Rare fish species caught off Karwar coast

Karwar: Facing trouble due to fish famine at sea, fishermen had a surprise catch of rare fish species off Karwar on Wednesday. The three rare species caught were spotted mackerel, yellowfin tuna and sharksucker.
Fishermen said each spotted mackerel weighs somewhere between 150 and 180kg. These are less in demand among consumers, they said. Shivakumar Haragi, professor, Karnatak University’s marine zoology department, said spotted mackerel are rare in the west coast of India. “The scientific name of spotted mackerel is Scomber Indicus and their population is very less,” he said.
Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus Albacares) can grow up to 2m and its maximum weight recorded is 200kg. “Their life span is up to 9 years,” Shivakumar said. The scientific name of sharksucker is Echeneis Naucrates.
Fisherman Vinayak Harikantra said it is difficult to catch these species even once in 5 years.