Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation ...

CMFRI Lecture Note Series No. 1/2015

Summer School on

Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation & Management

16 February – 8 March 2015

Indian Council of Agricultural Research Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute DARE, Govt. of India

Post Box No. 1603, Ernakulam North P.O., Kochi-682 018, Kerala, India

Summer School on

Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation & Management


Lecture Note


Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management CMFRI Lecture Note Series No, 1/2015 Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, 16 February - 8 March, 2015.

Published By: Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan Director, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Ernakulam North P.O., Pin-682018 Kochi, Kerala

Compiled by Dr. K. K. Joshi, CMFRI, Kochi Ms. M. S. Varsha , CMFRI, Kochi Ms. V. L. Sruthy, CMFRI, Kochi Ms. V. Susan, CMFRI, Kochi Ms. P.V. Pratyusha, CMFRI, Kochi

Secretarial Assistance Ms. M. B. Dhanya , CMFRI, Kochi

Design Shibu & Sibi, Graficreations, Kochi

© CMFRI 2015

Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

FOREWORD

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has been undertaking basic, strategic and applied research in marine fisheries for the past six decades. Marine Biodiversity Division was evolved in CMFRI during 2004 with a view to focus more attention in the field of biodiversity research as this topic gained importance in the present global scenario. The Division has set up a Marine Biodiversity Museum at the Headquarters of the Institute offers a glimpse of the biodiversity of the Indian seas displaying specimens collected from estuaries, coastal and deeper waters which attracts students, teachers, scientists and the general public hailing from different States and Union Territories of the country, the students forming more than 85% of the total visitors. The Division has taken up Projects relating to different aspects of biodiversity in various ecosystems spreading all along the Indian coast including the vulnerable coral reef ecosystems of Lakshadweep Archipelago. While studying these aspects, it is felt that there is need to discuss different topics of biodiversity in a common platform right from the basics. That is the genesis of this ICAR sponsored Summer School on Recent advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management for three weeks. The major objectives of this summer school were to impart training on the various aspects of marine biodiversity in relation to species, genetic as well as ecosystem diversity. The methodologies to study biodiversity in relation to species identification, biodiversity indicators, biodiversity conservation of species and ecosystem, biotechnology and valuation of biodiversity were discussed and expertise available in CMFRI were utilised for this. Retired experts like Dr.A.D.Diwan and Dr.V.S.R.Murty were also utilised for sharing their expertise during the Summer School. Apart from this, we have taken efforts to include experts from BOBLME, University (KUFOS), and MPEDA to conduct different sessions. The CIFNET was kind enough to provide their Guest house and NIO was magnanimous in showing their facilities and explaining their research activities to our participants which are greatly acknowledged. Director, CMFRI facilitated the programme along with the administrative and audit teams of the Institute. We appreciate on record all those who contributed to this team work. The participants were chosen according to ICAR guidelines. They represent Institutions and Colleges from all over India including Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

K.K. Joshi Course Director



CONTENTS

No

Topic & Authors

1

Indian Marine Biodiversity – Status and Challenges

Page 09

K. K. Joshi, Varsha M.S. and Sruthy V.L. 2

Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms

13

Shyam S. Salim and Bindu Antony 3

Monitoring and Quantifying Marine Fish Landings in India: Survey Design, Sampling and Estimation followed by CMFRI

21

Mini K.G. 4

Phytoplankton – collection, estimation, classification and diversity

24

Gireesh R., Molly Varghese and V.J. Thomas 5

Collection and estimation of zooplankton

29

Molly Varghese, V. J. Thomas and V. Susan 6

Scleractinian coral diversity in Indian reefs, their threats and conservation

33

Rani Mary George and S. Jasmine 7

Gastropod classification and taxonomy

38

V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed 8

Bivalve classification and taxonomy

42


Cephalopod classification and Taxonomy

49


Inshore shrimps –Family, Genera and species of commercial importance in India

54

S. Lakshmi Pillai 11

Biology of inshore shrimps

72

S. Lakshmi Pillai 12

Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps

75

Rekha Devi Chakraborty 13

Classification, Biodiversity and Conservation of Marine Crabs

84

Josileen Jose 14

Life Cycle and Biology of Portunid Crabs

93

Josileen Jose 15

Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan


100

16

Classical methods in fish taxonomy

111

V.K. Venkataramani 17

An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs

118

Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia 18

Basics of sample collection, preservation and species identification of finfish

134

K. K. Joshi and K.M. Sreekumar 19

Aspects of taxonomy and life history traits of engraulids in the context of biodiversity conservation and fisheries management

138

Ganga U. 20

Classification of Exploited Demersal Finfishes of India: Pigface breams, lizardfishes and eels

142

T.M. Najmudeen and P.U. Zacharia 21

Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Biomimicry

153

Vijayagopal P. 22

Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future

157

Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan 23

Integrative taxonomy – Methods and Applications

162

Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan 24

Economic Valuation of marine ecosystem services: methodological issues and challenges

164

Shyam S. Salim , Nivedita Shridhar , Ramees Rahman .M 25

Climate change impacts: Implications on marine resources and resource users

174

Shyam S. Salim and Manjusha U. 26

Conservation of turtles

187

V.K. Venkataramani 27

Development of marine fish cell lines and stem cell lines: applications in mariculture and biodiversity conservation

190

Dr. K. S. Sobhana 28

Marine microbial diversity

195

Dr. K. S. Sobhana 29

Marine Protected Areas

199

P. Laxmilatha, T. S. Sruthy and M. S. Varsha 30

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs)

207

P. Laxmilatha 31

Ecological challenges of Island Biodiversity

212

Grinson George 32

Vulnerability assessment of biodiversity – case studies from an ecosystem perspective

215

Grinson George 33

Taxonomy of fishes of the family Balistidae in India Satish Sahayak, K. K. Joshi and V. Sriramachandra Murty



219


01

Marine Biodiversity of India – Status and Challenges K. K. Joshi, Varsha M.S. and Sruthy V.L. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction

Ecosystems

Diversity in the species complex, typical of tropical waters and co-existence of different fish and shellfish species in the same ground are important features of Indian Marine Biodiversity. Past studies on the biological and fishery characteristics of the important groups shown that most of the species supporting the fishery are short lived with an average life span up to 3-5 years, but the fishery being mainly supported by under an year olds and one year old. They are highly fecund and spawn over longer periods mostly with fractional spawning and show wide annual variation in recommitment. Several issues in the captive fisheries sector adversely affect the marine biodiversity of the country especially in the fish as ecosystem good to human beings. The issues such as limitations of growth and production in the inshore fishing grounds, less profitability and economic returns due to increased cost of fishing operations, management problems in the context of common property multigear, multispecies nature of fisheries. The above issues brought about by the uncontrolled fishing effort put into the fishery without any regard to stock-production-recruitment relationship. Besides these the ecological problem created by increasing pollution of coastal waters by release of untreated effluents and pollutants by agro industrial complexes operating in the coastal zone. It has been observed that the sediment in certain waters contains high levels of Copper, Zinc and Lead. The mercury content in some of the marine organisms at certain places has been found to be higher than the normal which may alter the genetic makeup of species. The fly ash deposits from thermal plants at certain places are on the increase and it changes the bottom topography of the affected area and chances of species depletion and replacement. To address these issues a thorough knowledge about different marine ecosystems like mangrove ecosystems, coral reef ecosystem, estuarine ecosystem, coastal marine ecosystem, lagoon, systems, coastal ecosystems and marine protected areas of India is prerequisite.

Mangrove ecosystems A large number of Islands along the Indian coast in the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Lakshadweep and Andaman group and the vast mangroves ecosystems along the coast of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal constitute rich marine biodiversity supporting variety of species of corals, sponges, ornamental fishes, crustaceans, molluscs and plants. The diversity of the species provides several ecological services like shore line protection, sea erosion, larval dispersal, breeding and larval rearing and safe habitat for migratory species for the ecosystem. Indiscriminate fishing, quarrying, dredging, deforestation, industrialization and other anthropogenic activities are the main threats causing considerable damage to these environments and consequently to the associated flora and fauna. Regional distribution of mangroves in India State

Locality

West Bengal

Delta system of Ganges

Orissa

Mouth of Mahanadi

Andhra Pradesh

a) Mouth of Godavari b) Mouth of Krishna

Tamil Nadu

Cauvery delta

Maharashtra

Bombay region

Gujarat

Saurashtra and Kutch

Andaman-Nicobar Islands

Bay of Bengal Total 9

Marine Biodiversity of India – Status and Challenges Endangered species associated with Mangrove ecosystems of India No:

Common name

Scientific name

IUCN status

1

Dugong

Dugong dugon

Vulnerable

2

Bengal tiger

Panthera tigris tigris

Endangered

3

Smooth- coated otter

Lutrogale perspicillata

Vulnerable

4

Fishing cat

Prionailurus viverrinus

Endangered

5

Sambar deer

Rusa unicolor

Vulnerable

6

Hawksbill turtle

Eretmochelys imbricata

Critically endangered

7

King cobra

Ophiophagus hannah

Vulnerable

8

Sharptooth Lemon Shark

Negaprion acutidens

Vulnerable

9

Mangrove Whipray

Himantura granulata

Near threatened

Coral reef Ecosystems: India is blessed with vast stretches of coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, Gulf of Kutch, South-west coast and along the Andaman and Lakshadweep islands. Coral reefs are the most biologically productive and diverse of all natural ecosystems. The fin fish fauna of coral reefs are extremely rich and diverse. Besides they are raw materials for industries such as cement, lime and calcium carbide. About 225 species of corals are known from the Indian seas. Indiscriminate exploitation of the corals, dredging the reef areas and the exploitation of the reef flora and fauna have resulted in the destruction of coral reefs of India. The coral reefs of India face several threats from both natural and anthropogenic origin. Indiscriminate exploitation of corals for various purposes, over exploitation of reefs associated living resource, dredging, reclamation, are important anthropogenic factors for destruction of corals in India. Pollution, sea erosion, siltation, constructive activities in lagoons also added to this man made cause for destruction of reefs. Global warming, coral bleaching, cyclones, pests like Acanthaster planci, white band diseases are some of the natural cause affect mortality of corals. Estuarine ecosystems: A total of 14 major, 44 medium and 162 minor rivers draining fresh water into the sea through about 53 estuaries in India. Estuaries are the natural nurseries for many marine animals but their fisheries have declined due to over exploitation of juveniles and anadromous stocks. Estuaries face threats are damming of rivers, construction of barrages, fishing pressure, and pollution are the main cause for biodiversity loss and degradation of the ecosystem. Estuaries face problems of lack of effective planning and co-ordinate among the different stake holders in the implementation of management option, lack of critical knowledge on the ecological principals as well as sustainable management of resources, and low level of knowledge in the biodiversity value of goods and services provided by estuary. Lagoon Ecosystem: A total of 17 major lagoons or lakes occur

along the coast of India. The lagoon ecosystems are the most vulnerable ecosystems due to several anthropogenic activities which threatens flora and fauna of the system. Threats include pollution from industries, dumping of city sewages, recreational boating, navigation, dredging, expansion of urban and rural settlements, reclamation, over exploitation of fish stocks, intensive aquaculture practices and pollution from different sources. Coastal Ecosystems: Characteristic features of the Indian Ocean are the upwelling, southwest monsoon, northeast monsoon, mud-bank along the southwest coast and high coastal production. Upwelling occurs in the region between Kanyakumari and Karwar during the onset of southwest monsoon. A total of 26 stocks are presently exploited from the inshore waters extending up to 50 meters by mechanized craft using gears like trawls, purse seines, gillnets, hooks and lines and a variety of indigenous crafts and gears. A large number of stocks of them are exploited not only by the same gear but by different gears also. Technological advances, increasing fishing effort, multigear-multiday fishing and higher investments kept the production increasing from about 0.6 million tonnes in fifteen to about 3.6 million tonnes in 2010. Marine Protected Areas In India, there are about 31 Marine Protected Areas (MPA) primarily in marine environments, which cover a total area of 627.2 Km2 with an average size of 202.1 Km2. In order to protect the ecologically important areas Government of India initiated action through the state governments to create a network of MPAs under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Recognizing ecological values and importance for biodiversity conservation, the GOI has notified three Biosphere Reserves in 1989 in marine areas viz: Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserves in Andaman and Nicobar (885 Km2), Gulf of Mannar Biosphere


10

K. K. Joshi, Varsha M.S. and Sruthy V.L Reserve (10,500 Km2) in Tamilnadu and Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve (9,630 Km2) in West Bengal (Singh, 2003). iii. Protected Marine Organisms Some of the marine resources like sea weeds, sponges, gorgonians, corals, pipe fishes and others are being exploited for the extraction of pharmaceuticals, active chemicals which are known to cure several diseases. While there are reports of over exploitation of certain of these resources, there are also reports of environmental degradation due to anthropogenic influences. Certain fragile and sensitive marine ecosystems will not be available to the posterity if adequate care is not taken to conserve the system. In order to achieve improved returns while protecting the environment, a suitable policy needs to be formulated to exploit the resources on sustainable levels, to extract the drugs indigenously, basically for domestic use and for limited export. It is seen that there is a tendency for intensive exploitation of exportable commodities, but country cannot lose sight of the need to protect biodiversity and meet domestic requirements in its bid to increase foreign exchange earnings. Ecosystem goods form the marine realm included the finfishes crustaceans, molluscans and seaweeds. The important flora and fauna falling to the two major kingdoms such as Animal and Plant Kingdom recorded from the Indian region and their present status are discussed below.

Dolphins The species diversity of dolphins in India is one among the richest in the world. A total of five species dolphins were recorded from our seas. Important species are Stenella longirostris (Spinner dolphin), Sousa chinensis (Humpback dolphin), Delphinus delphis (Common dolphin), Tursiops truncatus (Bottlenose dolphin) and Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus). Whales Whales constitute the most dominant groups of marine mammals. They usually occupy in the temperate and polar oceanic waters, they migrate to tropical waters for breeding and avoid extreme climatic conditions during certain seasons. Whales are classified into Odontoceti (toothed whales) and mysticeti (baleen whales). All the Cetaceans are included in the list of protected animals. A total of about 10 species have been reported from Indian seas. They are Indopacetus pacificus (Longman’s Beaked whale), Balaenoptera borealis, Balaenoptera musculus, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Pseudorca crassidens, Physeter macrocephalus, Ziphius carvirostris and Balaenoptera sp. Sea Cow The sea cow, Dugong dugon inhabits in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk bay area and is included in the List of protected animals as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I.

Whale shark – Rhincodon typus Whale shark is huge, sluggish, pelagic filter-feeder, often seen swimming on the surface. Viviparous and gravid female have 300 young ones of several stages of development (Raje et al., 2002).

Elasmobranchs as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I

Turtles Five species of sea turtles were reported In India which include Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback (Dermocheylus coriacea), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Loggerhead (Caretta caretta). All the five species were included in the list of protected animals as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I.

Species

Common name

Rhincodon typus

Whale shark

Crocodiles and Gharial

Anoxyprisits cuspidata

Pointed sawfish

Pristis microdon

Largetooth sawfish

Pristis zijsron

Longcomb sawfish

The Crocodile species like Crocodilus porosus, Crocodilus palustris and Gharial (Gravialis gangeticus) are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I.

Carcharhinus hemiodon

Pondicherry shark

Marine Molluscs

Glyphis gangeticus

Ganges shark

Glyphis glyphis

Speartooth shark

Himantura fluviatilis

Gangetic stingray

Rhyncobatus djiddensis

Giant guitarfish

Urogymnus asperrimus

Thorny ray

A total of 3271 species of molluscs distributed among 220 families and 591 genera, of which 1900 are gastropods, 1100 bivalves, 210 cephalopods, 41 polyplacophora and 20 scaphopods. Among these 8 species of oysters, 2 species of mussels, 17 species of clams, 3 species of pearl oysters, 3 species of giant clams, 1 species of windowpane oyster and gastropods such as Sacred Chank, Trochus, Turbo and 15 species of Cephalopods are exploited from the Marine sector



11

Marine Biodiversity of India – Status and Challenges of India. The species like Cassis cornuta, Charonia tritonis, Conus milneedwardsi, Cypraecassis rufa, Nautilus pompilius, Hippopus hippopus, Tridacna maxima, Tridacna squamosa etc are the some of the molluscs protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I. Corals and Gorgonians The Reef building coral (All Scleractinians), Black Coral (All Antipatharias), Organ Pipe Coral (Tubipora musica), Fire coral (All Millipora Species) and Sea Fan (All Gorgonians) are protected under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I. Other Marine Organisms The Sea horses, Pipe fishes (Sygnathidae) and Sea Cucumber (Holothurians) are included in the list of protected animals as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I.

CITES in India International trade in all wild fauna and flora in general, and the species covered under CITES is controlled jointly through the Wild life (Protection) Act 1972, Amendment Act, 2002, the Foreign Trade (Development regulation) Act 1992, the Foreign Trade Policy of Government of India and Customs Act, 1962. The Director of Wildlife Preservation, Government of India is the Management Authority for CITES in India. Import of animals and their parts and products for zoological parks and circuses or for research may be permitted subject to the provisions CITES and on the recommendations of the Chief Wildlife Warden of the States and Union Territories under license from Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Import of wild

animals as pests in the personal baggage of a passenger is also subject to the provisions of CITES in accordance with the Ministry of Commerce’s rules. All imports and exports of wild animals including marine species and plants are permitted only through the Customs points at Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai, Cochin, Amritsar and Tuticorin according to the rule. Two essential conditions governing the import and export of Wildlife and the derivatives are (i) compliance with the provisions of CITES (ii) inspection of the consignments by the Regional Deputy Directors of Wildlife Preservation at the Customs points. In case of items covered under CITES, an endorsement is made on the relevant CITES export permit. All marine species that have been included in the Schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 are not permitted for export.

Conclusion The exploited marine fisheries resources from the coastal area have been reached maximum from the present fishing grounds up to 200 m depth. The coastal fisheries faces several threats such as indiscriminate fishing, habitat degradation, pollution, social conflicts, introduction of highly sophisticated fishing gadgets, need management measures and conservation of marine biodiversity to maintain sustainable use of marine biodiversity. Some of the measures such as control of excess fleet size, control of some of the gears like purse seines, ring seines, disco-nets, regulation of mesh size, avoid habitat degradation of nursery areas of the some of the species, reduces the discards of the low value fish, protection of spawners, implementation of reference points and notification of marine reserves for protection and conservation.


