Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:24:28.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Octocoral diversity and distribution on the south-west Indian coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2011

Anita G. Mary*
Affiliation:
Marine Scientist, HMR Consultants, PO Box 1295, CPO Seeb, PCIII, Sultanate of Oman
Robert D. Sluka
Affiliation:
Marine Conservation Consultant, Chinnor, Oxfordshire, UK
S. Lazarus
Affiliation:
Chairman, Institute for Environmental Research and Social Education, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.G. Mary, HMR Consultants, PO Box 1295, CPO Seeb, PCIII, Sultanate of Oman email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A survey of the distribution, percentage coverage, and diversity of octocoral fauna on the south-west coast of India yielded fourteen species from six families: Clavulariidae, Nephtheidae, Melithaeidae, Plexauridae, Gorgoniidae and Ellisellidae. This study produced ten new zoogeographical records of octocoral species to India, two species which were first records to the shallow water fauna (11–12 m depth), and one found to be a potential new record to the Indian coast. Octocoral coverage was <1% at all sites and diversity ranged from 6–13 species among the five study sites.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alderslade, P. and Shirwaiker, P. (1991) New species of soft corals (Coelenterata: Octocorallia) from the Laccadive Archipelago. The Beagle, Records of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 8, 189223, figures 1–48.Google Scholar
Ayyappan, S. and Krishnan, M. (2004) Fisheries sector in India: dimensions and development. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economy 59, 391412.Google Scholar
Bayer, F.M. (1961) The shallow water octocorallia of the West Indian region. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 373 pp.Google Scholar
Bayer, F.M. (1981) Bibliography of Octocorallia. In Seminarios de Biologia Marinha Academia Brasiliera de Ciencias, Rio de Janiero, pp. 29102.Google Scholar
Bayer, F.M., Grasshoff, M., and Verseveldt, J. (eds) (1983) Illustrated trilingual glossary of morphological and anatomical terms applied to Octocorallia. Leiden: Brill, pp. 175, 20 plates.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benayahu, Y. and Schleyer, M.H. (1995) Eleutherobia aurea spec. nov. (Cnidaria, Alcyonacea) from deep reefs on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa. Investigational Report Series of the Oceanographic Research Institute 68, 112.Google Scholar
Benayahu, Y. and Schleyer, M.H. (1996) Corals of the south-west Indian Ocean III. Alcyonacea (Octocorallia) of Bazaruto Island, Mozambique, with a redescription of Cladiella australis (Macfadyen, 1936) and a description of Cladiella kashmani spec. nov. Investigational Report Series of the Oceanographic Research Institute 69, 122.Google Scholar
Chanmethakul, T., Hansa, Chansang and Supareok, Watanasit (2010) Soft coral (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea) distribution patterns in Thai waters. Zoological Studies 49, 7284.Google Scholar
Fabricius, K. and Alderslade, P. (2001) Soft corals and sea fans—a comprehensive guide to the tropical shallow water genera of the central-west Pacific, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Townsville, Queensland: Australian Institute of Marine Science.Google Scholar
Faure, G. (1977) Annotated check list of Octocorallia in the Mascarene Archipelago, Indian Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin 204, 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goh, N.K.C. and Chou, L.M. (1996) An annotated checklist of the gorgonians (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) of Singapore with a discussion of gorgonian diversity in the Indo-West Pacific. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 44, 435459.Google Scholar
Hickson, S.J. (1903) The Alcyonaria of the Maldives. Part I. The genera Xenia, Telesto, Spongodes, Nephthya, Paraspongodes, Chironephthya, Siphonogorgia, Solenocaulon and Melitodes. In Gardiner, J.S. (ed.) The fauna and geography of the Maldives and Laccadive archipelagoes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 473502, plates XXVI–XXVII.Google Scholar
Hickson, S.J. (1905) The Alcyonaria of the Maldives. Part III. The families Muriceidae, Gorgonellidae, Melitodidae and the genera Pennatula, Eunephthya. In Gardiner, J.S. (ed.) The fauna and geography of the Maldives and Laccadive archipelagoes. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 807826, plate 67.Google Scholar
Hickson, S.J. (1930) On the classification of the Alcyonaria. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1, 229252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Islam, S. (2003) Perspectives of the coastal and marine fisheries of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. Ocean and Coastal Management 46, 763796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelleher, G., Bleakley, C. and Wells, S. (1995) A global representative system of marine protected areas. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, World Bank. Volume 3. Washing ton, DC; World Conservation Union (IUCN).Google Scholar
Mary, A.G. (1998) Identification and documentation of prostaglandin yielding gorgonids from the southwest coast of India. Masters dissertation. Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu, India.Google Scholar
Mary, A.G., Lazarus, S. and Vincent, S.G.P. (1998) Marine organisms containing bio-active compounds—a check list. Proceedings of the First National Seminar on Trends in Marine Biotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, India, ICAS 2, pp. 1127.Google Scholar
Mary, A.G. and Lazarus, S. (2004) Gorgonids off the southwest coast of India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 46, 3243.Google Scholar
Muley, E.V., Alfred, J.R.B., Venkatraman, K. and Wafar, M.V.M. (2000) Status of coral reefs of India. In Moosa M.K., Soemodihardjo S., Sugiarto A., Romimohtarto K., Nontji A., Soekarno and Suharsono (eds) Proceedings of the Ninth International Coral Reef Symposium, Bali, 23–27 October 2000, Volume 2, pp. 847854.Google Scholar
