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Population characteristics and exploitation level of Anabas testudineus from Rudrasagar lake, North-eastern India were studied to understand the dynamics of resource for suggesting necessary strategies for sustainable exploitation. A total of 1187 specimens were sampled to collect the length frequency data from May, 2015 to April, 2016. The length-weight relationship of the fish was found to be Log W = - 4.08+2.9 LogL (r²=0.99). The Von Bertalanffy growth parameters i.e., asymptotic length (L∞)and growth coefficient (K) were estimated using ELEFAN-I as 216.25 mm and 0.78 yr- 1respectively.The growth performance index (φ') was calculated as 4.56. The approximate longevity (Tmax) was estimated as 3.8 years. The total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M) and fishing mortality (F) rates were estimated to be 1.95, 1.54 and 0.41 per year, respectively. The exploitation ratio (E) and exploitation rate (U) were observed to be 0.21 and 0.18, respectively. The results of relative yield-per-recruit (Y'/R) and relative biomass-per-recruit (B'/R) estimated as a function of Lc/L∞ and M/K were 0.46 and 1.95 respectively. The MSY level was estimated at 3.8 tonnes per year at F factor-0.8. Since the current level of exploitation of the species is well below Emax(0.50) and the observed landings are lower than the MSY level, it could be concluded that the fish is presently underexploited in the Lake. Reasonable fishing effort can be increased in order to obtain more yields so as to reach the MSY level and in that way increase the income of the economically poor fishermen communities of North-eastern India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]