Status of Edible Holothurians on the Fringing Reef Flats of Nicobar Islands, India

Holothurians, especially Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae, form an important part of multispecies invertebrate fi sheries that has been in existence in the Indo Pacifi c for traditional and subsistence uses for over 1000 years. In India, about 200 species of holothurians have been reported at earlier of which 75 species are found in shallow water depth. Of these only 12 species are commercially important. The commercially important holothurians are found from the intertidal region to a depth of 20m. At earlier, James (1973, 1983) provides the documentation on the holothurians resources of India chiefl y based on the intensive surveys along the Gulf of Mannar and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.