12

02

Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms Shyam S Salim and Bindu Antony Socio- Economic Evaluation and Technology Transfer Division,, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction The marine fish landings across the years had increased and the landings were estimated at 3.78 million tonnes during 2013-14. The total valuation of marine fish landings at the landing centre (point of first sales) was estimated at 29872 crores and that of the retail centres was found to be 47186 crores during 2013-14. Over the years the valuation had registered a ten per cent growth in the landing centre and more than 20 per cent in the retail markets. The markets had been the major driving force behind the realization of the huge value of landings. It is also important to note that the marketing efficiency was found to be quite high with the fishermen share in the consumer’s rupee of 63.88 per cent. Nevertheless the producer share in the consumer’s rupee has varied sizeable based on the commercial value of fish, seasons, landings source and proximity to consumption centres. Markets had been the major drivers for the fisheries production system channelling the fish landed/produced in realizing the value. The functional growth of the markets in terms of its size, designs, infrastructure, realm of functioning, degrees of competition, nature and volume of transactions, periodicity played a major role in the realization of such high value at the different constituents of the value chain. With the changing economic scenario and fish being a vital commodity being traded at the domestic and international markets, importance of fish in the food and nutritional security, employment generation and income earning the marketing of fish plays a very important role in the fishing business. Since there is significant geographic separation between the production centre and consumption centre it is important to ensure that there exits adequate marketing systems in terms of functionaries, infrastructure etc. Amidst such huge investment there exists a scope for ensuring an efficient marketing systems aimed at ensuring that the fish reaches the different markets within the minimal possible time, cost and spoilage so that the best prices are made 16 February – 8 March 2015

available. Again the channels reach to branch out to the different non-traditional production centre. The purchasing power of the Indian consumer increased leaps and bound but it is important to ensure that fishes aren’t exported alone but also made available to the domestic consumers. It’s been found that bumper catch of fish/trash fishes/ fishes of small sizes/ non-conventional fishes/ by catches suffers a marketing gap and are often converted into fish meal. On account of increasing fish consumption and the stature achieved more than a poor man’s protein it is very important to ensure that the fish is made available to every consumption pockets with the minimal time lag The marketing system also poses a scope for more institutional interventions .The current level of marketing couldn’t ensure high quality of fish on account of unhygienic practices and doesn’t offer much option for the consumers. The fish needs to reach the different nuke and corners of the country for which the market potential is to estimate .It is important to note that the fish consumption is restricted mostly within the near vicinity of less than 50 km of the production centers. There if found to be movement of fish across the different districts/ states which could solve the seasonality issues of fish in the country. Nevertheless the demand patterns have improved much and the increased fish consumption was found mostly among the existing fish consumers rather than adding new consumers into the fish consuming population. It is estimated that 56 per cent of the population eat fish with a per capita consumption of 4kg/ annum. Amidst the technological innovations, improvements in the infrastructure over the years the marine fish marketing is grappled with numerous bottlenecks at the production, distribution and consumption centres. These had been due to the inelastic nature of supply and distress sale, seasonality of landings during peak and lean seasons, huge amount of by catch/ discards due to non-efficient marketing systems and latent markets, distress sales due to the geographical


13

Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms differentiation of the production and consumption centre, indebtedness to the middlemen( traders), lack of institutional and policy support, Inadequate cold chain facilities, lack of value addition, poor marketing infrastructure,improper fish handling, seasonal variations in demand & supply, unhygienic handling and poor quality control, unethical trade practices and highly localized preferences.

Fisheries sector: The setting Fisheries are one of the fastest growing food sectors in the world. Profitable trade in fisheries sector has been possible due to both supply and demand side factors. As far as supply side is concerned, India is endowed with a large production base which is given in table1. Table 1.Fisheries Resources in India Marine resources Length of coastline (km)

8129

Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) million Sq.Km

2.02

Continental shelf (‘000 sq.km.)

530

Number of fish landing centers

1376

Number of fishermen families ( lakh families)

0.76

Fisher folk population ( millions

35.74

Source: From census reports and DAHDF publication

Role in the economic development Fishing as an occupation is being practiced in India since time immemorial and has been regarded as a supplementary enterprise of the fishermen community on the subsistence level with little external input. Fisheries sector, however, has a strategic role in food security, international trade and employment generation. The production from marine sector has progressively increased nearly by six times during the past 50 years and the landings were estimated at 3.78 million tonnes during 2013-14. Much of the fishing effort concentrated on the shelf fall within 2-200m depth. Analysis of the sectoral trend indicates that the mechanized sector accounted for 68 per cent, motorized 25 per cent and the rest by artisanal by yield. The inshore waters are under heavy or exhaustive fishing pressure. Present estimates showed that about 1.35 lakh mechanized and motorized crafts and about one lakh non-motorized crafts are engaged in fishing activities in coastal waters. Although, evolved as a livelihood activity, fisheries sector in India had made rapid changes, transformed itself to the present status of an industrialized multi billion industry, contributing immensely to employment generation, food and nutrition security and foreign exchange earnings to the

country. Contribution of the sector to agriculture and national GDP increased steadily over the past few years. The GDP of fisheries sector reached at Rs.78,000 crore during 201213 from Rs.9000 crore during 1993-94. Currently, fisheries contribute 0.83 per cent to national GDP of the country and 4.74 per cent of agricultural and allied activities. Marine fisheries sector also provides employment to nearly 32 lakh people in fishing and allied activities. About 11 lakh people are employed in fishery related activities like marketing of fish, repairs of nets, processing of fish, etc.

Domestic trade The domestic fish marketing system in India is mainly carried out by private traders with a large number of intermediaries between producer and consumer, thereby reducing the fisherman’s share in consumer’s rupee. Some of the problems in fish marketing include high perishability and bulkiness of material, high heterogeneity in size and weight among species, high cost of storage and transportation, no guarantee of quality and quantity of commodity, low demand elasticity and high price spread (Ravindranath, 2008). The main stakeholders involved in fishing industry are largely classified under the following categories: • Producers – those involved in fishing and other production-related activities, including the shore based owners of production-related tools; • Processors – those involved in traditional fish processing activities (such as drying and salting) as well as those in export processing (peeling, freezing, packing); • Traders – those involved in trading of fish, ranging from small-scale fish vendors selling fresh or dried fish (including some whose transactions are only partly monetized), to large-scale operators catering to urban and export markets. This group also includes a vast array of market intermediaries; • Ancillary workers – those involved in various support activities directly related to fishing (boat builders, mechanics, ice plant operators and sellers, transporters, net makers and menders, basket makers and sellers, etc.); • Supplementary workers – those involved in support activities not directly related to fishing, but are essential components of the fishing economy (For example, sellers of supplies, clothes, and suppliers of consumption credit.)

Trade Dilemma in fisheries sector There are very many actors/constituents involved in the sector which makes decisions related to trade more and more complex. The trade dilemma experienced in fisheries sector across the different constituents/actors is given the figure1.


14

Shyam S Salim and Bindu Antony Table 1. Important species/groups

Fig.1 Traders dilemma in fisheries sector

Species composition The bulk of the catch commercially traded in India comprises by penaeid and non penaeid prawns; oil sardines, Indian mackerel, croakers, ribbon fishes and squids. The details of the major commercially traded fish species in India is given in Table 1. The marine fish landings across the years had increased and the landings were estimated at 3.78 million tonnes during 2013-14. The total valuation of marine fish landings at the landing centre (point of first sales) was estimated at 29100 crores and that of the retail centres was found to be 46250 crores during 2013.Over the years the valuation had registered a ten per cent growth in the landing centre and more than 20 per cent in the retail markets

International trade The fisheries sector has been one of the major contributors of

Sl. No

Species

Share in Qty

Share in point of first sales

Share in point of last sales

1.

Penaeid prawns

5.24

17.17

18.42

2.

Non-penaeid prawns

5.67

8.85

8.35

3.

Oil sardine

15.79

8.62

8.52

4.

Ribbon fishes

6.60

7.29

6.64

5.

Indian mackerel

5.32

5.53

5.48

6.

Croakers

4.75

4.82

4.58

7.

Squids

2.40

4.19

3.93

8.

Cuttlefish

2.19

3.47

3.26

9.

Scads

3.33

2.95

2.59

10.

S. commersoni

0.77

2.78

2.70

foreign exchange earnings through export. Marketing channel of international fish trade is given in figure 3. Frozen shrimp accounted for 64 percent of the earnings followed by frozen fish and cephalopods. European Union (Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, and Netherland) is the prime geographic destination followed by US,China, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Singapore and Thailand for Indian sea food. The marine export value reported during 2013-14 was at 5.08 billion dollars. Sea food exports constitute 70 percent of the total food exports of India, earns foreign exchange. The share of Indian seafood in the world market has shown an increasing trend over the years. During 2001-07 this increase has been 40% in terms of value. In the last decade the seafood trade doubled both in value and quantity. The

Fig 2. Supply chain- Domestic trade 16 February – 8 March 2015


15

Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms

Fig 3. Supply chain export

Fig 4.Trends in export of marine products (Source: MPEDA) major marine products traded by India can be grouped into 9 categories, which includes frozen shrimp, frozen fish, frozen cuttlefish/ squid, frozen lobster, live items, chilled items, dried items, shell, and others a. Decomposition analysis of the components of change in average export value of Indian marine products Inorder to examine quantitatively the effect of export quantity, export unit value and their variability on the export value over the year’s decomposition analysis was performed. For better understanding the variance of the export value was measured in two-time period viz., pre WTO period (1977-1995) and post WTO period (1995-2013). The export quantity and export unit value of Indian fisheries were de trended for further decomposition analysis. The results indicated that the contribution of change in mean export quantity was the highest among the other components of change i.e. the increase in mean export quantity accounted for 76.21 per cent of the increase in average export value. This was as expected because the export quantity had recorded significant higher growth rates during both the period whereas the export unit value recorded a negative growth rate during the post WTO period. The changes in the covariance between the mean export quantity and mean export unit value accounted 2.38 per cent increase in the mean export value. The changes in the co-variances could arise through

Table 2. Decomposition analysis was done for decomposing the sources of growth on average export value and variance of export value of Indian marine products Sl. No:

Source of Change

Pre -WTO (1977-1995)

Post- WTO (1995-2013)

1.

Change in Mean Export Unit Value 1.18

10.29

2.

Change in Mean Export Quantity

95.93

76.21

3.

Interaction between changes in (1) and (2)

3.03

11.12

4.

Change in EQ-EUV covariance

-0.13

2.38

the changes in the variance of export quantity and export unit value. With regard to interaction effect the export quantity was benefited to a small extent (11.12 per cent) from both mean export quantity and mean export unit value. Among the various components, the contribution of change in mean export quantity of Indian marine products was the dominant source for the change in average export value followed by the interaction between changes in the mean export quantity and mean export unit value. b. Recession and Indian fisheries exports Recession is defined as the significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators which started in 2007-08 (mostly in developed economies) There exists a lag in recession especially with regard to food demand. The impact has been


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Shyam S Salim and Bindu Antony

Fig. 5. Recession and Indian fisheries exports noticed since first quarter of 2009. The Indian seafood export wasn’t affected due to the increased demand for raw fish rather than value added products from the retail outlets, declining international market arrivals by over 10 per cent globally across the buyer countries .It was found that the quantity and value are on the high and the emergence of new markets in Latin America and Africa (3.5 and 4.2 per cent Quantity and Value). However there are concerns of unit value declining over the period and growing concern of depreciating rupee compared to dollar increased the earnings and the reduction in the import to China ( but channelled through Vietnam was a concern). The export earnings increased considerably ( 16 per cent in quantity and 14 per cent in value) with the emergence of newer countries as trading partners (Latin American, African and Eastern European). Moreover fisheries sector has been witnessed a sudden spurt of cultured Vannamei white shrimp during this period and its quantity effect well-adjusted the gaps in value effect. The marine product’s exports from India continue to surge up new heights and unabated by global recession. During 2011-12 the quantum of exports surpassed 8.10 lakh tonnes with a forex earning of 2.85 billion dollar. The appreciation of the Indian rupee hasn’t much affected the export earnings. The reason for the sustained increase in export is due to the demand for raw fish rather than value added products from the retail outlets as the buyers opted for cheaper fish on account of lower income and increasing unemployment. Nevertheless, being a heavy export earner the fisheries sector is facing numerous problems on account of economic shortcoming, technical constraints, institutional limitation, trade restrictions 16 February – 8 March 2015

and marketing lacunae. Severe competition exists between the different competitors like Thailand, China and South East Asian countries for sustaining the market share by product diversification. The sea food industry in many countries are undergoing a rapid change to process more and more “ready to cook” and “ready to eat” in convenient packs. India’s predominant position in shrimp market is being eroded due to the sudden spurt in farmed shrimp production in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam etc. The problems were again complicated with the restriction placed by USA through imposition of antidumping duties which has been discussed at length in the appellate body but continues to haunt the export industry. Situations aren’t rosy with European Union countries with changing quality standards and cases of rejection and alerts.

Issues in trade The major problems faced by the Indian sea food exporters listed by one CMFRI study conducted during 2009 to 2011 include irregular supply of raw material, cut throat competition of raw material, heavy competition for target market, low capacity utilisation, higher cost of production and low margin of profit, uncertainty in prices, dictatorship of buyers, high cost of investment, lack of market and product information and barriers in seafood trade in India. The other major bottlenecks in sea food supply chain is given as follows • Distress sales due to the geographical differentiation • Seasonality of landings during peak and lean seasons, • Huge amount of by catch/ discards and latent markets


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Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms • Non-efficient marketing systems • Indebtedness to the middlemen( traders) • Inadequate cold chain facilities • Poor/No marketing of juveniles/trash fishes/nonconventional fishes/small sized fishes • Lack of value addition/forward integration function • Poor marketing infrastructure • Improper fish handling and poor quality control • Unethical trade practices – limits to entry • Highly localized preferences • Lack of demand penetration in the non-production centers • Inconsistencies in demand • Lack of institutional and policy support • Failure to attract new consumers of fish • Lack of awareness in consumption

Should we really need to export ? The scope of domestic trade over international trade is found to be high on the grounds of some prospective features of the domestic market like increasing purchasing power, price discrimination/realisation, increasing awareness, matching demand and supply and efficient marketing system and it really show the way to the fact that do we really export the fish?

New initiative –Fish Market grid Smaller-scale fishers are often unable to gain access to more efficient marketing systems and supporting infrastructure (ice, cold storage, etc.) that would lead to better quality and prices. There is inadequate information about market

systems eliciting the fish market structure and its prices would be highly advantageous to the different stakeholders with the following outcomes. • Fishers - Identifying best target market for disposal • Marketers and traders - Determining fish arrivals / disposal • Consumers– Rational buying decision • Exporters - Capacity utilization • Policy planners – developing market regulations • The outcomes generated post project will acts as an effective decision making tool for identifying better target markets and remu nerative prices. A Decision Support System with development of a market grid on a spatio-temporal platform was attempted. The spatio-temporal market and price data base for Indian fisheries sector with user driven decision making based on structured and customised queries would be available. The system would include identification of innovative commodity specific fish value chains whose attributes could be replicated in other locations. Emphasis will be given to species, markets and prices in an integrated format which would facilitate market information flows across the stakeholders ensuring affordability and would have a check on national food security. The market grid encompasses different information related to the market structure which includes selected ten dimensions of Location, Access, Timing, Conduct, Species, Arrivals, Disposals, Adequacy, Regulations and Intelligence. These inputs were collected from around 100 markets of the coastal states of Kerala (Ernakulam, Kottayam, Trivandrum, Kollam, Kozhikode, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha) Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat. This prototype would aid in developing appropriate domestic policy framework for effective marketing/consumption and an over- arching

Fig 6.Indian fisheries trade requirements both in India and globally, poor access to market information (especially for small-scale fishers), and insufficient understanding of market chains and emerging opportunities by policy makers and processors. Market Grid has developed towards making an effective decision making tool for identifying better target markets and remunerative prices. Fish is highly perishable, with seasonal distribution, inelastic supply, spatio- temporal price differentials. Decision support

Fig. 7 Detailed fish market grid across the coastal states of India.


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Shyam S Salim and Bindu Antony

Fig. 8Fish market grid of Kerala

Fig. 8 Fish market grid of India

policy development framework at the centre and state specific marketing policies.

market grid output is given below in the figures.

Fish market grid developed for Kerala using market structure information collected and the sequential form of the fish

Fig. 9 (a) Fish market grid of Ernakulum 16 February – 8 March 2015

The way forward Fisheries trade is going to continue as an integral activity of adding to the livelihood of the fisheries and the different

Fig. 9(b) Fish market grid of Kottayam


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Marine Fisheries Trade in India: Perspectives and paradigms marketing intermediaries in the business. However with the amount of difficulties and hassles in export it is important to integrate both the domestic and international markets to ensure the sustainability of this fisheries trade. A flow diagram

depicting the same is given in Figure 10.

Figure 10.


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03

Monitoring and Quantifying Marine Fish Landings in India: Survey Design, Sampling and Estimation followed by CMFRI Mini K.G. Fishery Resources Assessment Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Sampling Design Fishing has been a traditional occupation of a section of people all over the world from time immemorial. In India, the fisheries sector contributes significantly towards strengthening nutritional security, income, employment, foreign exchange earnings and livelihood opportunities. These facts established the fisheries sector as an important enterprise of Indian economy. During the last six decades, Indian fisheries had made tremendous progress, with the annual fish production increasing from 0.52 million tonnes in 1950 to 3.78 million tonnes in 2013. India has a coast line of about 8129 km. Landings take place almost all along in the coast line throughout the day and sometimes during night. According to the marine fisheries census 2010, there are 3288 fishing villages scattered along the coast line from where fishermen go for fishing and return to a landing centre which may be distinct from the fishing village. There are 1511 landing centres scattered along the coastline of the main land. Under these conditions collection of statistics by complete enumeration would involve a very large number of enumerators and a huge sum of money apart from the time involved in collection of data. In this situation a feasible

solution for obtaining marine fish landings is the adoption of a suitable sampling technique for the collection of fish landing data. The sampling design adopted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) to estimate resourcewise/region-wise landings is based on stratified multi-stage random sampling technique, in this, the stratification is over space and time. Over space, each maritime state is divided into suitable, non-overlapping zones on the basis of fishing intensity and geographical considerations (Fig. 1). The number of centres may be different from zone to zone. These zones have been further stratified into substrata, on the basis of intensity of fishing. Each zone is regarded as a stratum in space. The stratification over time is by calendar month. A zone and a calendar month constitute a space-time stratum. If in a zone, there are 10 landing centres and there are 30 fishing days in the month; we get 10 x 30 = 300 landing centre days which constitute the primary stage units (PSU). The fishing boats that land on a landing centre day forms the second stage units (SSU). The introduction of space–time stratification in the sampling methodology becomes necessary as the fish population is supposed to vary with respect to both space and time. The stratification is intended to reduce the

Figure 1. Stratification over Space 21

Monitoring and Quantifying Marine Fish Landings in India: Survey Design, Sampling and Estimation followed by CMFRI variance in the sample estimates. The fish landings are found to vary considerably among the landing centres in a multicentre zone, especially in different seasons and hence a zone is further stratified as major, minor and very minor centres etc. The centres in which either mechanised boats or 100 or more non-mechanised/motorised boats are operating are considered as major centres. Similarly other strata are defined based on the number and type of fishing boats operating.

It may not be feasible to record the catches of all boats landed during an observation period, if the number of crafts is large. A sampling of the crafts become essential. When the total number of boats landed is 15 or less, the total landings from all the boats are enumerated for catch composition and other particulars. When the total number of boats exceeds 15, the following procedure is followed to sample the number of boats.

