Intertidal Foraminifera of Indian coast - a scanning electron photomicrograph-illustrated catalogue

Abstract

Foraminifera (forams) are very useful in deducing diverse environmental parameters such as palaeoclimate, oil deposits, oceanography, pollution monitoring and palaeomonsoons. Forams are calcareous, shell-secreting protists and are likely to be adversely affected due to anthropogenic ocean acidification caused by CO2 emission. Considering their significance and status, we have surveyed the occurrence of intertidal forams along the Indian Coast and Amini atoll of Lakshdweep Islands. Scanning electron microscopic observations have been carried out and are presented here. The foram assemblage is distinct from the tropical sites surveyed elsewhere while some of the species are common, suggesting that the local oceanographic conditions are major determinants in distribution of foram species. A total of 151 species of Foraminifera belonging to 65 genera, 41 families and 7 suborders were recorded in the present study. Only 4 species were planktonic and the rest were benthic. Rotalina and Miliolina were found to be dominant suborders. This paper contains SEM images of 142 identified species and surface details of some of species. The observations will serve the needs of researchers working with forams, especially in identification and morphological analysis.