The present study was undertaken to obtain basic information on the diversity and trophic level of trawl bycatch fishes in Cuddalore and Parangipettai coastal waters, south-east coast of India. A total of 123 species of finfishes, belonging to 13 orders, 49 families and 82 genera were recorded in the trawl bycatch of Cuddalore and Parangipettai from January 2009 to December 2010. Among the orders, Perciformes dominated with 22 families, 40 genera and 66 species (53.6%), followed by Clupeiformes, of which there were four families, nine genera and 18 species (14.6%). Regarding the habitat-wise distribution, 50 species (40.6%) were reef associated, 43 (34.9%) were demersal, 19 (15.4%) were pelagic and 11 (8.9%) were benthopelagic. Considering the trophic levels, 5 (4.0%), 8 (6.5%), 41 (33.3%), 49 (39.8%) and 20 species (16.2%) were recorded in the trophic levels of 2.0–2.49, 2.5–2.99, 3.0–3.49, 3.5–3.99 and 4.0–4.5, respectively, in both the coastal waters.