A month is divided into 3 groups, each of 10 days. From the first five days of a month, a day is selected at random, and the next 5 consecutive days are automatically selected. From this, three clusters of two consecutive days are formed. For example, for a given zone, in a given month, from the five days if the date (day) selected at random is 4, then the clusters formed from the first 10 day group are (4, 5), (6, 7) and (8, 9). In the remaining ten day groups, the clusters are systematically selected with an interval of 10 days. For example, in the above case, the cluster of days for observation in the remaining groups are (14, 15), (16, 17), (18, 19); (24, 25), (26, 27) and (28, 29). Normally, in a month 9 clusters of two days each can be obtained. From among the total number of landing centres in a zone, 9 centres are selected with replacement and allotted to the 9 cluster days selected as described earlier. These 9 days are evenly distributed among the strata in case of multi-centre zones. A landing centre day which is the PSU is the 24 hour duration from noon of the first day to the noon of the following day.

From the boats, the catches are normally removed in baskets of standard volume. The weight of fish contained in these baskets being known, the total weight of the fish in each boat under observation has been obtained. The procedures of selection of the landing centre days and the boats landed on the selected day for single centre zones are the same as in the case of a stratum in a multi-centre zone. From the landings of the observed fishing units, the landings for all the units landed during the observation period are estimated. By adding the quantities landed during the two 6- hour’s periods and during the night (12-hours) the quantity landed for a day (24-hours) at a centre that is the landings for each centre day included in the sample is estimated. From these, the monthly zonal landings are obtained. From the zonal estimates, district-wise, statewise and all India landings are arrived. The corresponding sampling errors are also estimated. The estimation procedure is detailed in Srinath et.al. (2005).

A landing centre day has been divided into 3 periods as given in the infographic. One field staff is usually provided to each zone. A field staff starts data collection from period 1 on each selected landing centre day. The enumerator will be present throughout the periods 1 and 2 at the centres. The data on landings during period 3 (night landings) is usually collected from the landing centre by enquiry on the following day morning. The sum of the observations on the 3 periods contribute the data for one landing centre day (24hrs). Thus

The survey staff is given 10-12 weeks training course immediately after recruitment and is posted to the survey centres. Each survey centre each centre is provided with literature connected with the identification of fish, a reference collection of local fish species, crustaceans and molluscs, field notebooks and registers. The programme of work for the following month is carefully designed by the staff of Fishery Resources Assessment Division at the CMFRI headquarters. Generally one field staff is allotted to each zone to collect the fish landings data. At the end of every month, the survey staff receives the programme of work for the next month by post, that includes the names of landing centres to be observed and details such as dates and time for observations at each landing centre. The field staff are instructed to send the data collected during every month to reach the Institute’s headquarters at least by the end of first week of the subsequent month.

in a 10 day period, data from 3 centre-days are sampled and consequently in a month 9 landing centre-days are sampled.

Administration of the Survey

Surprise inspections are carried out by the supervisory staff of the Institute and the enumerators are inspected while at work in the field and their field notebooks and diaries are scrutinised. The estimated zonal landings are always


22

Mini K.G. compared with the previous year’s survey figures, and if any variation which cannot be explained is observed, the technique of interpenetrating sub-samples is adopted to detect observational errors. Observational errors are rarely encountered and when confirmed, the field staff is either called back to the headquarters for giving intensive training or he is replaced. Zonal workshops are held periodically to review the progress of work and update the sampling frame and to impart refresher courses to the field staff. Non-response occurs when the regular field staff is not available to observe the centre-day included in the sample. Usually, arrangements are made at the Headquarters/Research/Regional Centre to minimise the non-response.

month, fishing effort according to different types of fishing boats and also in terms of man hours. The analysis is carried out at CMFRI headquarters. Before the data is processed for analysis it will be ensured that the data collection is made as per the approved schedule, by checking the appropriate proforma. The responsibilities and functions of staff at the headquarters are data coding, estimation and database management. The data analysis is computerised and estimates are made using the software developed by the Fishery Resources Assessment Division of the Institute. The processed data are again counter- checked for errors. When discrepancies are detected, the estimation procedure is scrutinised in detail.

In the existing sampling methodology, the interest is to estimate gear-wise, species-wise landings for the state in a

Suggested reading


M. Srinath, Somy Kuriakose and K.G. Mini, 2005. Methodology for the Estimation of Marine Fish Landings in India, CMFRI Special Publication No. 86, p.57


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04

Phytoplankton - collection, estimation, classification and diversity Gireesh R., Molly Varghese and V.J. Thomas Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Phytoplankters are microscopic, unicellular and photosynthetic organisms which freely float in water bodies. They are composed of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic species which colonizes upper euphotic part of the water column ranging from freshwater to ocean conditions. They exhibit remarkable adaptation to remain in floating condition. Phytoplankton cells can range in size from about 1 µm to 1 mm. Like terrestrial plants, these tiny primary producers require sunlight, nutrients and carbon dioxide for their growth and multiplication. The cells of these organisms contain chlorophyll pigments to harvest solar radiations. Phytoplankters photosynthesize in the presence of sunlight using sufficient nutrients, fixing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Hence they play significant role in maintaining carbon budget of atmosphere as well as in seawater and help mitigate global warming. Physical process such as wind and current play significant role in their distribution especially in estuarine and marine conditions. Phytoplankton act as primary link in energy pathway to higher trophic level through various food chains. It supports half of global primary production which directly or indirectly supports almost all marine life. Phytoplankters are a major food source for variety of organisms such as zooplankters, larvae and juveniles of fishes and invertebrates. Today world over the fishery depends on Potential Fishery Zone which is an attribute of pigment characteristic of phytoplankton measured through remote sensing technique. Phytoplankton usually undergoes a fairly predictable annual cycle, but some species may develop exponentially and form so called blooms. Sometimes, this may cause adverse effect, especially on coastal environment. Not all blooms are toxic. Blooming can cause oxygen depletion and hence it acts as a threat to other marine life especially sedentary organisms like shellfishes. Blooms of certain harmful species produce toxin. If such species are consumed by shellfish or other species, toxin may accumulate and affect organisms of higher trophic levels which is a concern for human health.

The distribution of some commercially important fish and shellfish species and their larvae depend on certain phytoplankton species which act as indicators. The diatom species Fragilaria oceanica and Hemidiscus hardmannianus have been considered as indicators of oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps in the west coast of India. The abundance of coccolithophores is another indicator for herring fishery in European waters while Fragilaria antarctica indicates abundance of krill in Antarctic waters. Some dinoflagellates, due to their luminescence help to locate and identify fish shoals during night.

Collection In coastal waters, estuaries or lagoons, surface samples are collected usually with a clean bucket of measured volume. The subsurface samples from different depths are collected with water samplers such as Van Dorn samplers, Niskin bottles, Meyer’s water sampler or Friedinger water sampler. The samples can be obtained using a weighed flexible or rigid plastic tube. The sampler is sent down vertically up to a measured depth and then closed at the top to trap a column of water. In oceanic waters, large size Niskin bottles (5, 8 or 20 litres) are used along with CTD probe to collect samples. The samples are collected in a container.

Fixing and preservation For enumeration of phytoplankton, the cells must be preserved at the earliest. Formalin is the widely used fixative and preservative of phytoplankton cells. Formalin stored in amber coloured bottles can be kept in cool temperature. For 100 ml water sample, 2 ml of formalin is sufficient. If kept in light coloured bottles, a white precipitate will develop due to exposure of sunlight and form toxic paraformaldehyde. Lugol’s iodine solution is another good preservative especially for diatoms and nanoplanktons and except coccolithophorids. To prepare Lugol’s solution 10 g of potassium iodide and 5 g iodine are dissolved in 20 ml of distilled water and to this


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Gireesh R., Molly Varghese and V.J. Thomas 50 ml of distilled water and 5 g of sodium acetate or 5ml of 19% acetic acid is added. About five drops are sufficient for 250 ml sample. Osmic acid is also added as preservative at the rate of 5-6 drops per 100 ml sample. This is prepared by adding 200 mg osmium tetroxide in 10 ml of distilled water. Gluteraldehyde solution is prepared by mixing 8 gm of gluteraldehyde in 100 ml distilled water and is applied to sample in the ratio 1:1.

Concentration of phytoplankton cells The collected samples are concentrated by the use of plankton concentrator, centrifuge or settling method. The concentrated phytoplankton samples are stored, especially diatoms, in polythene bottles.

Plankton concentrator The samples can be filtered immediately using plankton concentrator. In this method, sample is passed through a PVC tube or Perspex tube fitted with nylon net attached at one end.

Centrifuge Centrifuge is a simple device by which phytoplankton can be concentrated from samples without causing damage to cells. In this method, 10-20 ml of aliquot is centrifuged in an electrical centrifuge at 1500-2000 rpm for 15 to 30 minutes. The supernatant water is decanted until the volume reduced to 1/10 to 1/30 of initial sample. Later, it is suspended in remaining water and add few drops of 1% potassium aluminium sulphate to ensure the precipitation of phytoplankton. Finally the samples are preserved using neutralized formalin or lugol’s iodine for further examination under microscope.

Settling method The water sample can be kept in measuring cylinder for settlement after preservation. Later, settled portion can be separated by siphoning out water from the top.

Staining The process of staining phytoplankton is species specific. Neutral red and Evans blue are commonly used stains for whole plankton. Flurochromes are used to enhance fluorescence quantum yield, particularly in cyanobacteria. Fluorescein developed by Bentley-Mowat, enhances the green fluorescence and is widely used in marine plankton. The stock solution is prepared by mixing fluorescein hydrate in 0.5% acetone and is used as 0.01% solution in freshly filtered seawater. Equal volume of solution and samples are mixed and used under fluorescent microscope.

Identification A high quality microscope is essential for enumeration and 16 February – 8 March 2015

identification of phytoplankton cells. The ideal microscope should have magnifications of 10x, 40x and 100x and also with oil immersions and phase contrast. Many species are transparent under light microscope. So different techniques are used to improve the contrast of cell identification. Commonly used microscopes for identification and enumeration are Standard Compound Microscope (10x or 12x Ocular and 10x, 20x, 40x or 100x Objectives) and Inverted Microscope. The advantage of inverted microscope is that it allows viewing the organisms settled at the bottom of the chamber.

Enumeration and estimation of phytoplankton Biomass can be calculated either by direct count method (no. of cells/ m3) or chlorophyll estimation by spectrophotometric method. In the direct count method, the cells have to be identified and counted and then expressed as numbers per m3 of water. For this, Sedgwick Rafter can be used. The sample is spread uniformly as a thin layer and cells are counted. Diluting the stock plankton sample is ideal to avoid clumping or clustering of organisms. The cells are counted individually form one corner of the counter. Replicate cell counts are necessary for accuracy and to avoid any statistical error. The total number of phytoplankton cells present in a litre of water is calculated using the formula, N=nv/V Where N is the total number of phytoplankton cells per lite of water filtered, n is the average number of phytoplankton cells in 1 ml of sample and v is the volume of plankton concentrate (ml) and V is the volume of water filtered. The unit is expressed as N of cells/litre or N × 103 / m3. In the spectrophotometric method, the common and most abundant pigment in all photosynthetic organisms, Chlorophyll a is generally used for estimating phytoplankton biomass. A known volume of water collected from surface or subsurface is filtered immediately through a synthetic fiber or glass fiber filter (Millipore, Whatman GF/F filter paper with 0.45 µm pore size) or sample can be brought to laboratory by keeping it in an ice box and filter it later. While filtering two to three drops of magnesium carbonate should be added. After the filtration, filter should be removed for further extraction or should be folded and kept in desiccators at -20ºC until the analysis can be done. The filter is placed in a 15 ml glass or centrifuge tubes and 15 ml of 90% acetone is added and then should be shaken vigorously. These tubes should be closed and kept overnight for 24 hours in a refrigerator in dark. The tubes are removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm up in the dark nearly to room temperature. The samples are centrifuged at 5000 to 6000 rpm for 10 minutes. The supernatant is decanted into a glass spectrophotometer cuvette (10 cm length) without delay. The spectrophotometic reading of samples are taken at wave lengths 630, 664, 647


25

Phytoplankton – collection, estimation, classification and diversity and 750 nm. Correction factor for each extinction can be taken by using a blank solution of 90% acetone. The quantity of chlorophyll pigments in the water can be measured by using following formulas. Chlorophyll a = 11.85 E664 - 1.54 E647 - 0.08 E630 Chlorophyll b = 21.03 E647 - 5.43 E664 - 2.66 E630 Chlorophyll c = 24.52 E664 - 1.67 E664 - 7.60 E647 Where E is the absorbance at different wavelengths (turbidity corrected by 750 nm) and the unit of Chlorophyll is expressed as µg/mL. Chlorophyll mg/m3 = C×v/V×10 Where, v is the volume of acetone in cuvette, V is the volume of water filtered in litres and C is the chlorophyll pigment. Apart from the spectrophotometric method, high performance liquid chromatography is also used to analyze the pigment concentration present in water. But in this case large volume of water is necessary to be filtered. Now a days, application of remote sensing has an important role in predicting phytoplankton population structure. The spectral property of water is used as tool for determining the pigment concentration. The colour of water is determined by volume scattering in a water body (transmittance). However, in taxonomic point of view, the application of fluorescence mcicroscopy or remote sensing is limited to determination of phytoplankton functional groups only.

Classification Phytoplankters are classified as microplankton (200-20 μm), nanoplankton (20-2 μm) and picoplankton (2-0.2 μm) according to their size. The first two size classes can be identified by optical microscopy while the third is determined by fluorescence microscopy. Classification of algae has always been changing. W.H. Harvey (1836) was the first who classified algae into three groups based on colour: (a) Chlorospermae (green algae and fresh water forms) (b) Melanospermae (brown algae) and (c) Rhodospermae (red algae). Thereafter, a lot of workers have described algal classification based on different criteria. The classification proposed by F.E. Fritsch (1933) is still widely recognized and accepted by algal taxonomists. Based on pigment and morphological characters, Fritsch (1935, 1945) classified algae into 11 classes viz. Chlorophyceae, Cryptophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae, Xanthophyceae, Dinophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Chloromonadinae, Eugleniae, Chrysophyceae and Myxophyceae. The phytoplankton composed of mainly diatoms, dinoflagellates, cocolithoides (prymenophyceae), cyanophytes

and green algae.

Diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) Diatoms are ubiquitous algae (jewels of the plant world) and have very important role in aquatic vegetation of world forming part of the plankton. They are the best known group of phytoplankton and most important in terms of their contribution (approximately 40%) to oceanic primary productivity. They are unicellular, filamentous or some forms colonies and have chlorophyll a, b, β-carotene and fucoxanthin as main light harvesting pigments. The markings of cell wall, structure and position of raphae and nodules are the characteristic features for identification of species. The diatom cell is known as frustules and characteristic feature is possession of silica cell wall. This structure is highly ornamental, which is species specific and often used as means of identification. It is composed of two overlapping halves like pill box or a pair of petri dish. The outer layer is called epitheca while inner is hypotheca. Edges of these two halves together forming girdle. If one half of cell is seen, it is valve view, while only the girdle, then it is girdle view. Diatoms are divided into order centrales and pennales based on symmetry. Centrales are radialy symmetrical about a central point while pennales are bilaterally symmetrical with respect to long axis of the cell. Centrales: Valves are circular, polygonal or irregular in outline and with ornamentation on the wall; ornamentation is radial or concentric about a central point. Valve have raphae or pseudoraphae. Protoplast with many chromatophores. Centrales are more often seen in open sea. Centrales are divided into three suborders, 9 families, 14 subfamilies and 35 genera.

Sub order Discoidae: Cells shortly cylindrical, valves circular, hyaline, aerogated or with radiating striations. Eg. Cyclotella, Melosira, Stephanodiscus Sub order Solenoidae: Cells elongate, cylindrical or subcylindrical, complex girdle with numerous bands. Eg. Rhizosolenia Sub order Biddulphiodeae: Cells box shaped, valves with two or more poles provided with horns or bosses. Eg. Biddulphia, Triceratium Pennales: Valves are bilaterally symmetrical or asymmetrical in surface view. The cell wall ornamentation is also bilateral with respect to a long line, along the long axis of cell. Valve always with a raphae or pseudoraphae. Protoplasts with one or two chromatophores. Pennales are more common in coastal waters. Pennales are divided into three suborders based on presence or absence of raphae. These are further classed into 5 families, 10 subfamilies and 28 genera.


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Gireesh R., Molly Varghese and V.J. Thomas

Suborder Araphidae: only pseudoraphae present

Suborder Biraphidiodeae: Shows raphae on both valves, central nodule is present. Eg. Pleurosigma, Navicula, etc

Green algae are microscopic, uniccelluar, some filamentous or colonial, flagellates or nonflagellates and have chlorophyll a, b and - carotene as light harvesting pigments. Mostly fresh water and saline forms restricted to coastal waters. They are widely distributed in tropical waters and few species are found in Arctic and Antarctic oceans. Picoplankton cannot identify easily due to lack of distinct morphological characters. Green algae are subdivided into two sub-classes Chorophyceae and Charophyceae on the basis of difference in structure, and reproductive organs and methods of reproduction. Plankton forms are mainly comes under the chlorophyceae and majority is fresh water forms. This subclass further divided into 14 orders and 22 families.

Dinoflagellates (Dinophyceae)

Cyanobacteria (earlier Blue-green algae)

Dinoflagellates are unicellular, flagellates, naked or covered with cellulosic plates (theca). They possess two flagella, one longitudinal while other in furrow and form significant blooms (known as red tides), which are often toxic. They have chlorophyll a, c, phycobilins or fucoxanthin as main light harvesting pigments. Several of them are luminescent and produce light. The perforation in the thecal plates are the characteristic features of dinoflagellates and help in the identification.

The large part of seas consists of prokaryotic unicellular or filamentous organism known as cyanobacteria, as it appear bluish or blue green, formerly called as blue green algae, however, the name is less used today. Unlike the common bacteria, they carry out photosynthesis and referred as part of phytoplankton. Unicellular or multicellular organisms, filamentous or nonfilamentous with or without heterocysts and cell contain phycocyanin pigment. Cyanobacteria is divided into 5 orders (Chroccocales, Chaemosiphonales, Pleurocapsales, Nostocales and Stigonematales)

Family Fragilarioidaea: Valves mostly straight. Eg. Asterionella, Fragilaria, Synedra, etc

Suborder Monoraphidiodeae: Shows the beginning of raphe, no central nodule Family Eunotioideae: Raphae on one or both valves. Eg. Cocconies, Acnanthes, etc

Coccolithophores (Prymnesiophyceae ) Mostly occur in marine waters. Size ranges between 5 to 20 µm. Some have flagella while others are devoid of them. They are characterized by possessing two flagella and a fine whiplike structure called haptonema. The cells are covered with scales. One of the important group is coccolithophores. They are two flagellated and filamentous forms with calcified cells.

