Diversity and abundance of chondrichthian fishes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

Chondrichthian fishes are represented by sharks, rays and skates that form one of the important commercial fish fauna. The coral reef, offshore and mangrove habitats appear to be inhabited by numerous sharks and ray species, with 5% of fish species being recorded from these islands. This chapter presents a total of 65 species under 40 genera, distributed among 21 families in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with the development of shark fishing and providing new baseline data on diversity abundance, fishing effort and shark catches.