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7/27/2019 Bivalve Diversity IJF
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Indian J. Fish., 45(2) : 177-181, Apr.-Jan., 1998
Note
A survey of bivalve molluscs in Gulf of Mannar,India
P. SHAUL HAMEED AND S. S. N. SOMASUNDARAM
P. G. Department of Zoology, Jamal Mohamed College,
Tiruchirapalli — 620 020, India
ABSTRACT
Out of 55 species of bivalve molluscs collected from Gulf of Mannar, 49 speciesbelonging to two subclasses, four orders and eighteen families were identified
and classified. Mandapam and adjacent islands maintain a rich bivalvediversity than the other areas. A depleting trend on bivalve species diversityin the Gulf of Mannar was evident from the present study when comparedwith earlier records and the significance of the study is discussed.
The Gulf of Man nar mai ntai ns a rich
biological diversity of both marine flora
and fauna. The twenty one tiny islands
in the Gulf of Mannar near Mandapam
have a rich and varied marine fauna in
the lagoon and in and around the coral
reefs. The Gulf of Mannar has been
declared as a Marine National Park by
the Tamil Nadu State Government in1972. The Govt, of India has proposed
to establish a Marine Biosphere Reserve
Authority (Anon, 1984). A detailed in
vestigation on the fauna has become
imperative in this most productive area.
This has become more important in the
case of molluscs which ar e indiscrimi
nately exploited. Earlier works on mol
luscs of the Gulf of Mannar include
Thurs ton (1895); Iyengar and
Parthasarathy (1927); Thomas (1972);
Satyamurti (1952); Nayar 91955);
Alaga rswami (1966); Appuku tta n (1972);
Nair and Rao (1974) and Nair and
Dhramaraj (1980). Investigation on the
biodiversity of bivalve molluscs will
help in finding out the level of exploita
tion and depletion of the resource whe n
compared with the earlier data.
The Gulf of Mannar is a marine
province situated between India and Sri
Lanka along the longitute from 78° 08'
E to 79° 30' E and latitute from 8° 35'Nto 9° 20' N. This geographical area runs
from Pamban Is land inc lud ing
Rameswaram to Cape Comorin along
India's southeast coast. The rich biologi
cal diversity of the Gulf of Mannar is
largely due to th e prese nce of diversified
habitats such as seaweed beds, coral
reefs, mangrove s, rocks and sand y and
muddy shores. The entire stretch of
Gulf of Mannar (including islands) from
Mandapam to Cape Comorin was con
sidered for the bivalve survey and this
study was undertaken for a period of two years from January '94 to December
'95 (Fig. 1).
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P. Shaul Hameed & S. S. N. Somasundaram. 178
Fig. 1. Map ui' Gull ol' Mannar.
Bivalve survey
Since most bivalves of the Gulf of
Mannar are eulittoral, they were hand
picked directly from their habitats at
th e time of low tid e. Biva lves occupying
relatively deeper waters were collectedfrom boats operating power dredging.
Identification of specimens was carried
out with the help of the reference
specimens at the museum of Central
Marine Fisheries Research Institute
(CMFRI) at Mand apam and with the
reference the books including Bulletin
of Madras Government museum, New
Series -Natura l His to ry Se lec t ion ,
(Satyamurti, 1952). The identified spe
cies and their systematics were verified
with the Zoological Survey of India,
Calcutta.
Out of 55 species of bivalves col
lected, 49 species belonging to two
subclasses, four orders and 18 families
were identified. Six species are yet to be
identified. A broad systematics of the
identified species is as follows.