Green algae (Chlorophyceae)

Region East coast of India

No. of species 249

Andaman Sea

227

South east coast of India

185

Mangalore coast (west coast of 73 India) South East Arabian Sea 105 South West Coast of India

67

Nethravathi-Gurupura estuary

80

Tumkur Lake

171


Diversity Due to small size, rapid growth rate and spatio-temporal variation of species in relation to environmental conditions, phytoplankters are very sensitive to stress imparted by them. The degree of stress imposed on phytoplankton reflects the change at community level (group or functional). The classwise, orderwise, familywise, genuswise and specieswise numbers of algae listed out from the published information with respect to India is given below:

131 Dinoflagellates (7 orders, 19 families, 30 genera), 111 Diatoms (2 orders, 17 families, 43 genera), 7 Cyanophytes (1 order, 2 families, 4 genera) 58 Dinoflagellates, 164 Diatoms (2 orders, 8 failies), 2 Cyanophytes, 2 Silicoflagellates 16 Dinoflagellates, 166 Diatoms (Centrals 94; Pennales 72), 2 Cyanophytes, 1 Silicoflagellates 22 Dinoflagellates, 46 Diatoms 25 Dinoflagellates, 75 Diatoms (Centrals 55; Pennales 20), 1 Cyanophytes, 2 Silicoflagellates, 2 Green algae 17 Dinoflagellates (7 genera), 49 Diatoms (Centrals 40; Pennales 9), 28 Genera 1, Cyanophytes (1 genus) 54 Diatoms (20 orders, 26 families, 33 genera), 5 Dinoflagellates (4 orders, 4 families, 4 genera), 15 Cyanobacteria (6 orders, 6 families, 9 genera), 6 Green algae (5 orders, 5 families, 5 genera) Chlorophyceae, 46 species; Bacillariophyceae, 52 species; Desmidiaceae, 22 species; Euglenophyceae, 27 species; Cyanophyceae, 24 species


Reference Geetha Madhav and Kondal Rao, 2004 Kartik et al., 2012 Sahu et al., 2012 Karolina et al., 2009 Robin et al., 2013 Robin et al., 2010 Shruthi and Rajasekhar, 2014 Ravishankar et al., 2009

27

Phytoplankton – collection, estimation, classification and diversity

Suggested reading Desikachary, T.V. 1959. Cyanophyta. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, pp. 686. Desikachary, T.V. and P.M. Sreelatha. 1989. Oamaru Diatoms (Ed. J. Cramer), pp. 330. Gopinathan, C.P. 1984. A systematic account of the littoral diatoms of the southwest coast of India. Journal of Marine Biological Association of India, 26: 1-31.

Halllegraeff, G.M., G.M. Anderson and A.D. Cembella. 1995. Manual on Harmful Marine Micro algae, IOC Manuals and Guides No. 33, pp. 551, UNESCO, Paris. Subrahmanyan, R. 1958. Plankton organisms of the Arabian sea of the west coast of India. Indian Journal of Botanical Society, 37: 435-441. Tomas, R. 1997. Identifying marine phytoplankton, pp. 858, Academic press, California. Venkataraman, G. 1939. A systematic account of some south Indian diatoms. Proceedings of Indian Academy of Sciences, 10: 293-368.


28

05

Collection and estimation of zooplankton Molly Varghese, V. J. Thomas and V. Susan Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Zooplankters are the diverse, delicate and often very beautiful assemblages of animals that drift in the waters of the world oceans. The name zooplankton is derived from the Greek: Zoon, animal; planktos, wandering. They play a key role in the marine food web by transferring the organic energy produced by the unicellular algae to higher trophic levels such as pelagic stocks. Because of their critical role as food source for larval and juvenile fish, the dynamics of zooplankton populations, their reproductive cycles, growth and survival rates are all important factors influencing recruitment of fish stocks and thereby the magnitude of fishery. Majority of them are microscopic, unicellular or multicellular forms with size ranging from a few microns to a millimeter or more. In addition to size variations, there are differences in morphological features and taxonomic position. The zooplankton plays an important role to study the faunal biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems. They include representatives of almost every taxon of the animal kingdom and occur in the pelagic environment. The zooplankton are more varied

as compared to phytoplankton, their variability in any aquatic ecosystem is influenced mainly by patchiness, diurnal vertical migration and seasons. Zooplankters are classified in four ways based on different criteria. Firstly, they are divided into Holoplankton and Meroplankton. Species spending their whole life in the pelagic realm are termed holoplankton (eg. copepods, chaetognaths, salps etc) and those drift in the sea only for a part of their life cycle are called meroplankton (larvae of benthic mollusks, barnacles etc). Secondly, zooplankters are divided into Protozoa and Metazoa. Among the protozoan group, the ciliates form an ecologically important group. They rapidly multiply and are often the first grazers during algal blooms (diatom blooms). Metazooplankton have comparatively longer life span ranging from several days (eg. rotifers) and few weeks (eg. small crustaceans) to several years (eg. large euphausiids in polar regions). Thirdly, zooplankters are classified according to their size. Depending on the size of plankton, several attempts have been made to classify them

Plankton

Size of plankton

Types of plankton found in the specific size group (words in bold indicate major occurrence)

Commonly found zooplankton

Nano plankton

2 - 20 µm

Bacterio- plankton, Myco-plankton, Phytoplankton, Protozooplankton

Heterotrophic nanoflagellates feeding on bacteria

Micro plankton

20 - 200 µm

Myco-plankton, Phytoplankton, Protozooplankton, Metazooplankton

Most protozoans especially ciliates, eggs and early larval stages of crustacean plankton and meroplanktonic larvae

Meso plankton

0.2 – 2 mm

Phytoplankton, Protozooplankton, Metazooplankton

Small hydro medusae, ctenophores, chaetognaths, appendicularians, doliolids, fish eggs and larvae together with older stages of crustacean plankton and meroplanktonic larvae

Macro plankton

2mm -20 cm

Phytoplankton, Protozooplankton, Metazooplankton

Larger specimens of hydromedusae, siphonophores, scyphomedusae, ctenophores, mysids, amphipods, euphausiids, salps, eel larvae etc

Mega plankton

20- 200 cm

Metazooplankton

Jellyfish , siphonophores, scyphozoan, pelagic tunicates, chain forming salps etc

29

Collection and estimation of zooplankton and the present system followed is that described by Sieburth et al., 1978 (Harris et al., 2006).which is given below after incorporating some modifications. Fourthly, zooplankters are classified into Neritic and Oceanic. Neritic plankton inhabits inshore waters upto about 200 m depth. Beyond that oceanic plankton prevails. In oceanic regime, they are again subdivided into epipelagic (0-200 m), mesopelagic (200- 1000 m) and beyond 1000 m depth. Of these, the epipelagic and mesopelagic are the main domain of zooplankton.

Methods of zooplankton collection Collection of zooplankton was carried out by using water bottles, pumps or nets over the past years. Water Bottles are used mainly for collecting smaller forms or microzooplankton. Water is collected at the sampling site in water samplers of 5 to 20 litre capacity. Surface water can be collected by scooping water into the bottle of suitable size. While collecting the water samples, there should be minimum disturbance of water to prevent avoidance reaction by plankton. The Von Dorn bottles or water samplers with closing mechanisms are commonly used for collecting samples from the desired depths. These bottles, named after Dr. William Van Dorn of Scripps Institute of Oceanography can be used to obtain composite samples from several depths or to pool samples from one depth and thus can be used for both horizontal and vertical sampling. Horizontal bottles are often used for sampling at the thermocline, at other stratification levels, or just above the bottom. Because they collect whole water samples, all size classes of plankton are obtained. Zooplankton collected in the bottle are concentrated by allowing them to settle, centrifuging or through fine filtration. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to operate and sampling depths are accurately known. The disadvantages are that the amount of water filtered is less, the macro zooplankton and rare forms are usually not collected by this method and so it is unsuitable for qualitative and quantitative estimations. Pumps are normally used on board the vessel/boat. The inlet pipe is lowered into the water and the outlet pipe is connected to a net of suitable mesh size. The zooplankton is filtered through the net. This method is used for quantitative estimation and to study the small scale distribution of plankton. The advantage of this method is that the volume of the water pumped is known and continuous sampling is possible. However, the sampling depth is limited to a few meters and it is difficult to obtain samples from deeper layers. Disadvantage is that larger plankton especially the gelatinous forms like the medusae, ctenophores and siphonophores etc can be damaged. Plankton Nets are the most common method of zooplankton collection. The plankton nets used are of various sizes and types and can be broadly categorized as the open type used mainly for horizontal and oblique hauls and closed nets

with messengers for collecting vertical samples from desired depths. Despite minor variations, the plankton net which is usually made of bolting silk, nylon or other synthetic material is conical in shape consisting of a ring (rigid/flexible and round/square), the filtering cone and a collecting bucket. The collecting bucket should be strong and easily removable from the net. In this method the amount of water filtered is more and the gear is suitable both for qualitative and quantitative studies. The mesh size of the netting material will influence the type of zooplankton collected. Different mesh sizes are available from the finest to the coarse pore sizes. The mesh size of 0.2 mm of monofilament nylon is usually used for collecting zooplankton for taxonomic and productivity studies. In addition to the mesh size, the type, length and mouth area of the net, towing speed, time of collection and type of haul will determine the quality and quantity of zooplankton collected. The zooplankton collections can be made by horizontal, oblique or vertical hauls. In horizontal sampling the net is towed at a slow speed (1.0 to 2.0 knots) usually for 10 minutes. In oblique hauls, the net is usually towed above the bottom. The disadvantage of this method is that the sampling depth may not be accurately known. The net may be damaged if it touches the substratum. Vertical haul is made to sample the water column. The plankton net is lowered to the required depth and hauled slowly upwards collecting the zooplankton sample from the water column transversed by the net. Closing mechanisms are generally used to study zooplankton abundance at different depths. Most of the zooplankters migrate vertically in response to light conditions. Their occurrence is poor in upper layers during daytime. For better quantitative and qualitative zooplankton collections, the suitable time for horizontal zooplankton sampling would be before dawn, after dusk or night. The net should be submerged in water. The horizontal collections are mostly carried out for the surface and subsurface layers. There are a number of continuous net samplers and multiple net zooplankton samplers. Continous net samplers are based on the principle of collecting animals on a continuous ribbon of netting and include the continuous Plankton Recorder (Hardy, 1939), the Longhurst Hardy Continuous Plankton Recorder (Longhurst et al., 1966), the Autosampling and Recording Instrumental Environmental Sampling System (Dunn et al, 1933a, 1993b) and the highspeed Gulf-III OCEAN sampler (Nellen and Hempel 1969). The second group of samplers, the multiple net samplers are based on the principle of opening and closing a series of individual plankton nets in succession. To sample deep areas, Multiple Opening and Closing Sampler with 5 to 10 nets which can collect zooplankton simultaneously at different depths are used. The nets are closed by means of messengers


30

Molly Varghese, V. J. Thomas and V. Susan before retrieval of samplers. Multiple net systems now routinely carry sensors to measure water properties such as temperature, pressure/depth, conductivity/salinity, phytoplankton fluorescence/biomass and beam attenuation/total particulate matter. They also measure net properties such as volume of water filtered, net speed, and altitude from the bottom, as well as net function such as an alarm to tell when a net closes.

Flow meter reading and calculations A flow meter has to be fitted in the middle of the frame of the zooplankton net to understand the quantity of water filtered through the net for quantitative estimation of plankton collected. Flow meter is a small device with a propeller at one end and there is a small window on one side where the revolutions of the propeller are indicated in numbers. For the purpose of calibrating the flow meter, the net fitted with flow meter has to be towed for a known distance either vertically or horizontally. The number of revolutions made by the flowmeter during the haul has to be noted from the flowmeter. The volume of the water column through which the net travelled is then calculated using the formula πr2h, where r is the radius of the mouth ring and h is the known depth or the horizontal distance. By using the volume of water column and the number of revolutions made by the flowmeter, the volume of water which can be filtered in one revolution is found out. This is the calibration factor which can be used to multiply the number of revolutions made at each haul for a particular station to calculate the volume of water filtered by the net.

Fixation and Preservation Zooplankton for taxonomic study should be fixed and preserved immediately after collection to prevent degradation due to bacterial action, cannibalism or chemical deterioration. Fixation is done to kill an organism by maintaining its morphological characteristics and preservation is done for maintenance of the fixed condition for long periods of time. The most common fixing and preserving reagent is formaldehyde (4-5%) and the zooplankton samples can be stored for several years. It is advisable to use buffered formalin. The commonly used buffers are borax (sodium tetraborate) or hexamethyene teteramine. The buffers are added in an amount of 200 g to one litre of concentrated formalin.

Estimation of zooplankton Quantitative estimation Zooplankton biomass can be estimated by the following three methods (Goswami, 2004). 1. Volumetric (displacement volume and settling volume) method 2. Gravimetric (wet weight and dry weight) method 3. Chemical method

Larger zooplankters (macrozooplankters) such as medusae, ctenophores, fish larvae, salps and siphonophores should be separated from the zooplankton sample and their biomass taken separately. The total biomass would be the biomass of bigger forms plus the biomass of the rest of the zooplankton and should be indicated in the analysis sheet. In the volumetric method, the total zooplankton volume is determined by the displacement volume method and is expressed as ml per m3. The displacement volume can be estimated by two methods. One is by using an volume determiner. The volume determiner is a transparent cylindrical plastic apparatus of 100 ml capacity with both ends open. One end is then fixed with a piece of netting of the same mesh size used for the plankton net and can be fixed water tight over its base made of plastic. On the other end is a removable lid of plastic with a side hole. From the centre of the lid hangs a metallic pointer which when the lid is fixed over the cylinder would reach up to the distance where 50 ml mark is made on the cylinder. The preserved plankton is poured into the volume determiner. The water filters out and the interstitial water remaining in the plankton is removed by placing the cylinder over a blotting paper repeatedly till the water gets completely run out. The cylinder with the plankton is fixed water tight over its base. Adequate quantity of 5% formaldehyde solution is slowly let out from a 50 ml burette without any air bubbles till the water level just touches the pointed needle of the lid. The level of solution remaining in the burette is equivalent to the volume of plankton in the cylinder. Another method is by filtering zooplankton through a netting material having a mesh size of equal or smaller than the net used for collecting plankton. Then, the interstitial water between the organisms is removed with blotting paper and the plankton has to be transferred to a measuring cylinder with a known volume of 4% buffered formalin. Thus the difference in levels of solution in the measuring cylinder is equivalent to the volume of plankton. The volume of plankton is also determined by noting the settled volume after the plankton sample allowed settling for at least 24 hours. The volume of plankton per m3 of water filtered can be estimated by calculating the quantity of water filtered by the net during sampling as described earlier. In the Gravimetric method, wet weight and dry weight can be taken. The wet weight can be taken after filtering and removing interstitial water on a preweighed filter paper or aluminium foil. The wet weight is expressed in grams. The dry weight is determined by drying an aliquot of the zooplankton sample in a predried and preweighed filter paper in an electric oven at a constant temperature of 60ºC for 24 hrs. The dry weight is expressed in milligram. The weight of plankton is expressed as g per m3 or mg per m3. In the Chemical method, measurement of elements such as

16 February -

8 March 2015


31

Collection and estimation of zooplankton carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and biochemical elements viz. protein, lipid and carbohydrates are being carried out.

Qualitative estimation In the qualitative estimation, the individuals in the sample will be identified and enumerated. Enumeration of specimens in the whole sample is mostly not practical as most of the samples contain numerous individuals. Hence, a subsample or an aliquot of 10 to 25% is usually taken for enumeration. However, the percentage of aliquot can be increased or decreased depending on the abundance of zooplankton in the sample. Folsom plankton splitter is widely used for subsampling. By this, the sample can be divided into two equal halves at a time. This dividing process has to be continued till a suitable subsamble is obtained for counting. For counting,

a Sedgwick Rafter Counting Cell can be used which is kept under a stereoscopic microscope. The counts in the subsample have to be raised to the total volume. The numbers have to be expressed in per m3of water by considering the volume of water filtered by the net during sampling.

Suggested reading Goswami. S.C. 2004 Zooplankton Methodology, collection and Identification- a field manual. National Institute of Oceanography. 16pp Omori, M and T. Ikeda, (1984). Methods in Marine Zooplankton Ecology. John – Willy and Sons Pub. Newyork :332 pp. Raymont, J. E. E. (1963). Plankton and productivity in the Oceans. Part 2, Zooplankton, Pergamon Press Oxford, New York. Toronto. Sydney, Paris; Franfrut: 824 pp. Steedman, F. H. (ed) (1976). Zooplankton fixation and preservation. Monographs on Oceanographic Methodology, 4; UNESCO, Paris. UNESCO, (1968) Zooplankton sampling Monographs on Oceanography Methodology, 2, UNESCO, Paris.


32

06

Scleractinian coral diversity in Indian reefs, their threats and conservation Rani Mary George and S.Jasmine Vizhinjam R.C of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction The researches on the various aspects of corals (belonging to the Phylum Coelenterata) and coral reefs of the seas around India, including the oceanic atolls and continental islands have a span of more than a century. More than a hundred scientific reports are available in various Indian and foreign publications on the reef corals and coral reefs of India and also on the living reef associated resources of our waters. The value of coral reefs, both for the biosphere and human species is well established. Reefs are centres of high biological productivity, sites of CO2 sink, ecosystem of very high biodiversity, shore line protectors, source of huge deposit of CaCO3, centres of scientific research; additionally they provide us with many natural raw materials for pharmacological products or life-saving drugs. The values of coral reefs as tourist spots are also all the more important. However, it seems that we in this country, except for overexploiting the limestones and resources they harbour, made very little efforts to utilize them in the correct perspective.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE TAXON Phylum Coelenterata Phylum Coelenterata includes a group of animals with ‘hollow intestine’ with diploblastic body consisting of an outer layer or ectoderm and an inner layer called endoderm enclosing a jelly-like mesoglea (in advanced forms mesoglea with muscle fibers and cells) in between. Organs and organ systems are absent and the organization is said to be of tissue grade for carrying out various functions of the body. Individuals may be sessile or free swimming and occur singly or in colonies. They are radially or biradially symmetrical. The presence of stinging cells (nematocysts) is considered to be a peculiarity with this group so also alternation of generation and polymorphism. The individuals may be of two forms-polyps with tubular body and medusae with umbrella 16 February – 8 March 2015

like body. Skeleton, when present, may be of CaCO3 and/or gorgonin. Many species of coelenterates have come into the limelight recently on account of their biomedical value. Prostaglandins or derivatives thereof, isolated from alcyonaceans now serve as ‘wonder drugs’ to many a disease in man and animals. Phylum Coelenterata is divided into 3 classes: Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa and Anthozoa based on their body pattern and evolutionary trends. Life cycle, in Hydrozoa, includes both polyp and medusoid stages, in class Schyphozoa the medusoid stage dominates with polyp stage reduced or even absent and the life cycle includes only polyp stage in class Anthozoa . Of the above three classes corals belonging to the class Anthozoa are coming under the purview of this report.

Class Anthozoa This is the largest class of the phylum and the members are dominantly marine. The ectoderm may secrete an exoskeleton of CaCO3 or gorgonin or both. This class is divided into two subclasses: Hexacorallia and Octocorallia.

