Stony corals, sponges and reef fishes off Enayam to Kollam, south-west coast of India

Vinod, K and Sobhana, K S and Jasmine, S and Joshi, K K and George, Rani Mary (2019) Stony corals, sponges and reef fishes off Enayam to Kollam, south-west coast of India. CMFRI Special Publication (119). ICAR - Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi.

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Abstract

India is a signatory to various international instruments focussing on matters of biodiversity, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and has an obligation to protect our rich biological diversity, including the marine ecosystem and its varied resources. Of the marine ecosystems, the coral reefs are important being highly productive with rich biodiversity, offering numerous ecosystem services and in addition, serve as protectors of shoreline. As a result, these ecosystems have been centres of active research for the past several decades across the globe. In India, most of the coral reef research concentrated around the Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay and the Gulf of Kachchh. However, there is a need to explore new areas of coral existence and in this endeavour, studies have shown the existence of coral patches in Ratnagiri, Malvan and Redi, south of Mumbai and at the Gaveshani Bank off Mangalore. The occurrence of coral reefs along the south-west coast of India in general and Kerala coast in particular was once thought to be meagre to non-existent. In 1995, the ICAR-CMFRI recorded 13 hermatypic corals from the patchy reefs of Enayam and Vizhinjam and 16 ahermatypes collected during research cruises on board FORV Sagar Sampada. However, extensive studies on coral diversity through underwater surveys in the patchy reef areas from Enayam to Kollam was carried out for the first time during 2008-2012 by ICAR-CMFRI, after a span of more than a decade. Studies during this period, focussed on the scleractinian corals as well as on the sponges and reef fishes of the area, and the present publication is an outcome of this study.

Item Type:	Book
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Stony corals; sponges; reef fishes; Enayam
Subjects:	CMFRI CMFRI Publications > CMFRI Special Publications Marine Ecosystems > Coral Reefs
Divisions:	CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Biodiversity Division Subject Area > CMFRI > CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Biodiversity Division CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Biodiversity Division Subject Area > CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Biodiversity Division
Depositing User:	Arun Surendran
Date Deposited:	02 Nov 2019 06:03
Last Modified:	02 Nov 2019 06:03
URI:	http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/13916

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