New observations of the endangered giant freshwater whipray, Urogymnus polylepis, provide further evidence for its distribution and breeding in the north-east coast of India.

The present study reports observations of 13 giant freshwater whipray (Urogymnus polylepis) from commercial fish landings along the north-east coast of India and updates existing records based on field observations and local social media reports. The disc width of the landed specimens ranged from 120 to 223 cm and they weighed 95-300 kg. All 13 specimens observed were mature (nine females and four males) and three females were pregnant, with embryo numbers ranging between 4 and 15. Globally, U. polylepis is listed as 'Endangered', and greater protection measures are needed in India to assist in reversing current population declines.

Seasonal abundance and composition of finfish and shellfish seeds inmangroves of Gangolli estuary, off south-west coast of India.

The composition and seasonal abundance of the fin and shellfish seeds in mangrove areas of Gangoli estuary were studied for one year from January to December, 2013. Monthly day time sampling was conducted with a rectangular dragnet of 75 m2 length having 5 mm mesh size. The mean monthly density was highest in January (Avg. of 12,996/haul) and lowest during May (Avg. of 859/haul). Thirty species of fish, four species of shrimps and two species of crabs belonging to 26 families were recorded during the study. Ambasis sp., Feneropenaeus indicus, Etroplus suratensis,Leognathus sp., Liza sp., Stolephorus vaganensis, Hemiramphus sp., Terapon sp. and Gerres sp. were the most abundant species/taxa. A total of 10 commercially important species comprising F. indicus, Etroplus suratensis, Liza sp., Gerres sp.,Siganus sp., Lutjanus russei, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Lutjanus argentimaculatus, Sillago sp. and Penaeus monodon constituted 8.5% (April, 2013) to 93.7% (October, 2013) with an average of 37.2% of the total fish and shellfish seeds. Higher Species diversity (H') and Species richness (D) was recorded during January. The result of the present investigation gives an insight of the abundance and seasonality of commercially important fish and shellfish seeds, which may facilitate the brackishwater fish farmers to exploitthe seeds more pragmatically for their culture practice.