Subclass Octocorallia Includes a group of brightly coloured sessile animals. Tentacles and mesenteries 8 or in multiples of 8; polyps dimorphic in some. Colony may be simple or plant like. In some skeleton may be divisible into axial and cortical; made of CaCO3 and gorgonin. This subclass includes animals popularly called soft coral (alcyonarians) blue coral (Coenothecalia) horny coral (gorgonids) and sea pen (Pennatulacean).

Subclass Hexacorallia


33

Scleractinian coral diversity in Indian reefs, their threats and conservation This subclass embraces solitary and colonial forms; tentacles and mesenteries 6 or in multiples of 6; dimorphism is unknown. Exoskeleton solid, massive; made of CaCO3. This sub class includes sea anemones, true corals or stony corals, black coral (antipatharia) etc.

Order Scleractinia The order Scleractinia includes all post-Paleozoic fossil and recent corals. It includes solitary and colonial forms with polyps. The Scleractinia are distinguished by a calcareous external skeleton consisting essentially of radial partitions or septa situated between the mesenteries and secreted by the ectodermal body layer within upward infoldings of the basal part of the polyp wall, together with a more or less developed external sheathing and variously developed attendant supporting structures. As in all other anthozoans, scleractinian corals are exclusively marine in habitat. They are commonest in warm, clear, shallow waters of the tropical zone, but some are adjusted to shallow or deep, cold water and may be found in all latitudes. Veron (2000) reported 18 families, 111 genera and 793 species of Scleractinia from the world in his three pictoral volumes on the ‘corals of the world’. Wallace (1999) reported 114 species of the genus Acropora in her book

on ‘Staghorn corals of the world’. Of the 794, or so reef corals that are known in the world, 600 are found in the region bound by Indonesia , Malaysia, the Phillipines and the southern Japan Of these 794 species, 101 required new names and 2 required re-naming. Subsequently in 2002 a new volume containing taxonomic details of new species was published.

Faunal diversity and distribution in india The scleractinia corals of India have a richer diversity when compared to the other reefs of the tropical world. Pillai (1996) the pioneer in Indian coral research recorded a total of 199 species divided among 71 genera, from India, which is given in the table1. However, Venkataraman et al. (2003) after making extensive studies throughout India reported more new records in the coral reefs of India when compared to the previous reports made by Pillai (1996). The revision of families and genera by the recent workers (Wallace, 1999; Veron, 2000) have made some of the earlier reported species as synonyms to the revised ones. Hence, in the book ‘Handbook on hard corals of India” (Venkataraman et al., 2003) a total of 208 species, which includes 15 families and 60 genera have been reported and this is represented in the table 2.

Table 1: The comprehensive list of genera and species of corals of India listed by Pillai 1983). Area

Genera

Species

Sources

Lakshadweep

27

105

(Pillai and Jasmine, 1989

Gulf of Kutch

24

37

(Pillaai and Patel, 1988)

Southeast coast of India

37

94

(Pillai, 1986)

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

59

135

(Pillai, 1983)

West coast of Kerala and Tamilnadu

17

29

(Pillai and Jasmine, 1995)

Total for India

71

199

Table 2. Distribution of total number of families, genera and species of Scleractinian corals in the four major coral reefs of India. Gulf of Kachchh

Lakshadweep

Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Total

Families

8

12

13

15

15

Genera

20

34

27

57

60

Species

36

91

82

177

208

With courtesy Venkataraman et al.(2003) Comparison of the scleractinian corals in the major reefs of India Gulf of Kachchh*

Lakshadweep**

Palk Bay and***Gulf of Mannar

A&N Islands

Total

Families

10

13

14

19

19

Genera

27

37

40

86

89

Species

49

104

117

424

478

*-Satyananrayana, 2010;**-Planning Commission,Govt.of India,2008;***Patterson,2007


34

Rani Mary George and S.Jasmine Among the four major reef areas of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands are found to be very rich and Gulf of Kachchh the poorest in species diversity. Lakshadweep Island have more number of species than the Gulf of Mannar. About 97%of Indian genera has been recorded from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Where as other reefs constitute merely 40%. This indicates the high degree of coral diversity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Interestingly Andaman and Nicobar Islands has all the families (100%) which are recorded from other major reefs of India. Corals families recorded in Indian Reefs No. Genus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Total

Family Species ACROPORIDAE Verrill, 1902 ASTROCOENIIDAE Koby, 1890 POCILLOPORIDAE Gray, 1842 EUPHYLLIDAE Veron, 2000 OCULINIDAE Grey, 1847 MEANDRINIDAE Gray, 1847 SIDERASTREIDAE Vaughan and Wells, 1943 AGARICIIDAE Grey, 1847 FUNGIIDAE Dana, 1846 PECTINIIDAE Vaughan and Wells, 1943 MERULINIDAE Verrill, 1866 DENDROPHYLLIDAE Grey, 1847 CARYOPHYLLIIDAE Gray, 1847 FLABELLIDAE Bourne, 1905 RHIZANGIIDAE Orbingny, 1851 MUSSIDAE Ortmann, 1890 FAVIIDAE Gregory, 1900 TRACHYPHYLLIIDAE Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848 PORITIDAE Grey, 1842 89

India 4 2 3 3 1 1 4 6 11 5 3 7 6 2 2 7 18 1

143 4 15 7 4 1 14 32 48 13 8 26 11 2 2 23 81 1

3 478

43

Present knowledge and GAPS Gulf of Kachchh: Among the 89 genera recorded in India only 27 are reported so far from this area. Montipora venosa, Cosinaria monile, Hydnophora exesa, Turbinaria peltata, Goniastrea pectinata, Platygyra sinensis, Cyphastrea serialia, Porites compressa and Goniopora stutchjburyi are some of the common species found in all the islands of Gulf of kachchh. Acropora humilis reported earlier is not found in the recent investigations. Species such as Acanthastrea hillae are reported only from Gulf of Kachchh. Hence, the diversity of scleractinian corals in this region is very poor when compared to all the other three major regions of India. Lakshadweep Islands: thirteen families, 37 genera and 104 species are reported from these islands. Species such as Acropora humilis, A. formosa, A. intermedia, A. hyacinthus, Pocillopora verrucosa, Euphyllia glabrescens, Galaxea fascicularis, Psammocora contigua, P. haimeana, Pavona maldivensis, P. clavus, Fungia danai, Podobacia crustacea, 16 February – 8 March 2015

Hydnophora microconos, Favites abdita,Gonaistrea retiformis, Platgyra daedalea, P. sinensis, Leptastrea bottae, Porites solida, P. lichen and P. minicoensis are common in these islands. Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay: Fourteen families, 40 genera and 117 species are reported from this area . Among the 89 genera recorded in India, only 40 are reported so far. Species such as Montipora monasteriata, M. informis, M. spumosa, M. turgescens, M. venosa, M. verrucosa, M. digitata, M. millepora, M. manauliensis, Acropora digitifera, A. secale, A. intermedia, Pocillopora verrucosa, Porites mannarensis, P. exserta and Goniopora stutchburyi are common in these islands. Species such as Montipora millepora, M. jonesi, M. manauliensis, M. edwardsi, M. exserta, Porites exserta and Porites mannarensis are reported only form Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay. Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Nineteen families, 89 genera 424 species are reported from these islands. All thenineteen families are represented. Out of 89 genera reported from India Acropora is the dominant genus found in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There are 20 species common to all the four major coral reefs of India. They are Montipora foliosa, M. turgescens, M. venosa, M. hispida, Acropora humilis, Turninaria mesenterina, Symphyllia radians, Favia stelligera, F. pallida, F. favus, F. speciosa, Favites halicora, F. complanata, Goniastrea pectinata, Platygyra daedalea, P. sinensis, Leptastrea purpurea, Cyphastrea microphthalma, Porites lutea and Porites lichen.

Destruction to coral biodiversity The coral reefs all over the world are undergoing deterioration due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. This has created an awareness of all countries with corals reefs. Settlement, industrial pollution, exploitation of reef resources, tourism, dredging of lagoon and reefs, siltation due to deforestation are some of the major man made causes for the destruction of the reefs and mass mortality of corals all over the world. Natural causes include cyclones/tsunami or killer waves, diseases such as black band and white band diseases, bleaching of live corals due to temperature rise, predation by Acanthaster planci and prolonged exposure due to the tidal fluctuations that kill extensive areas of corals sometimes on reef flats. The Indian reefs are no exception to the worldwide deterioration of reefs. As early as 1975 Pillai pointed the ecological and man made interference on south Indian reefs . Pillai (1990) and James et al., (1989) and Pillai and Madan Mohan (1986) described the environmental stress on Lakshadweep reefs. The problems of Gulf of kutch is well brought out by Rasheed (1985) and those of Andaman reefs by Dorairaj et al. (1987). Pillai and Jasmine (1991) again described the status of the south Indian reefs. Pillai (1996) again described the status of the South Indian reefs. Venkataraman et al.(2003) has given an overall picture of the threats to ‘Coral reefs of India’


35

Scleractinian coral diversity in Indian reefs, their threats and conservation

Sedimentation

Coral diseases

Coral and sand mining in Gulf of Mannar (Turicorin group of islands) and in Andaman islands have caused sedimentation and siltation on coral reefs. In fact the destruction of coral reefs in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar due to quarrying is perhaps unparalled in history ( Pillai 1975) and this is the most important and the least studied man made factor affecting coral biodiversity. In the Gulf of Kutch mining for calcareous sand in Pirotan Island has caused severe damage to reefs and the absence of Acropora spp. in Gulf of Kutch is probably due to excessive silting. Pillai (1971) has shown that silting influence small corals such as Acropora spp. and Montipora spp. in the Palk Bay as they are unable to thrive in areas of sedimentation. Very few studies have focused on the chemical aspects of sediment on corals.

World over, four types of coral diseases have been identified - white band and black band diseases, bacterial infection and shut down reaction. So far white band disease has been reported from Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands. In addition, a new disease called Pink line disease has been reported from Lakshadweep (Venkataraman et al., 2003), Palk Bay (Sandhya et al., 2009) and Thirumullavaram, Quilon waters (CMFRI, 2010). White band disease is reported from many reefs in Andaman and Nicobar islands (Muley et al., 2000). Black and white band diseases have also been observed in shallow coral areas and there are reports of pink band disease too (Raghukumar and Raghukumar, 1991).

Dredging

Destructive fishing activities such as blast fishing, trap fishing, shore seines, trawling etc. have severely damaged many of the Gulf of Mannar’s richest and most diverse coral reefs which was once the ‘ Paradise of marine Biologists’ and now are ‘ghost islands’ (Edward et al., 2004; Venkataraman et al., 2003 ).

Dredging projects have been particularly damaging to reefs primarily through the initial physical disturbance, habitat alteration and the subsequent problems associated with sedimentation. The deleterious effects of dredging in the lagoon and reefs of Lakshadweep have been pointed out by Pillai (1986). James et al. (1989) reported severe damage to the corals in the lagoon of Minicoy and Kilton atoll and this was effected by dredging.

Pollution Research carried out in many areas have documented coral mortality, decreased fecundity and recruitment failure in response to chronic oil pollution (Venkataraman et al., 2003). Industrial wastes discharged into the sea water near Tuticorin islands, effluents from Chattam Sawmill and match factories around Port Blair and in middle Andaman are reported to have caused heavy damage to corals (Dorairaj et al. 1987). Many areas in Andaman and Nicobar islands and Gulf of Mannar area have large quantities of sediment laden freshwater run off impinged on coastal reefs, causing high levels of coral mortality. The overall impact of sewage pollution on coral reef community of Keelakarai coast in Gulf of Mannar has recorded dead corals due to the luxurient mat formation of green algae

Temperature stress and bleaching The global climatic stresses also play a decisive part in the coral reef crisis. In the Indian context a study by Arthur (2000) recorded bleaching in 3 Indian coral reef regions in relation to SST’s using quantitative assessment methods between April and July, 1998. Based on this study the Gulf of Kutch reefs showed an average of 11% bleached coral with no apparent bleaching -related mortality. In contrast, bleached corals comprised 82% of coral cover in lagoon reefs of Lakshadweep & 89% of the coral cover in the Gulf of Mannar reefs. Bleaching related mortality was high at 26% in Lakshadweep & 23% in Gulf of Mannar. This coral mass mortality will have profound ecological and socio-economic implications and highlights the need for sustained monitoring for coral reef conservation in India.

Fishing with destructive methods

Crown of thorns starfish infestation The predation of coral polyps by the crown of thorns Acanthaster planci was recorded in the 1980’s and early 1990’s at Andaman & Nicobar islands (Pillai 1986). Though the above echinoderm occur in Indian reefs, no large scale infestation was noticed after these out breaks

Tourism Tourism has damaged reefs in many ways at Lakshadweep and in Gulf of Mannar. The influx of tourists contributes to the problem of waste disposal and coral reef destruction.

Conservation and management strategies: Action taken For the purpose of conservation and management of the coral biodiversity many steps have been undertaken in India. • Identification of marine protected areas and their demarcation and protection. • Coral Reef Monitoring Action Plans prepared and launched. Other significant international activities such as the Coral Reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean (CORDIP), India–Australia Training and capacity building programme (IATCB), initiated. • National wide mapping of coastal areas by remote sensing techniques combined with land surveys to assess the rate of degradation initiated. • Amendment and enactment of National policies (National Biodiversity strategy and Action Plan and National Biodiversity Bill ) with relevance to the protection of respective ecosystem. • Export trade control order. • Six workshops, two symposia, one seminar and one national conference have disscused the problems of coral reefs and have made several recommendations for their


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Rani Mary George and S.Jasmine conservation and management. However, most of them remain in paper only. • In addition several national and state level committees with a view to protecting our reefs have been formulated.

Suggested reading Arthur, R. 2000. Coral bleaching and mortality in three Indian reef regions during an E1 Nino southern Oscillation event. Current Science, 79 (12): 1723 -1729. Dorairaj, K, R. Soundararajan, N, T. Singh 1987. “Corals of Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A Status report” Cent. Agri. Res. Inst. Port Blair. pp. 29. James, P.S.B.R., C.S. Gopinathan Pillai, P.A. Thomas, D.B. James and Said Koya 1989. Environmental damages and its consequences. Bull. Cent. Mar. fish. Res. Institute. 43: 212 -227. Patterson, J.K., J. Patterson, M. Venkatesh, G. Mathews, C. Chellaram and Dan Wilhelmsson 2004. A field guide to stony corals (Scleractinia) of Tuticorin in Gulf of Mannar, Southeast coast of India. SDMRI Special publication No.4, 80 pp. Pillai, C.S.G. 1971. Composition of the coral fauna of the south east coast of India and Laccadives, Symp. Zool. Soc. London, 28: 301-327.


Pillai, C.S.G. 1975. An assessment on the effect of environment and human interference on the coral reefs of Palk bay and Gulf of Mannar along the Indian coast Sea food export journal 7 (12) : 1-13. Pillai, C.S.G. 1986. Status of coral reefs in Lakshadweep. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv. T & E Ser, 68: 38-41. Pillai, C.S.G. 1996. Coral reefs of India: Their conservation and management, In: (Pillai C.S.G. and Menon N.G. eds) “Marine Biodiversity, conservation and management.” CMFRI, Cochin, India.pp.16-31 Pillai, C.S.G. and S. Jasmine, 1995. Scleractinian corals of the erstwhile Travancore Coasts (southwest coast of India. J. mar. boil. Ass. India. 37 (1& 2): 109-125. Pillai, C.S.G. and Madan Mohan 1986.Observations on the lobsters of Minicoy. Indian J. Fish. 23 (1); 112-122. Pillai, C.S.G. and M.I. Patel 1998. Scleractinian corals of the Gulf of Kutch. J. mar. biol. Ass. India, 30: (1 & 2): 54-74. Rashid, M.A. 1985. Gujarat’s Gulf of Kutch -A marine paradise. Proc. Symp. On Endeang. Mar. Animals and Mar. Parks. Vol. 3; paper No.40. Venkataraman, K. Ch. Satyanarayana, J. R. B. Alfred and J. Wolstenholme, 2003. Hand Book on Hand corals of India . ZSI, Kolkata pp. 349. Veron, J.E.N. 2000 Corals of the world 1-III : 463 pp; 2: 429 pp; 3: 490 pp. Wallace, C.C. 1999. Staghorn corals of the world. CSIRO Publ, Melbourne. 422 pp.


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07

Gastropod classification and taxonomy V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed Molluscan Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

INTRODUCTION Gastropods are a large and highly diversified class within the phylum Mollusca. Many gastropods possess a shell whereas some are without shells. The shelled gastropods are also called univalves. Some of these gastropods are terrestrial while other gastropods live in marine or freshwater habitat. There are approximately 85,000 - 100000 described species of molluscs (Strong et al., 2008) found throughout the world from the garden to deep-water hydrothermal vent colonies. Current estimates place the total number of molluscs including undescribed species as high as 240,000 species (Appeltan et al., 2011). Gastropods encompass 80 % of living molluscs species. In the conventional division of subclass, recognized species of prosobranchs (largely marine, but with terrestrial and freshwater representatives) formed 53 % followed by pulmonates (43% - terrestrial and freshwater, few marine littoral) and opisthobranchs (4% - marine) (Boss, 1971). Gastropods are considered as the oldest known fossils with their shells being evolved in rocks 540 million years ago. Many of the today’s gastropod species have continued unaltered for over 350 million years. Many gastropods possess a shell that protects the soft body of the animal. In most species, the coiled shell opens on the right-hand side (dextral). Rarely, right-hand coiled species will produce left-hand coiled (sinistral) shells and vice versa. Many species bears an operculum that assists to protect the animal in addition to the shell. During early larval stage development, gastropods display the most characteristic feature - torsion that means the visceral mass rotates 180⁰ to one side, placing the anus above the head. Gastropods posses a distinct head with 2 - 4 sensory tentacles. They bear eyes that are located near the base of the tentacles or on separate eye stalks. Although most species (herbivorous / carnivorous) use a radula (tongue like apparatus) for feeding, the feeding habits of them are varied. Other species may be detritus feeder, scavengers or ciliary feeders.

Gastropod reproduction differs very much among species. Hermaphroditism is common in all gastropods but in the marine gastropods, one individual serves as either male or female during mating. Nevertheless, all gastropods reproduce through internal fertilization. Many gastropods are used as food items throughout the world. Abalone, conchs, and periwinkle gastropods etc. are the popular food items. From the time immemorial, seashells have been used as ornamentation, cooking utensils, oil lamps, musical instruments, currency etc. The global seashell trade has ruined populations of gastropods which results in banning the import and export of some shells. A total of 3271 species of molluscs was reported from India in which gastropods (58.1%) formed the largest numbers of species.