Nair, R.R. and Qasim, S.Z. (1978) Occurrence of a bank with living corals off the south-west coast of India. Indian Journal of Marine Science 7, 5558.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. (1987) Melithaeidae (Coelenterata: Anthozoa) from the Indian Ocean and the Malay Archipelago. Zoologische Verhandelingen, Leiden 239, 357, figures 1–35.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. (1989) On Wrightella coccinea (Ellis & Solander, 1786) and Wrightella stiansnyi spec. nov. (Anthozoa: Gorgonacea: Melithaeidae). Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 63, 2734.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. (1994) Pseudothelogorgia, a new genus of gorgonacean octocorals from the Indian Ocean. Precious Corals and Octocoral Research 3, 1922.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. and Vennam, J. (1991) Notes on Octocorallia from the Laccadives (SW India). Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 65, 143154.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. and Benayahu, Y. (1992) Notes on Alcyonacea (Octocorallia) from Tanzania. Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 65, 139154, figures 1–15.Google Scholar
Ofwegen van, L.P. and Schleyer, M.H. (1997) Corals of the south-west Indian Ocean V. Leptophyton benayahui gen. nov. & spec. nov. (Cnidaria, Alcyonacea) from deep reefs off Durban and on the Kwazulu-Natal south coast, South Africa. Investigational Report Series of the Oceanographic Research Institute 71, 112.Google Scholar
Pratt, E.M. (1903) Alcyonaria of the Maldives. Part II. The genera Sarcophytum, Lobophytum, Sclerophytum and Alcyonium. In Gardiner, J.S. (ed.) The fauna and geography of the Maldives and Laccadive archipelagoes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 503539, plates 28–31.Google Scholar
Pratt, E.M. (1905) Report on some Alcyoniidae collected by Prof. Herdman at Ceylon in 1902. In Herdman, W.A. and Honell, J. (eds) Report to the Government of Ceylon on the Pearl and Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar 3, 247268.Google Scholar
Pillai, C.S.G. (1971) Composition of the coral fauna of the southeastern coast of India and the Laccadives. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 28, 301327.Google Scholar
Rajasuriya, A., Zahir, H., Muley, E.V., Subramanian, B.R., Venkataraman, K., Wafar, M.V.M., Munjurul Hannan Khan, S.M. and Whittingham, E. (2000) Status of coral reefs in South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. In Wilkinson, C. (ed.) Status of coral reefs of the world: 2000. Townsville, Queensland: Australian Institute of Marine Science, pp. 95116.Google Scholar
Seawell, R.B.S. (1932) The coral coasts of India. Geographical Journal 79, 449465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sluka, R.D. and Lazarus, S. (2009) Reefs of India's west coast. Reef Encounter 37, 18.Google Scholar
Thomas, P.A. and Rani, M.G. (1986) A systematic appraisal of the commercially important gorgonids of the Indian seas. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 28, 96112.Google Scholar
Thomas, P.A. and Rani, M.G. (1987) Gorgonid resources of India. Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series 74, pp. 113.Google Scholar
Thomson, J.A. and Henderson, W.D. (1906) An account of the alcyonarians collected by the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator in the Indian Ocean. Part 1. The alcyonarians of the deep sea. Calcutta: The Indian Museum, pp. i–xvi + 1–132, plates 1–10.Google Scholar
Thomson, J.A. and Simpson, J.J. (1909) An account of the alcyonarians collected by the R.I.M.S.S. Investigator in the Indian Ocean II. The alcyonarians of the littoral area. Calcutta: The Indian Museum, pp. xii +319, 9 plates.Google Scholar
Tixier-Durivault, A. (1966) Octocoralliaires de Madagascar et des êles avoisinantes. Fauna de Madagascar 21, 1456, figures 1–399.Google Scholar
Vennam, J. and Parulekar, A.H. (1994) Sinularia Mauritania, a new species of soft coral (Coelenterata: Octocorallia) from Mauritius, Indian Oceabn. Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 48, 135158.Google Scholar
Vennam, J. and Parulekar, A.H. (1997) The ecology and distribution of alcyonaceans at Mandapam (Palk Bay, Gulf of Mannar), South India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 94, 521524.Google Scholar
Vennam, J., Bhat, K.L. and Parulekar, A.H. (1996) Occurrence and distribution of soft corals (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 93, 202209.Google Scholar
Verseveldt, J. (1968) Preliminary note on some new Octocorallia from Madagascar. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen (C) 71, 5259.Google Scholar
Verseveldt, J. (1970) A new species of Sinularia (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) from Madagascar. Israel Journal of Zoology 19, 165168, figures 1–3.Google Scholar
Verseveldt, J. (1971) Octocorallia from north-western Madagascar (Part II). Zoologische Verhandelingen, Leiden 117, 173, figures 1–40, plates 1–15.Google Scholar
Verseveldt, J. (1976) Alcyonacea from the Seychelles (Coelenterata: Octocorallia). Revue de Zoologie Africaine, Tervuren, Belgique 90, 497513, figures 1–5, 1 plate.Google Scholar
Verseveldt, J. and Ofwegen van, L.P. (1991) Five new species of the genus Dendronephthya Kükenthal 1905 (Octocorallia: Nephtheidae) from the Indian Ocean. Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 65, 155169.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. (1997) Preliminary assessment of the phylogeny of Pennatulacea (Anthozoa: Octocorallia), with a re-evaluation of ediacaran frond-like fossils, and a synopsis of the history of evolutionary thought regarding the sea pens. In den Hartog J.C. (ed.) Sixth international conference on coelenterate biology. Naturalis. Leiden: Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, pp. 497509.Google Scholar
Williams, G.C. and Vennam, J.S. (2001) A revision of the Indo-west Pacific taxa of the gorgonian genus Pseudopterogorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae), with the description of a new species from western India. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 10, 7195.Google Scholar