Species diversity and community structure of ichthyofauna in the seagrass ecosystem of Minicoy Atoll, Lakshadweep, India

Prabhakaran, M P and Nandan, S Bijoy and Jayachandran, P R and Pillai, N G K (2013) Species diversity and community structure of ichthyofauna in the seagrass ecosystem of Minicoy Atoll, Lakshadweep, India. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences, 42 (3). pp. 349-359.

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    Abstract

    Present study consists the species diversity, abundance and community structure of ichthyofauna in the seagrass meadow of Minicoy Atoll, Lakshadweep Islands. Two hundred and three species of fishes were recorded during the study, from four stations in the Atoll. They belonged to 2 classes, 11orders, 43 families and 93 genera. Six species belonged to the class Chondreichthyes and 197 species to Osteichthyes. Family Pomacentridae showed maximum abundance of species (22%). Station I, having close proximity to the coral reefs, observed the maximum number of families (37) and species (129) and that with minimum number was in station II (23 families and 52 species). Bray-Curtis similarity plot showed a similarity range of 22 to 52%, seasonally. Station I showed highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’log2) (4.22) during August and the lowest (2.91) during June. Stations I and III showed comparatively higher abundance and diversity of fishes. Variability in seagrass habitat structure and the interaction with coral reefs influenced the species composition and diversity of fishes in Minicoy Atoll. The findings of the present investigation can be used as baseline information for the fishery resource management of the region.

    Item Type: Article
    Uncontrolled Keywords: Ichthyofauna; Seagrass; Species diversity; Minicoy Atoll; Lakshadweep
    Subjects: Marine Ecosystems > Coral Reefs
    Algae
    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: 08 Feb 2011 09:30
    Last Modified: 09 Sep 2015 15:43
    URI: http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/7343

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