging to two genera, Cephalopholis and Epinephelus, that are represented in the commercial catches of this region. The consideration of length at first maturity and fecundity estimations is a very important prerequisite to prevent exploitation and detrimental effects for these fisheries resources.

Grouper species of Epinephelus - E. epistictus, E. heniochus, E. latifasciatus, E. magniscuttis and E. radiatus exhibit overlapping colour pattern that often leads to misidentification in the field. Even the colour pattern of juveniles of these species in different size groups varies considerably with that of adults. DNA barcoding of these five species was carried out to reinforce our knowledge on existing taxonomic relationships derived based on morphological and biochemical genetic studies that were previously done from Indian waters. Mean interspecific genetic distance is in the range 0.079-0.164.The phylogeny tree revealed distinct clades for species that are in concurrence with previous taxonomic and allozyme electrophoretic studies carried out from central eastern coast of India. Barcode sequences generated for the first time for species E. heniochus from Indian waters for E. magniscuttis so far there are no reference sequences in GenBank.

Abstract

We examined the reproductive biology of sawcheek scorpionfish, Brachypterois serrulata, collected from Visakhapatnam fish landing center (fishing area covered 16. 98°-20.20°N, 82.19°-86.53°E). We studied the annual reproductive cycle, fecundity, size at first maturity, mode of spawning with periodical changes and histological preparations. Size distribution and size at sexual maturity were calculated as 108 mm TL for females. The mean gonado somatic index values of female increased rapidly from January to December, and reached its peak during January and February. The fecundity of the fish species is determined by the size and weight of the individuals. The fecundity varied from 1896 to 20,488, with an average of 5721.90 ova.

Based on two specimens of the flasher scorpionfish, species of Scorpaenopsis macrochir Ogilby, 1910 (85-96 mm, TL) collected from the Visakhapatnam coastal waters, India, we described S. macrochir as the new record from Indian waters. This species is characterized by having 12 dorsal spines, medial surface of pectoral fins with a black subterminal band along entire margin of fin; supraorbital spine ending in a single spinous point and unserrated ocular spines. Nasal spines usually divided into two to six small points. The present study describes full description of the species with illustrations.