Subclass : Pteriomorpha
Order : Arcoida
Family : Arcidae
Species :
1. Scapharca inaequivalvis
(Bruguiere)
2. iS. qubernaculum (Reeve)
3. Trisidos tortuosa (Linnaeus)
4. Area complanata Chemnitz
Order : Mytiloida
Family : Mytilidae
Species :
1. Perna viridis (Linnaeus)
2. P. indica Kuriakose and Nair
3. Modiolus metcalfei (Hanley)
Family : Pinnidae
Species :
1. Pinna atropurpurea Sowerby2. P. bicolor Gmelin
3. Atrina vexillum (Born)
Order : Pterioda
Family : Pterioidae
Species :
1. Pteria chinensis (Leach)
2. Pinctada vulgaris (Schumacher)
Family : Malleidae
Species :
1. Malleus malleus (Linnaeus)
Family : Pectinidae
Species :
1. Volachlamys tranquebarica (Gmelin)
2. Chlamys crassicostata (Swerby)
3. Spondylus imperialis Chenu
4. Decadopecten plica (Linnaeus)Family : Anomiidae
Species :
1. Placenta placenta (Linnaeus)
Family: Ostreidae
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Bivalues of Gulf of Mannar 179
Species:
1. Crassostrea cuttackensis (Neuton
& Smith)
2. Saccostrea cucullata (Born)
3. Lopha folium (Gmelin)
Subclass: Heterodonta
Order: Veneroida
Family: Lucinidae
Species:
1. Anodontia edentula (Linnaeus)
Family : Carditidae
Species :
1. Cardites antiquata (Linnaeus)
2. Cardita varieguata (Bruguiere)
Family : Cardiiae
Species :
1. Trachycardium flavum (Linnaeus)
2. Cardium coronatum (Spengler)
Family : Tridacnidae
Species :
1. Tridacna maxima (Roding)
Family : Mactridae
Species :
1. Mactra turqida (Nobrellects)
2. M. mera DeshayesFamily : Solenidae
Species :
1. Solen lamarckii (Deshayes)
2. Cultellus maximus (Gmelin)
Family : Tellinidae
Speceies :
1. Tellina ansulata Linnaeus2. Macoma ala (Hanley)3. M. bruguiera (Hanley)
Family : Donacidae
Species :
1. Donax cuneatus Linnaeus2. D. cortum Linnaeus
3. D. faba Schroeter
Family : Semelidae
Species :
1. Semele crenulata (Sowbery)
Family : Veneridae
Species :
1. Gafrarium tumidum (Roding)
2. G. dispar (Dillwyn)3. G. divaricatum(Gmelin)4. Meretrix casta (Gmelin)5. Callista erycina (Linnaeus)6. Paphia textrix (Schroeter)7. P. malabarica (Schroeter)8. Dosinia discus (Reeve)9. Sunetta scripta (Linnaeus)
10. Circe scripta (Linnaeus)11. Disina modesta (Sowbery)
Of the four orders, Venero ida was
predominant over the other orders and
it included nearly 56 % (28 out of 49
species) of total number of the species
recorded in the present investigation.
The distribution of bivalves in the
different regions of the Gulf of Mannar
is given in Table 1. A scrutiny of the
tabulated species shows tha t Manda pam
and the adjacent areas maintain a
richer bivalve diversity than the other
sampling stations. The species of
Scapharca, Pinna, Placenta, and Dosinia
were abundant whereas green mussel
Perna viridis and brown mussel P.
indica were conspicuously absent.
These mussels were plenty in the
southern parts of the Gulf of Mannar
(Tuticorin, Kundankulam and Cape
Comorin). Rocky shore of these regions
provide a suitable substratum for P.
viridis an d P. indica. The species of
Donax were found in almost all the
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P. Shaul Hameed & S. S. N. Somasundaram
TABLE 1. Distribution of bivalve species in different regions of Gulf of Mannar
S. no. Species Manda- Tuti- Kund- Cape
pam corin anku- Como-
(Pamban-Kilakarai) lam rin
1. S. inaequivalvis
2. S. qubernaculum
3. T. tortuosa
4. A. complanata
5. P. viridis
6. P. indica
7. M. metcalfei
8. P. atropurpurea
9. P. bicolor
10. A. vexillum
11. P. chinensis
12. P. vulgaris
13. M. malleus
14. V. tranquebarica
15. C. crassicostata
16. S. im.peria.lis
17. D. plica
18. P. placenta
19. C. cuttackensis
20. S. cucullata
21. L. folium.
22. A. edentula
23. C. antiquata
24. C. variegata
25. T. flavum
26. C. coronatum
27. T. maxima
28. M. turqida
29. M. mera
30. S. lamarckii
31. C maximus
32. T. ansulata
33. M. a/a
34. M. bruguiera
35. D. cuneatus
36. D. scortum
37. Z). /a.6a
38. S. crenulata
39. G. tunmidum
40. M. casta
41. C erycina
42. P. tertra;
43. P. malabarica
44. D. discus
45. S. scripta
46. C scripta
47. Z). modesta
48. G. dispar
49. G. divaricatum
+ : Recorded;
+
+
+
+
--+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
_ :
--+
+
+
-+
--—-+
-+
+
-+
+
+
+
--+
-----+
----+
+
+
+
---+
--+
+
-
-++
--+
—-+
+
--—-+
-+
+
-+
+
+
+
--+
-----+
----+
+
+
+
----+
-+
+
-
---
--+
--+
+
--
—-+
_+
+
-+
+
+
+
_-+
+
----+
----+
+
+
+
------+
+
-
---
Not recorded
180
sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mannar.
