Pudukkottai: A female ‘Kadal Pasu (Sea Cow)’, a rare marine species, 11-ft long and weighing about 500-kg was netted by a fisherman along with a male ‘Kadal Pasu’ while fishing in the sea off Athipatnam in Pudukkottai District on Thursday. But unfortunately, the female of the netted species died.
Official sources said that a local fisherman Sheik Dawood who ventured into the sea on Wednesday night, returned to the shore happy with a rare and big catch.
After reaching the shore, Sheik Dawood found that a male and female ‘Kadal Pasu’ had been caught in his net. With the help local fishermen Sheik Dawood retrieved the male ‘Kadal Pasu’ from his net and released it into the deep sea waters.
The female ‘Kadal Pasu’, which was struggling for life, died subsequently.
On information, a Forest department officials’ team rushed to the spot and retrieved the carcass of the female ‘Kadal Pasu’.
The forest officials noticed that the female of the species was pregnant and they attempted to at least rescue the infant live through a surgery. But their efforts were in vain. The rare baby fish also died.
Later, they conducted a post-mortem on both the female ‘Kadal Pasu’ and its infant and buried their carcasses at a nearby place along the sea shore, the sources added.
