Diversity and Taxonomical Identification of Rays in Pondicherry (Puducherry) Coastal Waters

Abstract

India is one of the leading elasmobranch-fishing countries, with catch data exhibiting a continuous decline in landing over the last two decades. Elasmobranch research is limited in India despite its rich diversity, long history, and huge fishery. The present study was carried out for a period of 18 months from November 2019 to April 2021 in four landing centres of Pondicherry coastal waters. Totally seven rays were recorded, belongs two order and four families. Due lack of data on diversity of rays and taxonomy, the present research work was carried out.