Among the three species, Donax faba is
predominant in number over D. cuneatus
an d D. scortum. The relative abundance
of D. faba and D. cuneatus was found
to be approximately in 3:1 ratio. The
veneriod clams such as Gfrarium
tumidum were restricted in distribution
but were found in large number in a
specific area between Chinnappalam,
Kundugal Point and in Krusadai Island.
The bivalves belonging to the genera
Malleus, Pteria, Pinctada, Pinna and
Spondylus occupied the eulittoral zone
which is always sub-tidal. Some of th em
are byssus bearing forms such as ear
shell (Pinna) and pearl oyster (Pinctada).
A dense population of Pinna was found
in several patche s in t he Gulf of Man nar .They are closely associated with sea
weed beds in and around the different
islands such as Krus adai , Man nal i and
Pumuruchan. Four species belonging to
the family Arcidae were recorded in the
present study. Scapharca spv Trisidos
and Area occupy a specific habitat of
muddy bottom with lot of decomposing
organic matter. The family Semelidae
was represented by a single species
namely Semele crenulata which is a
burrowing form in sandy shores.
The study on bivalve species in the
Gulf of Mannar indicates a depleting
trend in abundance when compared
with the earlier reports. About 152 spe
cies were reported from this area by
Satyamurti (1952) while the present
study could record only 55 species. Inte
nse fishing activities for shrimps indis
criminately scoops out the bivalve speci
es which are subsequently thrown out
on the shore. This is especially true for
the reef dwelling bivalves and the ir de
pletion is attributed largely to the ille
gal mining of coral reefs. Consequently
the bivalve mollusc population is vanishi-
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Bivalves of Gulf of Mannar 181
ng faster than getting replenished. It is
imperative to create an awareness
among the fishermen community about
th e import ance of species diversity and
they may be instructed to put the
commercially 'unimportant' organisms
like bivalve molluscs back to water soonafter the fishing operation.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Prof. N. Abdul
Samadh, Principal and Dr. M. Subra-
man iam , Head, Dep art men t of Zoology,
Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchirapalli
for institutional support. The authors
are also grateful to the Ministry of
Env ir onm ent and Forest, Govt, of India,
New Delhi for funding the research
project.
References
Alagarswami, K. 1966. Studies on someaspects of biology of the wedge clam
Donax faba Gmelin from Mandapamcoast in Gulf of Mannar. J. mar. biol.
Ass. India, 8 : 56-75.
Anon. 1984. Man and bisopheres —Establishment of biosphere reserve in India. Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, Project Document No.5, 105 pp.
Appukuttan, K. K. 1972. Coral-boringbivalves of Gulf of Mannar and Palk
Bay. Proc. Symp. Corals and Coral Reefs, Marine Biological Associationof India, Mandapam, p. 379-398.
Iyengar, M. and O. Parthasarathy 1927.Krusadai Island flora. Bull. MadrasGovt. Mus. N.S., 1 : 185-188.
Nayar, K.N. 1955. Studies on the growth of Wedge clam Donax cuneatusLinnaeus. Indian J. Fish., 2: 325-348.
Nair, R.V. and K.S. Rao 1974. The Commercial molluscs of india. Bull. Cent.
Mar. Fish. Inst, No. 25, 168 pp.
Nair, N.B. and K. Dharmaraj 1980. Woodboring molluscs of the Palk Bay andthe Gulf of Mannar. Mahasagar, 13 :249-260.
Satyamurti, S. T. 1952. The Mollusca of
Krusadai Island, Gulf of Mannar. Bull. Madras Govt. Mus. (Nat. Hist.),
1 (2) (Part 7), 201 pp.
Thomas, P. A. 1972. Boring sponges of thereefs of Gulf of Mannar. Proc. Symp.Corals and Coral Reefs, Marine Biological Association of India,Mandapam, p. 333-362.
Thurston, E. 1895. Rameswaram Island andthe fauna of Gulf of Mannar. Bull.
Madras Govt. Mus., 2 : 108-112.
Recommended