Nearly one-fourth of Mumbai’s catch belongs to a fish family called Ilisha. And the most popular of this fish group is Kati’, which has gained commercial importance in export, the fishing community in Mumbai believes. Now, a study has found that the Kati L filigera is not reaching its optimum length and weight around Mumbai’s waters, probably due to heavy fishing pressure. The study has further found that the female of the species is bigger and yields a better catch. The study was carried out by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Mumbai, and its findings were published recently. The Ilisha fish is distributed throughout the tropics, from estuaries to coastal water. Of the 11 species of the Ilisha family found in Asia, Kati is historically a significant part of the catch of the fishing community of Maharashtra, fisherfolk say. This fish is found 100 metres below in the open sea but also possesses high salinity tolerance levels. Kati is reported to attain up to two feet in standard length and live up to almost four years. The fish, which has a good market demand in fresh as well as the dried form, is mainly caught by the bag, trawl and grill nets, but is also harmed by them, scientists observed. The present study was envisaged to understand the length-weight relationship and morphometric relationship of this commercially important species, which help in the future of investigations pertaining to the stock assessment and management of this resource, the published report read. Rajesh Kumar Pradhan and V D Deshmukh were among the main the authors of the research. During October 2010 to April 2011, a total of 353 specimen of Kati ranging in size from half a foot or 14 cm and 1 foot two inches or 37.5 cm were caught near the shore waters of Vasai creek, new ferry wharf (bhaucha dhakka) and Sassoon dock. The length and weight of the fish were measured separately after anatomically differentiating the sex of the fish, the report read. Scientists observed that the fish in Mumbai seemed to measure up to 37.5 cm, considerably lower than the total length reported from Bangladesh waters at 47 cm and from Sarawak in Malaysia at 70 cm. Scientists believe that the smaller length observed in the Mumbai catch was due to heavy fishing pressure. As many as 181 males and 136 females were taken for the length-weight study. Length of males ranged from 18.9 cm to 31.7 cm and weight 45.5 to 250 grams. Similarly, the length of females ranged from 16.5 to 37.5 cm and weight 27.2 to 440 grams The differential increase maybe attributed to the significant increase in size and weight of ovaries in females than the testes of males with onset of maturity, the report revealed. According to the report, the weight of fish generally increases with size but such increase may not always be proportionate. The weight increase by cube length, since length is one-dimensional, while weight is related to volume, which is three-dimensional.