Vizhinjam: Fishermen along the Vizhinjam coast in Thiruvananthapuram hit the jackpot on Monday. Over 10,000kg seer fish (neymeen) were caught, according to the fishermen. This is the biggest catch of seer fish in 30 years, they added.

Vizhinjam on Monday was witness to the marine phenomenon of chakara (mudbank formation) when large number of fish are found near the coast.

The first boats to return to the harbour during the wee hours of Monday brought in small quantities of seer fish. However, all the boats were full of seer fish by 10am.

Normally, only the morning boats manage to net a few seer fish, that too only during the season. Because of the low availability, the fish is also priced high.

With this unexpected chakara, the price of seer fish dropped to less than Rs 200 per kg. The fish weighed from 750gm to 2kg. These were found even in the afternoon.

Seer fish is the most sought-after by seafood lovers. This fish is high on demand in the export as well in local markets. The seer fish that reached the Vizhinjam shores on Monday were sold off in minutes.

Other fish varieties such as pomfret and puli kavala were also caught in good numbers on Monday.