Trophic level of fishes occurring along the Indian coast

Abstract

Data on the trophic level (TrL) of 707 species of exploited finfishes, crustaceans and cephalopods along the Indian coast were collected from different sources. The TrL ranges from 2.0 to 4.7 and the mean TrL is 3.5. The mean TrL of pelagic finfishes is 3.68, and the TrL decreased towards
\ndemersal habitat (3.44). A strong positive correlation exists between maximum body length of finfishes and TrL. The mean TrL of exploitation was 3.25. The complexities of assigning TrL values are discussed.