A checklist of malacofauna of the VellarEstuarine Mangroves, India
K. Kesavan 1, C. Palpandi2 & A. Shanmugam 2
1,2 Centre of Advanced Study in Marine
Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai,
Tamil Nadu 608502, India
Email:
1 k7til@yahoo.co.in
Date of online
publication 26 July 2009
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: M.B. Raghunathan
Manuscript details:
Ms # o1912
Received 24 December 2007
Final received 04 May 2009
Finally accepted 16 June 2009
Citation: Kesavan, K., C. Palpandi & A.Shanmugam (2009). A checklist of malacofauna of the VellarEstuarine Mangroves, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa1(7): 382-384.
Copyright: © K. Kesavan, C. Palpandi & A. Shanmugam 2009. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Mangroves provide ideal conditions for
high productivity of gastropods, which, in turn, serve as food, particularly
the veliger larvae for numerous animals. Because of their predatory nature, gastropods
play an important role in maintaining the function and productivity of
mangroves through “cleansing” root systems by removing the encrusting fauna
like barnacles. These snails also serve as intermediate host for many trematode parasites. Based on the structure of molluscan assemblages , pollution induced damage in mangrove forests
can be evaluated. Hence, this study has been made to update the inventory of molluscs in Vellar Estuary.
The river Vellarflowing on the southeastern coast of India originates in the Servarayan hills of Salem District (Tamil Nadu, southern
India). After meandering 480kms, it
discharges water into the Bay of Bengal at Parangipettai(formerly known as Porto Novo). The Vellar estuary (11029’N & 79046’E) is perennially open.
For quantitative analysis, the molluscs were hand picked in a transectof known area or a quadrate of known size. Foulers like mussels and oysters were
collected by scraping with knife or spatula. The infaunal bivalves were collected by
digging the substratum. The arboreal
forms were hand picked from the stems, roots and other parts of the mangrove
trees vertically at every 25cm interval (Alfred 1997).
The macrobenthic molluscs of the estuary may be broadly grouped under
three categories (1) arboreal, those live attached to stem and roots
of mangrove vegetation (2) epifauna, lying on the mud
of the intertidal area (3) infauna, burying
themselves in the substratum. Some gastropods havehabitat overlap.
Out of the 13 species (10 species of
gastropods and 3 species of bivalves) observed in the VellarEstuary mangroves, 6 species were arboreal and the remaining 4 species of
gastropods crawl on the muddy substratum. There are exceptions i.e., N. violacea is
usually found attached to mangrove trees at the edge of the water which are subject to
tidal action. In the absence of mangrove
vegetation, it attaches on other structures squeeze into the gaps of the
bricks, cracks and crevices of concrete / brick structures lining the banks in
addition to solid materials lying in the muddy substratum. About 100 species of molluscsare known to occur in the mangrove areas of Indian subcontinent (Dey 2006), 11 from Godavari estuary (Ganapati1959), 9 from Krishna estuary (Radhakrishna 1975), 20
from Mahanadi estuary (Roa 1975), 6 from Palk Bay
& Gulf of Mannar (Pillai& Appukuttan 1980), 10 from PichavaramMangroves (Kasinathan & Shanmugam,
1985). Hundred species have been
reported from mangroves of Andaman and Nicobar islands (Das & Roy
1989). In the present study 13 species
of molluscs were recorded in mangroves of Vellar Estuary Mangroves.
A
systematic list of species occurring in the VellarEstuarine Mangroves
Phylum:Mollusca
Class:Gastropoda
Sub
Class: Prosobranchia
Order:Archaeogastropoda
Family:Neritidae
Genus: Neritina (Dostia)
Neritina violacea (Gmelin)
Order:Mesogastropoda
Family:Littorinidae
Genus:Littorina
Littorina melanostoma (Gray)
Littorina scabra (Linnaeus)
Family:Assiminidae
Genus:Assiminea
Assiminea nitida (Pease, 1865)
Family:Potamididae
Genus:Cerithidea
Cerithidea cingulata (Gmelin)
Cerithidea obtusa Lamarck
Genus:Telescopium
Telescopium telescopium (Linnaeus)
Subclass:Pulmonata
Order:Bassommatophora
Family:Ellobiidae
Genus:Ellobium
Ellobium aurisjudae (Linnaeus)
Genus:Cassidula
Cassidula nucleus (Gmelin)
Genus:Melampus
Melampus ceylonicus (Petit)
Order:Mytiloida
Family:Mytilidae
Genus:Modiolus
Modiolus metcalfei (Hanley)
Genus:Perna
Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Family:Ostreidae
Genus:Crassostrea
Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston)
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