The biological information for the species Acroteriobatus variegatus (Nair and Lal Mohan 1973) is scarce and presently to understand the aspects of this species life history and feeding biology such as diet, sex ratios, length-weight relationship, size at first maturity, and fecundity were collected from the commercial landings from the Gulf of Mannar from January 2023 to December 2023. The study acquired a total of 351 specimens, including lengths (44.6 to 71.2 cm TL) and weights (288.6 to 2325 g TW). LWR of females and males did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) and the equation for the combined sexes was derived as TW = 0.0022 TL 3.1097 (r2 = 0.8283, 95% C.L. of b = 3.11036–3.36974, n = 351). The size at which males and females attain sexual maturity, known as L50, was found to be 45.3 cm TL for males and about 57.1 cm TL for females. The overall sex ratio revealed that the females were dominated than males. In a single gravid female, the number of embryos ranged from 3 to 5 with yolk-sac inferring that this species possesses an aplacental viviparity mode of reproduction with low uterine fecundity. The analysis of prey items revealed that A. variegatus mainly fed on crustaceans (83.59%), teleosts (14.62%) and molluscs (1.78%). Since the lack of data available on the feeding and life history traits of this species, the current research findings will provide the necessary basis for implementing conservation and management strategies to ensure the survival of its population in this region.
