Oceanic squids - their distribution, abundance and potential in the EEZ of India and contiguous seas

FORV Sagar Sampada collected a good number of oceanic squids belonging to several families from the Indian EEZ and contiguous seas. Of these, the most important species was the purpleback flying squid Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis which forms a potential oceanic squid resource. This species was caught in pelagic trawl at depths up to.200-250 m from surface in the oceanic areas. Though the squid is known to be distributed throughout India's oceanic waters, it frequently occurred in comparatively more abundance, up to 318 squids per haul, in the northneastem Arabian Sea. There was wide variation in the size of this squid (from 20 mm to 472 mm), the largest individual weighing 4.5 kg. The diamondback squid Thysanoteuthis rhombus, the largest specimen of which measured 585 mm in length and 5.3 kg in weight, was also caught from a few stations. Besides these large species, several others belonging to families such as Onychoteuthidae, Histioteuthidae, Enoploteuthidae and Cranchiidae are also distributed in the EEZ. A large number of oceanic squids were collected at night, which is indicative of their diel vertical migration towards surface layers during night hours.