Classification Classification of gastropods based on different morphological and anatomical features of their bodies and shells has come across several problems. During the 19th century, researchers were proposed several different classifications of the Gastropoda based on the place of the mantle cavity or on the array of various organs and shape of the shells. By and large, all these classification methods used only a restricted number of distinctive characters. At the start of the 20th century, the German researcher, Johannes Thiele (1929 - 1935), put together earlier classifications and proposed Thiele’s system of classifications which was used by zoologists for most of the century. He divided the gastropods into three subclasses: Prosobranchia, Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata. Besides, the Prosobranchia were divided into three orders: Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda and Neogastropoda. In the current decades, there is a need for the revision of existing classification because of the following reasons –


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V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed 1. Accumulation of numerous new data on the morphology and anatomy of various gastropod groups due to the application of new methods for instance, transmission electron microscopy etc. 2. Finding of new gastropod groups with strange anatomical features in the deep sea region associated with hydrothermal vents. Recent analyses of these characters of existing gastropods have led to a new classification method, which have been supported by outcome from molecular phylogenetics.

The new classification of gastropods Most of the earlier gastropods classification methods were based upon morphological features to categorize these organisms and used taxon ranks like order, superorder and suborder which are typical of traditional classifications. Bouchet and Rocroi (2005) have given a new system for the scientific classification of gastropods which was mainly based on the concept of clades and was taken from research on molecular studies. Gastropods are divided into groups called clades. Clades are collection of life forms that have descended from a common ancestor. In the Bouchet and Rocroi system, clades are employed between the rank of class and the rank of superfamily while the clades are unranked. There is a great deal of debate in the scientific community on the topic of the biological grouping of some species. Bouchet and Rocroi use six main clades: Patellogastropoda, Vetigastropoda, Cocculiniformia, Neritimorpha, Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia,which are generally recognized by researchers. In the first three clades, there are no nesting clades within them, in other words, the taxonomy goes directly to the superfamily stage. There is one extra clade within the Caenogastropoda. In Heterobranchia clade, there are six separate clades above the level of superfamily for some of the nudibranch groups and there are four clades above the level of superfamily in the case of most of the land snails. Bouchet and Rocroi used groupings of taxa as a ‘’group’’ or an’’ informal group’’ instead of “clade’’ in some places of the classification. By definition, a clade should have only one lineage while “informal groups” may either include more than one lineage, or only include part of a lineage. Detail classification of gastropods according to Bouchet and Rocroi (2005) is available at the link- http://www. journal-malaco.fr/bouchet & rocroi_2005_Visaya.pdf.

Neritopsina (= Neritimorpha) This group includes old gastropods with a long fossil record. They are known to occur in all shapes and sizes from coiled shells, to limpet-like, to slugs. This includes terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species. 16 February - 8 March 2015

Vetigastropoda This clade includes top shells, abalone, keyhole and sliplimpets, and several other families.

Caenogastropoda This group is highly diverse and has colonized almost all marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. This clade (large group) consist of about 60 % of extant gastropods and contains a large number of ecologically and commercially important marine families such as Muricidae, Volutidae , Mitridae, Buccinidae, Terebridae ,Conidae , Littorinidae, Cypraeidae, Cerithiidae , Calyptraeidae, Tonnidae , Cassidae , Ranellidae , Strombidae and Naticidae .

Heterobranchia This group includes pulmonates (comprises more than 20,000 species) and opisthobranchs includes sea hares, sea slugs and bubble shells. This group includes the gastropod groups positioned by Thiele’s taxonomic scheme into the ‘Opisthobranchia’ and ‘Pulmonata’, as well as some ‘prosobranch’ groups.

Patellogastropoda This is a major group of marine gastropods that contains true limpets, traditionally called Docoglossa. Patellogastropods are known to occur mostly on rocky shores in all continents.

Cocculiniformia This group includes white limpets that attach to organic matter in the deep ocean.

Distinctive characters of commercial important species of India

Trochus niloticus This species belongs to the family Trochidae. Shell is large, thick, heavy and conical in shape. Spire is tall with pointed apex. Umbilicus present. Columella is long, curved and smooth; slightly thickened marginally, Aperture is more or less square in shape, broader than high. Outer surface of the shell is white with many reddish-brown longitudinal bands. The interior of shell is nacreous. In India, Trochus niloticus is found the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Trochus radiatus The shell is conical with regular rows of spiral tubercles. The columella is devoid of denticulation. The outer surface of shell is whitish and marked with transparent reddish bands. The interior of shell is nacreous.


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Gastropod classification and taxonomy

Turbo marmoratus The turbo shell belongs to the family Turbinidae. It posses a thick and massive shell with blunt tubercles especially strong on shoulders and a wide aperture. Operculum is large, thick, heavy, smooth and white. The outer surface is dark green and spotted with brown and white. The pearly lustre underlines the shell surface.

Turbo intercostalis The shell is turban-shaped and thick with many smooth spiral cords. It has a well developed spire. The spiral ridges are transpirally grooved. Chalky operculum is hemi-spherical and smooth. The operculum is dark green in centre with yellowish and white margins. The outside of the operculum has a fine ridge and perforation in the centre. The body is greenish brown with well-marked yellowish patches.

Umbonium vestiarium The shell is small and lenticular shaped, much broader than high. Surface of shell is smooth and polished, devoid of concentric grooves on the surface. The spire is low, with slightly convex. Body whorl is broad, flattened and rounded. Umbilical callosity is large and thick. Columella is smooth, strongly curved anteriorly. Shell colour and pattern variable from pale brown or greenish or reddish brown with transpiral wavy lines to white and light pink with spiral bands or fine dark spots.

Laevistrombus canarium The shell is greatly calloused with polished columella and wing- shaped outer lip. The outer surface of shell is white and marked with irregular pattern of wavy light brownish lines. The aperture is glossy and the operculum is claw-like.

Lambis lambis The five-fingered chank is large, thick and heavy with a slightly high and pointed spire. Dorsal surface of body is rough, with uneven spiral cords and 2 or 3 spiral rows of blunt tubercles, forming large knobs on the shoulder. The outer lip is extended into digitate processes and form six hollow digitations with notch. The siphonal canal is long and slightly turned to the left side forming digitations anteriorly. The columella and the interior of the aperture are smooth and shiny. Operculum is long, brown and transparent. Colouration of shell is variable from cream to tan, frequently with different patterns of brown, purplish-tan or bluish-black.

Oliva gibbosa The shell is oblong, stout and has a long and narrow aperture. Outer surface is smooth and shiny with attractive colour

pattern on the outer surface. The spire is very short and the columella is thickened. Operculum is absent.

Turbinella pyrum The shell is huge, thick, pear-shaped and coated with a brownish horny periostracum. The spire is elevated and apex pointed. The whorls contain slightly angulated shoulders in which the one of the body whorl is distinct. The shoulder ridges have a series of small, compressed tubercles. The columella is clotted with callus and has four transverse folds. The anterior canal is wide open when compared to posterior one. The shell is ivory white when the periostracum is removed.

Conus milneedwardsi This species has a rather thin and slender shell with a smooth surface, an acuminate spire and an angulate shoulder. The color of the shell is white with two chocolate spiral bands on the body whorl. This body whorl shows a pattern of axial reddish brown reticulated lines forming white triangles or quadrangular markings. This species occurs throughout the western Indian Ocean, including Madagascar, India and the East African coast.

Babylonia spirata Shell is thick, smooth with distinctive spiral and conical in shape. The shell coloration and pattern of colour design is variable from plain brown to white with brown or orange spots. There is notch at the bottom of the shell where the long siphon emerges. Operculum thin and flexible. Animal body is pale, with a long muscular foot which is dark in colour with an orange rim. Tentacles are short and siphon is long.

Babylonia zeylanica The Indian Babylon is a lean and smooth with a fine or wellmarked suture. It has a large body whorl and a high spire. The aperture is lanceolate with a short siphonal canal. The columella is smooth with a single fold. It contains a white columellar callus and deep umbilicus. The apex and umbilicus are tinged with violet. The shell surface is white, adorned with distinctive irregular arrangement of brown or lightbrown spots and fames.

Bufonaria echinata The shell of this species is easily recognized by its very elongate shape, its poorly sculptured surface, a border row of small nodules, and the three rows of abnormally long, narrow, recurved spines developed on the varices and posterior siphonal canals.


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V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed

Bufonaria crumena

Tibia curta

Shell is very distinctive because of its large size, its very short spire and wide shape, its large aperture with widely flared lips and its fine sculpture apart from the row of large, pointed nodules around the periphery and down the varices.

Shell fusiformly tower–shaped projection; spire very much tapering to point; canal straight, whorls somewhat flattened. The first few whorls is longitudinally ribbed while the rest smooth, columella has callous; Lip has four- to five-dentate, produced at the upper part, the canal being rather short and curved backwards. The shell colour is light reddish/brownish yellow or brown, with a rather broad pale chestnut/brown band close to the suture of the whorls. Columella and interior of aperture is white.

Bufonaria margaritula This species is the smallest species of the genus. Shell is rather short and wide/dorsoventrally compressed shape with shorter spire and widely flared apertural lips. The posterior siphonal canal is longer and out-turned. Shell bears the few, extremely prominent antero-posteriorly compressed nodules on the dorsum of the last whorl.

Cypraea tigris Shell is thick, heavy, inflated shell with coarse short teeth. Dorum usually cream-white/whitish or bluish blotched with purple-black /brown spot. Ventral side is without axial ridges. It’s base teeth and aperture are white. It is found extremely variable in shape, size and colour.

Chicoreus ramosus Shell is large, heavy, globose ovate with a slightly low spire. Shell has three axial varices per whorl with two unequal nodes between them. Each axial varice has a strong, frond– like spine. Spine is a leaf-like, moderately short and recurved. Outer lip is crenulate with a noticeably tooth-like process anteriorly. Shell colour is white to light brown, sometime stained with scattered brown/pink flecks between varices and near sutures. Aperture is large, roundly ovate and colour is white interiorly, covered with pink to orange–red on margins. Siphonal canal is moderately long, broad and slightly curved with 2 or 3 spines.

16 February - 8 March 2015

Melo melo Shell is somewhat thin and rather fragile for such a large gastropod. The fleshy body is brown with white stripes. Foot is large which is plain and pale on the underside. It bears a pair of slender tentacles, a long siphon that comes out of the notch at the front of the shell, and a long proboscis, both brown with white stripes. Large shell is light brown to orange, sometimes with brown bands, others without any distinct markings.

Suggested reading Appeltans W., Bouchet P., Boxshall G.A., Fauchald K., Gordon D.P., Hoeksema B.W., Poore G.C.B., van Soest R.W.M., Stöhr S., Walter T.C., Costello M.J. (eds) (2011). World Register of Marine Species. Accessed at marinespecies.org . Appukuttan, K.K. 1996. Marine molluscs and their conservation. In Marine BiodiversityConservation and Management. Central Marine Fisheries Institute, Cochin, eds. N.G.Menon and C.S.G. Pillai. Boss, K.J. 1971. Critical estimate of the number of recent mollusca. Occas. Pap. Mollusks 3: 81 – 135. Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.-P. 2005. Classification and nomenclature of gastropod families. Malacologia, 47(1–2): 1–397. Chapman A.D. 2009. Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World, 2nd edition, Australian Strong, E. E., O. Gargominy, W. F. Ponder and P. Bouchet. 2008. Global diversity of gastropods (Gastropoda; Mollusca) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595: 149-166. Thiele, J., 1929-1935. Handbuch der Systematischen Weichtierkunde (4 volumes). Jena, Germany: Gustav Fischer Verlag.


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08


V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed Molluscan Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Bivalve is the second most dominant class in the phylum Mollusca. Bivalves are characterized by a laterally compressed body with an external shell of two halves that is hinged dorsally. The valves are united dorsally by elastic, a partially calcified or chitinous external or internal ligament and are held together by one or two adductor muscles. The head is rudimentary and have lost the buccal or radular apparatus. The mantle lobes are either connected or free ventrally. Most of the sensory structures are located in the mantle margin. They are mostly ciliary feeders, with sieving and sorting mechanisms on labial palps and leaf-like ctenidium. The mantle cavity includes a pair of ctenidia suspended laterally. The mouth and anus are located at opposite ends of the body and the gut is typically convoluted. The foot is compressed and adopted for burrowing, except in sedentary forms where it is rudimentary. Most bivalves are marine and there are no terrestrial forms. Fertilization occurs usually external, followed by trochophore and veliger stages larvae and metamorphosis to adult form. A total of 3271 species of molluscs was reported from India in which bivalves formed 33.6% (Appukuttan 1996)

Sections of a bivalve shell

Typical bivalve anatomy

Earlier classification systems of bivalves

Inner surface of a clam (bivalve) shell

Several classification schemes have been existed based on the comparative anatomical studies of extant bivalves. Earlier attempts to classify bivalves provided by Cox (1960) in his review were based on 1) gill structure (b) grades of gill structure 3) ciliation on gill filament. Later works proposed to classify the bivalves were based on other structures such as stomach (Purchon 1968), ctenidial-labial palp associations (Stasek, 1963). Thiele (1929 -1935) proposed a classification


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V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed of bivalves which was the first extensively used classification of bivalves. This old classification divided them into three orders: Taxodonta (protobranchiate bivalves), Anisomyaria (pteriomorphian bivalves) and Eulamellibranchiata. The order Eulamellibranchiate was divided into four sub orders: Schizodonta, Heterodonta, Adapedonta and Anomalodesmata. A classification of bivalves presented by Newell (1965, 1969) based on the shell structure and anatomy was the basis of the modern classification of bivalves with six subclasses: the Palaeotaxodonta (=Nuculoidea and Nuculanoidea), Cryptodonta(=Solemyoidea), Pteriomorphia, Paleoheterodonta, Heterodonta and Anomalodesmata. Although six subclasses presented by Newell (1965) have been kept as such in the modern bivalve classification, later on a new taxonomical–level classification was proposed (Vokes 1980 and Beesley et al. 1998). Classification systems of following 5 subclasses are used before phylogenitic analysis carrying out (Giribet and Wheeler, 2002) or in other words, an emergence of modern system of classification.

Subclass Protobranchia This group is the ancient marine infaunal bivalves which evolve in the Ordovician period. They have an aragonitic shell with nacre or a homogeneous structure. This subclass includes three superfamlies namely Solemyoidea, Nuculoidea and Nuculanoidea.

Subclass Pteriomorphia (=Filibranchia) This group is marine, epifaunal forms in which most of them bear byssus threads. Pterio morphia contains economically important bivalves such as mussels, arks, oysters and scallops. In this group, five orders are recognized: Mytiloida, Arcoida, Pterioida, Limoida and Ostreoida. Pteriomorphia is characterized by asymmetries, inequilateral shells generally made up of calcite and aragonite, asymmetries in the adductor muscles that develop into heteromyarian or monomyarian, the foot has decreased or lacking in some group.

Subclass Palaeoheterodonta

1998b). Most heterodonts are marine forms while few are freshwater forms (eg. Corbulidae, Sphaeriidae etc). Dimyarian heterodonts are siphonate and mostly filterfeeders with large eulamellibranch ctenidia and small palps. Most members have a heterodont dentition. This group includes families viz. Carditidae, Astaridae, Cyprinidae, Dressenidae, Lucinidae, Chamidae, Cardiidae, Tridacnidae, Veneridae, Tellinidae, Amphidesmatidae, Solecurtidae, Donacidae and Mactridae.

Subclass Anomalodesmata This subclass contains a collection of strange bivalves in which most of them are marine forms, some estuarine. Most species of this group are small and burrowing forms with primatonacreous shells. They have either modified eulamellibranchiate ctenidia or reduced ctenidia to setibranch condition. The setibranch families are characterized by gills in the form of a muscular septum which pumps water through the mantle cavity; mantle edges mostly free; adductor muscles equal; hinge weekly denticulate or edentate; macrophagous feeders contains deep water carnivorous bivalves and the families includes Verticordiidae, Poromyidae, Cuspidariidae etc.

New classification systems of bivalves Modern classification of bivalves proposed here by Ponder and Lindber (2008) is based mostly on the collective studies of morphology and molecular data by Giribet and Wheeler (2007) but also include results from other works (Campbell 2000; Steiner and Hammer 2000; Dreyer et al. 2003; Giribet and Distel 2003; Williams et al. 2004; Taylor et al. 2005; Bieler and Mikkelsen 2006). This proposed classification is not the final one and is based on cladistic hypotheses in which rank are not given.

Autolamellibranchiata This group possesses modified or reduced ctenidia for filter feeding and is divided into Pteriomorphia and Heteroconchia. Pteriomorphia includes largely epifaunal bivalves bearing byssal threads like oysters, scallops, mussels and arks.

This group includes two distinct orders viz. Trigonioida and Unionoida. Shells of this group are characterized by an aragonite deposition in the form of prism (prismatonacre). Trigonioida is marine forms of recent bivalves represented by the single genus Neotrigonia. Unionoida contains several members of freshwater bivalves such as freshwater mussels, pearl producing mussels etc and are characterized by prismatonacreous shell that are equivalve, equilateral and two adductor muscles with associated pedal retractors (Prezant, 1998a).

Subclass Heterodonta This group is the largest, most diverse and most widely distributed among the bivalve subclasses (Prezant, 16 February - 8 March 2015

Mussel: Internal anatomy


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Bivalve classification and taxonomy Table 1. The New Bivalve Classification Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758 1.

Opponobranchia or Protobranchia 1.1

Nuculoida Dall, 1889

1.2

Solemyoida Dall, 1889

Perna viridis

2.

Nuculanoida Carter, D.C. Cam pbell and M. R. Campbell, 2000

3.

Autolamellibranchiata Grobben, 1894 3.1

Pteriomorphia Beurten, 1944

3.2

Heteroconchia Cox, 1960 3.2.1

3.2.2

lump while posterior margin is broadly rounded. One large hinge teeth on the left valve and a corresponding depression on the right valve; foot is tongue shaped with byssal threads.

Palaeoheterodonta Newell, 1965 3.2.1.1

Trigonioida Dall, 1889

3.2.1.2

Unionoida Stoliczka,1871

Heterodonta Neumayr, 1883 3.2.2.1

Archiheterodonta new name

3.2.2.2

Euheterodonta Giribet and Distel, 2003

The outer shell surfaces and mantle margin are respectively green and yellowish green in colour. Shell is large, elongate sub-trigonal. Anterior end of the shell is pointed with the beak turned down. Ventral shell margin is slightly concave. Middle dorsal margin is angularly convex while posterior margin is broadly rounded. Two small hinge teeth on the left valve and one on the right valve; foot is tongue shaped with byssal threads

Anomalodesmata Arcticoidea Cardioidea Chamoidea Cyamioidea Dreissenoidea Galeommatoidea Glossoidea Lucinoidea Mactroidea Myoidea Solenoidea Tellinoidea

Pearl oyster: internal anatomy

Veneroidea

[Source: image taken or modified from Ponder and Lindber (2008) and Beesley et al. (1998)]

Distintive characters of commercially important species Mussels The genus Perna (family Mytilidae) is characterized by the absence of anterior adductor muscle, occurrence of one or two well developed hinge teeth, partition of the crystalline sac from the mid-gut, broad partition of the two posterior byssal retractors etc. In India, there are two species of commercially important mussels viz. the green mussel Perna viridis and the brown mussel Perna indica contribute to the fishery.

