Age and asymmetry studies on the Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta (Osteichthyes : Scombridae) collected from the Red Sea coast of Yemen

Asymmetry analyses have been carried out for some bilateral characters of R astrelliger kanagurta collected off the Red Sea coast of the Republic of Ye men. The results show that the level of asymmetry is high in the eye lens w eight and low in the post-orbital length. The results also show that the le vel of asymmetry of post-orbital length and eye lens weight increases with the increase of the length of the fish. The ocular lens diameter and weight tested as an age indicators showed that the technique cannot be adopted fo r age determination of this species.