Perna indica The outer surfaces of the shell valve and mantle margin are respectively dark brown and brown in colour. Anterior end of the shell is pointed and straight. Ventral shell margin is more or less straight. Middle dorsal margin has a distinct angle/

Pearl oysters Taxonomy The pearl oyster belongs to the family Pteriidae. This group is characterized by a straight hinge with 1-2 small tooth-like thickening, a cavity below the anterior angle for the byssus and usually a scaly surface of the outer shell valves. The family comprises two commercially important genus viz. Pinctada spp and Pteria spp. In Pteria spp the shell width is much longer than the height and the hinge angle is prominent and pronounced. In Pinctada spp the hinge is rather long and straight, the long axis of the shell is not at right angle at the hinge, the left valve is usually deeper than the right and there is a byssal notch on each valve at the base of the anterior lobe. The colouration of periostracum is changeable and is often brownish with radial markings. In Indian waters, six species of pearl oysters viz. Pinctada fucata (Gould), P. margaritifera (Linnaeus), P. chemnitzii (Philippi), P. sugillata (Reeve), P. anomioides (Reeve) and


44


P. atropurpurea (Dunken) have been reported. Pinctada fucata (Gould)

convexity of the valves is not prominent, especially that of the right valve. The anterior hinge teeth are small and roundish and the posterior one is slightly elongated. The shell valves are dark grey with a tinge of brown with six yellowish radial markings. The lower or posterior regions of valves are light yellow and gray.

The hinge is nearly as wide as the width of the shell, left valve is deeper than the right, byssal notch slit-like, left valve greatly convex, posterior ear well developed with fairly developed sinus, anterior margin of shell just far in advance in front of anterior ear. Hinge teeth are present in both valves, one each at the anterior and posterior ends of the ligament. The anterior ear is larger than the other species. The posterior ear is fairly well developed. The outer surface of the shell valves with 6 - 8 radial bands of reddish brown on a pale yellow background. The nacreous layer is thick and has a bright golden, pink or ivory colour with metallic lustre. The nonnacreous margin on the inner surface of valves has reddish or brownish patches.

The hinge is shorter than the width of the widest region of the antero-posterior axis of the shell. The hinge and dorsoventral axis have a ratio of 1:1.4. Hinge teeth are absent or poorly developed. The anterior ear is moderately developed and the byssal notch at its base is deep. The posterior ear and sinus are absent. The outer shell valves are yellowish or grayish with faint radial markings. The nacreous layer is well developed.

Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus)

Pinctada atropurpurea (Dunker)

The anterior margin of the shell extends in front of the anterior lobe. The anterior ear is well developed whereas the posterior ear and sinus are absent. The byssal notch is broad. The hinge is shorter than the width of the shell and is devoid of teeth. Left valves are moderately convex. The posterior end of the shell meets the hinge almost at a right angle. The outer shell is dark graying-brown with greenish tinge and radially distributed white spots. The nacreous layer is iridescent with a silvery sheen colour and the non-nacreous margin is black colour. Due to the dark marginal colouration of the shell, this pearl oyster is also known as the ‘’Black-lip pearl oyster’’.

The shell is roundish with its hinge narrow. The valves are thin, translucent and moderately convex. The nacreous layer is thin and the byssal notch is deep. A poorly developed anterior hinge tooth may be present in some oysters. Externally, the shell valves are copper coloured.

Pinctada anomioides (Reeve)

Pinctada chemnitzii (Philippi) The shell is very comparable to that of P. fucata with the exception of very less convexity of valves and better developed of posterior ear. The hinge is almost as long as the anteroposterior measurement of the valves. The anterior ear is well developed and the byssal notch is slit-like. Hinge teeth of the anterior and posterior are present; the former is minute and rounded and the latter prominent and ridge-like commencing a little in advance of the posterior area of the hinge ligament. The posterior ear and the posterior sinus are well developed. The outer shells are yellowish externally with about four or more light brownish radial markings. The growth lines of the shell are broad. The nacreous layer is bright and lustrous and the non-nacreous layer is brownish.

Pinctada sugillata (Reeve) The hinge is noticeably shorter than the anterio-posterior axis of the shell. The antero-posterior measurement is approximately equal to the dorso-ventral measurement. The anterior ear is small and the byssal notch is a fairly wide slit-like. The anterior ears are somewhat bent towards the right. The posterior ear and sinus are poorly developed. The 16 February - 8 March 2015

General anatomy of edible oyster

Edible oysters Edible oysters belonging to the family Ostreidae and are found in hard substratum in the bays and creeks near coastal waters. They are attached permanently to the substratum.

Taxonomy In Indian waters, six species of edible oysters are reported. They are the Indian backwater oyster Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston), Chinese oyster C. rivularis (Gould), West coast oyster C. gryphoides (Schlotheim), Indian rock oyster Saccostrea


45


cucullata (Born), Bombay oyster Saxostrea cucullata (Awati and Rai) and the giant oyster Hyostissa hyotis (Linnaeus ).

Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston) Shell valves are irregular in shape usually straight/elongate. Shell valves are covered by numerous foliaceous laminae. Left valve is deep while right one slightly concave. Hinge is narrow and elongated. Adductor muscle scar is kidney-shaped and sub central; dark purple in colour. Inner surface of valve is white, glossy and smooth with purplish black colouration on the inner margin.

C. gryphoides (Schlotheim) Shell valves are elongate and thick. Shell is oblong, narrow in the anterior margin and broader in the posterior margin, laminated, lower valve very thick, especially in the anterior region below the ligamental area. Adductor muscle scar is broad, more or less oblong or heart shaped and pearly white with striations on the scar are absent or unclear. Upper valve thin flat and opercular, no denticles on the margin. Left valve is cup-like. Hinge region is well developed and has a deep median groove with lateral elevations.

C. rivularis (Gould) Shell valves large, roughly round, flat, thick and with a shallow shell cavity. Left valve is thick and slightly concave and the right one is about the same size or slightly larger. Adductor muscle scar is oblong and white or smoky white in colour.

Saccostrea cucullata (Born) Shell more or less trigonal, sometimes oblong, extremely hard and pear-shaped. The margins of the valves have well developed angular folds sculptured with laminae. Small tubercles present along the inner margin of the right valve and there are corresponding pits in the left valve. Adductor muscle scar is kidney shaped.

Clam In Indian waters, a number of species coming under the families viz. Veneridae, Arcidae, Tridacnidae, Corbiculidae, Solenidae, Mesodesmatidae, Donacidae and Tellinidae are exploited from the time immemorial. The cultivable species by and large fit in to the first four aforementioned families.

Arcidae Commercially important species under this family is represented by single species, Anadara granosa. It is found all along the Indian coast in soft muddy substratum and forms a fishery of some magnitude in the Kakinada Bay.

Anadara granosa Shell valves are thick, inflated and dark brown. This species varies from other clams in having taxodont dentition and about 20 prominent ribs with rectangular nodules.

Veneridae This family is characterized by the hinge with three cardinal teeth, a single anterior tooth on the left valve and a corresponding depression on the right valve, slightly unequal sized adductor muscle scars (= 2 Nos). This group contains three importance genera viz. Paphia, Meretrix and Marcia.

Paphia malabarica Shell is slightly inflated, triangularly ovate and surface is concentrically grooved. The anterior and posterior margins are narrowly rounded. Hinge area is short with narrowly diverging teeth. Pallial sinus is ‘U’ shaped and very deep. Lunule is relatively short. Shell length is only one and one third times longer than height. The outer shell valves are yellowish brown in colour indistinctly rayed with greyish brown bands or blotched with brownish angular markings.

Villorita cyprinoides Shell is thick, ovately triangular with strong concentric ridges. Hinge border is very short and thick, always with three oblique cardinal teeth; the anterior in the right valve and posterior in the left valve are less developed. Ridges are more strongly developed in the anterior half. Umbones are prominent and well elevated. Pallial sinus is small. Lunule is narrow and ligament is large. Shell is dark olive brown to blackish brown in colour.

Meretrix casta Shell is thick, moderately large with a brown horny periostracum. Shell is also smooth and triangularly ovate with devoid of any sculpture. Outer surface of the valves is very fainted rayed with greyish radial lines or pale yellowish brown tinted with dark grey posteriorly.

Meretrix meretrix Shell varies from M. casta in having less elongated lateral tooth, more ovate shell and larger size. Periostracum is thin and of grey or straw colour. Postero-dorsal margin of the outer shell is greyish blue or bluish brown band

Marcia opima Shell is thick, inflated, smooth and triangularly ovate. Pallial line is deeply sinuate. Tip of the pallial sinus is bluntly angular.


46

V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed narrow and rounded. Pallial sinus is deep. The outer surface of shell is white covered with pale violet especially towards umbo and the posterior region is darker. The inner surface is of deep violet colour.

Lunule is distinct, flattened and rather broad. Area behind the umbones is clear, flattened and deeply elongated reaching almost upto the hind margin of the shell. Outer surface of shell is pale yellowish brown or straw coloured variously blotched and rayed with purplish grey markings. The inner surface of the valve is white.

Mesodesmatidae

Gafrarium tumidum

Mesodesma glabratum

Shell is thick, strongly inflated and sculptured with thick, nodular radial ribs which tend to bifurcate towards the ventral margin. The interstitial spaces between some of the main ribs, there are secondary rows of nodules. The pallial line is full and well developed. The outer surface is white with irregular dark spots posteriorly and near the umbo.

Shell is thick, inequilateral and roughly trigonal. The outer surface of shell has well developed concentric striae. The umbo is small. Hinge has two cardinal teeth and there is an anterior lateral tooth. The pallial sinus is small and angular.

Tridacnidae

Solen kempi

The tridacnid clams are characterized by large massive shells with broad radial ribs, sometimes having large fluted scales. Border of valves is usually scalloped.

Shell is small, about six times as long as high. Anterior region is obliquely truncate while posterior region rounded. Cardinal tooth is in right valve with a shallow groove all over its breadth. Dorsal margin of soft body is somewhat concave in the anterior region and convex in the posterior region. Siphon is long and segmented. Foot is long flattened and about half the length of body. Periostracum is yellowish brown and glossy.

Tridacna crocea Shell is large, thick, and triangularly ovate with large byssal opening. Shell valves contain 6-10 broad flattened ribs with concentric ridges. Outer shell valves are greyish white flushed with yellow or pinkish orange.

T. maxima Shell is strongly inequilateral. The shell is similar to that of T. crocea except that the 6-12 broad radial ribs have better developed concentric scales. Large byssal gape with distinct plicae is at edges. Ventral border of the valve often deeply scalloped. Shell is greyish white, sometimes tinged with yellow or pinkish orange.

T. squamosa Shell is large, thick and strongly inflated with small or medium sized byssal gape. Shell valves posses 4-12 strongly convex ribs with riblets in interspaces. Broad, sometime long fluted scales on ribs which may project beyond ventral margin noticeably. Shell is greyish white, sometimes tinged with yellow.

Donacidae

Donax cuneatus Shell is trigonal, inequilateral. Shell possesses a curved keel extending from the umbo to the postero-ventral corner; there are sharp concentric and fine radiating ones which are conspicuous in the anterior and posterior regions only. The anterior end is broad and rounded while the posterior end is 16 February - 8 March 2015

Solenidae

References Appukuttan, K.K. 1996. Marine molluscs and their conservation. In Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management. Central Marine Fisheries Institute, Cochin, eds. N.G.Menon and C.S.G. Pillai. Beesley, PL, Ross GJB, and Wells, A. 1998. Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. 1-1234 pp. Bieler, R. and Mikkelsen, P.M. 2006. Bivalvia – a look at the branches. Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 148, 223– 235. Campbell, D. C. 2000. Molecular evidence on the evolution of the Bivalvia. In : The Evolutionary Biology of the Bivalvia, Edited by Harper, E. M., Taylor, J. D., and Crame, J. A., London: Geological Society of London Special Publications, Vol. 177, pp. 31–46. Cox, LR, 1960. Thoughts on the classification of the Bivalvia. Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond. 34: 60 - 80. Dreyer, H., Steiner, G., Harper, E.M., 2003. Molecular phylogeny of Anomalodesmata (Mollusca: Bivalvia) inferred from 18S rRNA sequences. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 139, 229 -246. Giribet, G. and Distel, D.L., 2003. Bivalve phylogeny and molecular data. In: Lydeard, C., Lindberg, D.R. (Eds.), Molecular Systematics and Phylogeography of Mollusks. Smithsonian Books, Washington, pp. 45–90. Giribet, G., and Wheeler, W.C., 2002. On bivalve phylogeny: a high-level analysis of the Bivalvia (Mollusca) based on combined morphology and DNA sequence data. Invertebr. Biol., 121. Giribet, G, and Wheeler W.C. 2007. The case for sensitivity: a response to Grant and Kluge.Cladistics 23:294-296. Newell, ND. 1965. Classification of the Bivalvia. Amer. Museum Novit. 2206: 1-25. Newell, ND. 1969. Classification of the Bivalvia. In: Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Mollusca 6, Vol. 1. Bivalvia. Moore R, ed., pp. N205-N244. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, BoulderLawrence. Prezant, R.S. 1998a. Subclass Palaeoheterodonta Introduction. In Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis, Fauna of Australia, Vol. 5. Edited by P.L. Beesley, G.J.B. Ross, and A.Wells. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, pp. 289 – 294. Prezant, R.S. 1998b. Subclass Heterodonta Introduction. In Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis, Fauna of Australia, Vol. 5. Edited by P.L. Beesley, G.J.B. Ross, and A.Wells. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, pp. 301 – 306. Ponder, W. and D. Lindberg. 2008. Molluscan evolution and phylogeny: An introduction. In: W. F. Ponder and D. R. Lindberg, eds., Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. Pp. 1–17.


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Bivalve classification and taxonomy Purchon, R.D. 1968. The Biology of the Mollusca. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 560 pp. Stasek, CR. 1963. Synopsis and discussion of the association of ctenidia and labial palps in the bivalve Mollusca. Veliger 6: 91 – 97. Steiner, G. and Hammer, S. (2000). Molecular phylogeny of Bivalvia (Mollusca) inferred from, 18S. r D. N. A. sequences with particular reference to the Pteriomorphia. In: The Evolutionary Biology of the Bivalvia. Edited by E. M. Harper, J. D. Taylor and J. A. Crame London: Geological Society of London Special Publications, pp. 11– 29. Taylor, J.D., Glover, E.A. and Williams, S.T., 2005. Another bloody bivalve: anatomy and relationships of Eucrassatella donacina from South Western Australia (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Crassatellidae). In: Wells, F.E., Walker, D.I., Kendrick, G.A. (Eds.), The Marine Flora and Fauna of Esperance, Western

Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth, pp. 261–288. Thiele, J., 1929-1935. Handbuch der Systematischen Weichtierkunde (4 volumes). Jena, Germany: Gustav Fischer Verlag. Vokes, H.E. 1980. Genera of the Bivalvia: A systematic and bibliographic catalogue revised and updated. Ithaca, NY: Paleontological Research Institution. Williams, S.T., Taylor, J.D., and Glover, E.A. 2004. Molecular phylogeny of the Lucinoidea (Bivalvia): Non-monophyly and separate acquisition of bacterial chemosymbiosis. J. Moll. Stud. 70: 187–202.


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09

Cephalopod classification and Taxonomy V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed Molluscan Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Chambered nautilus, cuttlefishes, squids and octopus are the four major groups of cephalopods, which belong to the highly evolved class of phylum Mollusca. Cephalopods are the third largest molluscan class after bivalves and gastropods and consist of more than 800 species (Lindgren et al. 2004). The fossil record contains about 17,000 named species of cephalopods. Although the diversity of cephalopods is very much reduced in the modern era, cephalopods are found to occur in all the oceans of the world from the tropics to the polar seas and at all depths ranging from the surface to below 5000m. Cephalopods were dominant predators millions of years before fish appeared. The earliest cephalopods were primitive shelled nautiloids which evolved in the Late Cambrian period. The living cephalopods range in size from 25mm (Southern pygmy squid, Idiosepius notoides) to more than 12m (Colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in length. All cephalopods are dioecious and females are generally bigger than males. Males have one or two modified arms known as hectocotylus which are used for mating. Fertilization takes place in the female. Development is direct to the young ones as miniature of adult. Many species of deep-sea cephalopods occurring at depths of about 400 - 800m undergo vertical migrations during the day and then rise into the uppermost 200 m or so during the night. Cephalopods are carnivores and possess a radula and powerful beaks. They eat fish, crustaceans, shellfish etc. They are major food resources for many top predators such as dolphins, whales, seals, birds and large fish.

Classification Higher-level classification of recent cephalopods is mostly unstable. Several authors have suggested highly varying classification. A conservative arrangement should be accepted that do not differ much from that of Naef (1921 23). Classification of species within subfamilies and /or genera

have proved to be useful based on the morphological studies (Voss, 1988), but less significant in determining higher-level relationships. The following classification can be used until an alternative arrangement can be derived from cladistic analysis. Molecular or morphological based analysis must have to go considerable scrutiny before changed in classification should be adopted. Cephalopods (Class Cephalopoda) are represented by two extant subclasses, Nautiloidea (Nautilus and Allonautilus) and Coleoidea and one extinct subclass, Ammonoidea. Members of the subclass Coleoidea includes two subdivisions, the Belemnoidea, which is the primitive form of cephalopod possessing ink sac and ten equally sized arms, became extinct during the cretaceous period and Neocoleoidea (cuttlefish, squid and octopus) where the shell has been internalized and reduced, completely lost. As a consequence, members of Neocoleoidea rarely fossilize and very few information pertaining to the origin and relationships of living coleoid cephalopods is available from the fossil record. The major division of Coleoidea is based upon the number of arms or tentacles and their structure. Presently, living coleoids can be segregated into two superorders, Decapodiformes and Octopodiformes (Berthold and Engeser, 1987). The Decapodiformes has fourth arm pair modified into long tentacles. The Decapodiformes contains two orders; the order Teuthoidea, which includes two suborders [ Myopsida(closed-eye squids) and Oeopsida (open-eye squids)] and the order Sepioidea which includes families like Idiosepiidae (pygmy squid), Sepiidae (cuttlefish), Sepiolidae (bobtail squids), Spirulidae (ram’s horn squid), and Sepiadariidae (bottletail squids). The Octopodiformes includes the orders Octopoda (pelagic and benthic octopuses) and Vampyromorpha (vamphire squid). Octopodiformes has modifications to second arm pair; it is drastically reduced as a sensory filament in the Vampyromorphida, while Octopoda species have totally lost that arm pair. The Octopoda 49

Cephalopod classification and Taxonomy contains two suborders; Cirrata (deep-sea finned octopuses) and Incirrata (pelagic and benthic octopuses including the argonautiods and blanket octopuses)

Suborder

Oegopsida

Family

Onychoteuthidae

Genus

Onchoteuthis

Squids posses elongate, cigar-shaped body with posteroexternal fins and eight cirumoral arms, not joined at the base with a web, with two or more rows of stalked suckers bearing chitinous rings (and/or hooks) extend the length of the mantle. They also posses two long tentacles with tentacular club of two or more rows of suckers (and or hooks) at the distal end. The cuttlefish posses a broad saclike body with lateral fins that are either narrow and running over the entire length (Sepiidae) or are short, round and flaplike (Sepiolidae). In both cases the posterior ends of the fins are free (subterminal) and separated by the posterior end of the mantle; ten circumoral appendages, the longest (fourth) pair of tentacles are retractile into pockets at the ventrolateral sides of head. The eight arms frequently bear four rows of stalked suckers with chitinous rings. Both eyes are covered with a transparent membrane; shell is thick, chalky, calcareous (cuttlebone of sepia) or thin, chitinous (Sepiolidae). Octopus posses a short, sac-like body with either no lateral fins or with separate paddle-like fins in some deep sea forms, and eight circumoral arms with no tentacles, with the bases connected by a web and un-stalked suckers, without chitinous rings, along the length of the arms.

Family

Ommastrephidae

Subfamily

Ommastrephinae

Genus

Sthenoteuthis

Family

Thysanoteuthidae

Genus

Thysanoteuthis

Order

SEPIODIDAE

Family

Sepiidae

Genus

Sepia

About 210 species of cephalopods have been reported from India. Among these, there are about 80 species of cephalopods of commercial and scientific interest distributed in the Indian seas. Systematic position of potentially important cephalopods of India Class

CEPHALOPODA

Sub class

NAUTILOIDEA

Family

Nautilidae

Subclass

COLEOIDEA

Order

TEUTHOIDEA

Suborder

Myopsida

Family

Loliginidae

Genus

Uroteuthis

Onchoteuthis banksii

Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis Thysanoteuthis rhombus

Sepia pharaonis Sepia aculeata Sepia prashadi Sepia elliptica Sepia trygonina Sepia brevimana Sepia arabica Sepia kobiensis Sepia prabahari Sepia ramani Sepia omani

Genus

Sepiella

Family

Sepiolidae

Genus

Euprymna

Order

OCTOPODA

Suborder

Incirrata

Family

Octopodidae

Genus

Amphioctopus

Sepiella inermis Euprymna stenodactyla

Amphioctopus aegina Amphioctopus neglectus Amphioctopus marginatus

Nautilus pompilius

Amphioctopus rex Genus

Cistopus

Cistopus indicus Cistopus taiwanicus

Genus

Haplochlaena

Haplochlaena maculosa

Genus

Callistoctopus

Callistoctopus luteus

Genus

Octopus

Octopus vulgaris

Genus

Pteroctopus

Pteroctopus keralensis

U (P) sibogae

Family

Argonautidae

U (P) singhalensis

Genus

Argonauta

Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvaucelii

Argonauta argo

U (P) edulis U (P) chinensis Genus

Sepioteuthis

Sepioteuthis lessoniana

Genus

Loliolus

Loliolus (Loliolus) hardwickei Loliolus (Nipponololigo) uyii L (N) sumatrensis

Argonauta hians

Subclass Nautiloidea Shell complete external, smooth, coiled and chambered, more than 10 (63 - 94) circumoral appendages without suckers, a funnel bilobed, two pairs of gills and the absence of an ink sac.


50


Family Nautilidae

U (P) sibogae (Adam, 1954)

The ‘’chambered or pearly nautiluses ‘’ comprises single family and genus and six species. They have approximately 100 suckerless tentacles, simple eye without lenses and thick rigid hood used to protect the animal when retracted within the shell.

Mantle long, narrow and slender, no ridge but chromatophore concentration ventrally along midline; fins narrow and less than 60 per cent of mantle length; less than half of left ventral arm hectocotylized distally in males; gladius narrow, sharply accumulate posteriorly.

Subclass Coleoidea This subclass includes all living cephalopods - squids, cuttlefish and octopuses, other than chambered nautiluses. Key diagnostic characters are shell internal, calcareous, chitinous or cartilaginous, 8-10 circumoral appendages with suckers, only one pair of gills (dibranchiate) and funnel tube-like.

Order Teuthoidea This order contains the squids, characterized by internal shell (gladius or pen) chitinous feather or rod shaped, eight arms; two contractile but not retractile, pocket absent, tentacles lost secondarily in some, fin on the mantle and stalked suckers with or without chitinous hooks, with horny rings and constricted necks; fin lobes fused posteriorly. Eyes either covered or open and without supplementary eyelid.

Suborder Myopsida Myopsid squids are characterized by eyes entirely covered by a transparent corneal membrane. Eye cavity communicates with the exterior through a tiny hole. Arms and tentacles have suckers only, no hooks. Mante locking apparatus is simple (linear) and the gladius is pen-like.

Suborder Oegopsida Oegopsid squids (Oceanic squid or Open-eyed squids) are characterized by eyes not covered with a corneal membrane and open to the surrounding medium, arms and tentacles bear suckers and / or hooks. Mantle locking apparatus ranges from simple to complex to fused.

Family Loliginidae Sepioteuthis lessoniana Ferussac in Lesson, 1831 Body elongate, cylindrical in outline; fins marginal, wide and muscular, very long almost running along entire length of mantle; elliptical in shape

Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvaucelii (Orbigny, 1835) Body elongate, mid-rib of gladius clearly visible through mantle skin; fin length in adults upto 60 per cent of mantle length; tentacular clubs large median manal sucker ring with 14 - 17 teeth; Arm sucker rings with broad, large, square teeth (5 to 9) on the distal margin; in males, more than half the length (up to75 %) of the left ventral arm hectocotylized, papillae not fused. 16 February - 8 March 2015

U (P) singhalensis (Ortmann, 1891) Mantle is long, slender, cylindrical, and it tapers posteriorly into as sharply-pointed tip. Mantle bout 4-7 times as long as wide. Mantle with a ridge along midline in males; The tentacles are short and slender. Clubs are rather short. Left ventral arm IV is hectocotylized distally in mature males for 40 - 45% of its length. The chitinous sucker rings are smooth or wavy proximally, while the distal margin bears 6-11 (most commonly 9) plate-like, truncate, squared teeth.

U (P) edulis (Hoyle, 1885) Mantle more or less stout, elongate and slender. Fins large, rhombic with the anterior margin slightly convex, the posterior margin gently concave and the lateral angles rounded. Fins become slightly longer than wide in adult specimens (up to 70% of mantle length), gladius long, somewhat narrow, arms somewhat long (25- 45% of mantle). More than half of left ventral arm hectocotylized distally in males.

U (P) chinensis Gray, 1849 Fin length in adults greater than 60% of mantle length. Hectocotylized portion of the left arm IV from 33% to 50% of total arm length. Arm sucker rings with 10-15 stout, pointed, conical teeth distally, the proximal margin smooth; occasionally with rudimentary teeth only. Although the record of this species along the Indian east coast is available in the literature, this species is not recorded in the cephalopod samples of Institute.

Loliolus (Loliolus) hardwickei (Gray, 1849) Small squids. Mantle length of adults less than 60 mm; fins heart shaped; vane of gladius conspicuously broad at midlength

Loliolus (Nipponololigo) uyii (Wakiya and Ishikawa, 1921) Body short and stout; mid rib of gladius clearly visible through dorsal mantle skin as a median dark line; fins 55-65 per cent of mantle length; Tentacular clubs have median manal suckers with smooth rings; in males left ventral arm hectocotylized almost the entire arm; papillae on ventral margin fused with membrane.

L (N) sumatrensis (D’Orbigny, 1835) Body short, sub-cylindrical, gradually decrease in width posteriorly to blunt point. Head small with large eyes; fins 60-65% of mantle length; fin rhomboidal in shape; arm sucker ring with 6-9 broad, squared teeth; in male left ventral arm hectocotylized upto 87%.


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Cephalopod classification and Taxonomy

Onychoteuthidae Onchoteuthis banksii (Leach, 1817) Oceanic squids with muscular body; head with nuchal folds on the dorsal side at posterior end; rachis of gladius visible as a longitudinal ridge middorsally along the entire length of mantle; tentacular clubs with two rows of hooks, marginal suckers lacking.

Thysanoteuthidae Thysanoteuthis rhombus Troschel, 1857 Funnel locking cartilage shaped consisting of a narrow longitudinal groove and a short transverse groove branching from it medially. Fins broad and rhombus-shaped occupying nearly entire length of mantle.

Ommastrephidae Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis (Lesson, 1830) Funnel and mantle cartilages of the locking apparatus fused together. An oval photophoric patch present middorsally near anterior margin of mantle; muscle of mantle ventrally without embedded light organs; two intestinal photophores present.

Order Sepioidea This order includes the cuttlefishes, characterized by an oval body shape, compressed dorsoventrally and framed along both sides of the body by narrow fins that do not attach at the posterior end. The arms bear 2 to 4 rows of suckers. The tentacles are totally retractile into pockets. The internal shell, cuttlebone (calcareous) lies dorsally in the body below the skin. The shell is an oval in shape, thick, containing several gas and /or water filled chambers for buoyancy control.

Sepia pharaonis Ehrenberg, 1831 Body robust, fins broad commencing from edge of anterior mantle margin; tentacular clubs moderately long and well expanded; 5 or 6 suckers in middle row of manus greatly enlarged; cuttlebone broad, thick and with a midventral flattening anteriorly in striated area; striae ‘ ’ shaped; inner cone forms a conspicuous yellow flat ledge; a sharp thick spine present; when alive, body brownish, tiger-stripe pattern prominent.

Sepia aculeata Van Hasselt, 1835 ( in Ferussac and d’ Orbigny, 1834 - 1848) Tentacular clubs very long, with 10-14 rows of minute subequal suckers. Cuttlebone broad and thick with a median longitudinal edge with a faint groove running medially on striated area; inner cone forms a ledge-like callosity.

Sepia prashadi Winckworth, 1936 Body not robust, fin narrow commencing a few mm behind edge of anterior mantle margin; tentacular clubs short, expanded; not more than 3 suckers in middle row of manus greatly enlarged; cuttlebone narrow, midventral groove narrow and distinct, striae anteriorly broadly truncate with lateral corners slightly produced forward; dorsal surface pinkish in colour, a sharp thin spine present; When alive, dusty brownish, transverse stripes less distinct.

Sepia elliptica Hoyle, 1885 Tentacular clubs moderately long, with 10 rows of small suckers of uniform size. Cuttlebone thin, elliptical in shape, dorsal surface smooth; two conspicuous lateral ridges more prominent anteriorly resulting in three longitudinal furrows in striated area; spine thick, sharp, long and well curved.

Family Sepiidae

Sepia trygonina (Rochebrune, 1884)

Small to medium- sized animals characterized by an oval body; flattened dorsoventrally, calcareous internal shell, head free from dorsal mantle, fins marginal and narrow, light organ absent.

No fleshy projections on head; fins extend upto end of mantle; tentacles with short clubs, suckers in eight rows, about five in third row enlarged. Cuttlebone lanceolite with acuminate anterior tip with edges of outer cone winged giving an arrow head appearance; spine small.

Family Sepiolidae Small animals characterized by saccular body, wide, round bottomed; fins circular; internal shell lacking; dorsal mantle and head united by a nuchal commissure; saddle-shaped light organ present on ink sac.

Genus Sepia Body without a glandular pore at posterior extremity; cuttlebone mostly with a spine (rostrum) at posterior end.

Sepia brevimana Steenstrup, 1875 Tentacular club short with 6-8 small subequal suckers. Cuttlebone flat and distinctly acuminate anteriorly, dorsal surface rugose, a shallow median groove in the striated area, the striae ‘ ’ shaped with a median shallow groove broadening anteriorly; inner cone and its limbs pinkish in colour; spine small, sharp and slightly curved.

Sepiella inermis Van Hasselt, 1835 ( in Ferussac and d’ Orbigny, 1834 - 1848)

Onychoteuthidae Onchoteuthis banksii (Leach, 1817)

Body with a district glandular pore at posterior extremely on ventral side; with brownish fluid oozing out; cuttlebone devoid of spine.

Oceanic squids with muscular body; head with nuchal folds on the dorsal side at posterior end; rachis of gladius visible as a longitudinal ridge middorsally along the entire length of


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V. Venkatesan and K.S. Mohamed mantle; tentacular clubs with two rows of hooks, marginal suckers lacking.

shell; internal shell either vestigial or lacking; no great disparity between males and females in size.

Thysanoteuthidae Thysanoteuthis rhombus Troschel, 1857

Cistopus indicus Rapp, 1835 ( in Ferussac and d’ Orbigny, 1834 - 1848)

Funnel locking cartilage shaped consisting of a narrow longitudinal groove and a short transverse groove branching from it medially. Fins broad and rhombus-shaped occupying nearly entire length of mantle.

Ommastrephidae Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis (Lesson, 1830) Funnel and mantle cartilages of the locking apparatus fused together. An oval photophoric patch present middorsally near anterior margin of mantle; muscle of mantle ventrally without embedded light organs; two intestinal photophores present.

Hectocotylized arm only slightly modified, ligula small about 3 per cent of arm. Small water pores leading to embedded pouches between bases of arms.

Amphioctopus aegina (Gray, 1849) Eyes prominent; a single large cirrus posterior to each eye. Ligula small, 5 to 8 per cent of arm; with shallow groove; penis and diverticulum together form U-shaped loop; spermatophores long and unarmed.

Amphioctopus neglectus (Nateewathana and Norman, 1999)

This order includes all octopuses, described by eight arms with 1 or 2 rows of suckers. Most species have web sectors between the arms.

Medium-sized species characterized by elongate and ovoid body, U-shaped iridescent transverse bar on the head between the eyes, Dark ocellus including blue ring present at base of 2nd and 3rd arm pair, Head relatively wider in males than in female, 1 or 2 papillae present over each eye. Ligula long and slender.

Sub-order Cirrata

Haplochlaena maculosa (Hoyle, 1883)

Finned or cirrate octopods are deep sea octopuses characterized by round to tongue- like fins on the mantle and single rows of suckers interspersed by cirri. Mantle aperture is very narrow. Only the left oviduct is developed

Body globular smaller in size; skin smooth without reticulate pattern; white fresh dusty brown in colour with prominent bluish rings on mantle, head, web and arms.

Sub-order Incirrata

Jerep, P and Roper, C.F.E. 2005. Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cephalopod species known to date. Volume 1. Chambered nautilus, and sepioids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 1. Rome, FAO. 262p. Jerep, P and Roper, C.F.E. 2010. Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cephalopod species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 2 Rome, FAO. 605p. Jerep, P, Roper, C.F.E., Norman, M.D. and Julian K Finn 2014. Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cephalopod species known to date. Volume 3. Octopods and Vampire squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 3. Rome, FAO. 370p. Berthold, T., Engeser, T., 1987. Phylogenetic analysis and systematization of the Cephalopoda (Mollusca). Ver. Naturwissenschaftliche Vereins Hamburg 29, 187-220. Naef, A., 1921-1923. Cephalopoda. Fauna e flora del Golfo di Napoli, Monograph. In (translated from German by the Israel program for Scientific translations, Jerusalem 1972), p. 917. Lindgren, A.R., Giribet, G., Nishiguchi, M.K., 2004. A combined approach to the phylogeny of Cephalopoda (Mollusca). Cladistics 20, 454-486. Voss, G.L., 1988. Evolution and phylogenetic relationships of deep-sea octopods (Cirrata and Incirrata). In: Clarke, M.R., Trueman, E.R., (Eds.), The Mollusca. Paleontology and Neontology of Cephalopods, vol. 12, pp. 253-276.

Order Octopoda

Incirrate octopuses are characterize by fins lacking, and have 1 or 2 rows of suckers and no cirri.

Family Argonautidae This family of pelagic octopuses is known as paper nautiluses or Argonauts, the females of which secrete an external shell. This calcareous external shell is brittle and white in colour with fine corrugations. The male is much smaller than the female. Male lacks the external shell and possesses a large modified third left arm which is detached during mating.

Family Octopodidae This family includes tiny to very large benthic octopuses characterized by eight arms with 1 or 2 rows of sessile suckers and modified third right arm in males, without an external


Suggested reading


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10

Inshore shrimps - Family, Genera and species of commercial importance in India S. Lakshmi Pillai Crustacean Fisheries Division, CMFRI, Kochi-18

Crustaceans are important component of the marine ecosystem being food for several predatory fishes and are also valuable fishery resource in countries where they are fished on a commercial scale. Shrimps especially of the superfamily Penaeoidea (family Penaeidae) and Sergestoidea (family Sergestidae) are commercially exploited by different gears along the Indian coast from inshore waters. They contribute substantially to the crustacean landings of the country and the larger varieties - Fenneropenaeus indicus, F. merguiensis, F. pencillatus, Penaeus monodon and Penaeus semisulcatus are foreign exchange earners as they have good demand in the international market. Similarly Acetes spp. forms good fishery in the northwest and northeast coast of the country. They belong to the family Sergestidae and are small in size and usually dried or made into paste and used for local consumption and poultry/aquaculture feed preparation. Classification of organisms in an area is essential to estimate the quantum of biodiversity and make decisions on their management and conservation. Perez Farfante and Kensley (1997) have listed total of 401 species of shrimps of which 120 species have been recorded from Indian waters (inshore and deepsea together). Almost all the inshore commercial shrimps are members of family Penaeidae.

Suborder Dendrobranchiata Infraorder Penaiedea 1. SuperfamilyPenaeoidea Family Penaeidae (commercially important inshore shrimps) Family Sicyoniidae

Family Benthesicymidae Family Solenoceridae Family Aristeidae 2.Superfamily Sergestoidea Family Luciferidae Family Sergestidae (Commercially important small size shrimps in inshore waters- Acetes spp.)

Infraorder Caridea 1.Superfamily Palaemonidae Family Gnathophyllidae Family Hymenoceridae Family Palaemonidae (Expalaemon styliferus & Nematopalaemon tenuipes) Superfamily Alpheoidea Family Alpheidae Family Hippolytidae (Exhippolysmata ensirostris & Lysmata vittata) Family Ogyridae Penaeidae: Rostrum well developed. Rostrum with ventral teeth and sometimes with dorsal teeth. Petasma semi open or semi closed. Thelycum open or closed. Genera: Penaeus - Rostrum serrated on dorsal and ventral margins. Hepatic carina prominent. Thelycum closed. Abdomen smooth. Petasma with ventral costa long, reaching distal margin of lateral lobe.


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Thelycum

P. monodon: 3-4 teeth on ventral margin of rostrum, hepatic crest nearly horizontal, antennal flagella not banded. Fifth leg without exopod. Anterior process of thelycum subtriangular. Distomedian process of petasma slightly overhanging distal margin of costae. Body grey, abdomen with dark brown to dark grey and pale yellow transverse bands. Uropods with a pale yellow to pink median transverse band.


Petasma

P. semisulcatus: 2-3 teeth on ventral margin of rostrum, hepatic crest sloping anteroventrally. Adrostral crest reaching beyond last postrostral tooth. Anennal flagella banded. Fifth leg bearing a small exopod. Anterior process of thelycum subtriangular with raised edges. Body pale brown, sometimes greenish. Carapace often with two yellow cream dorsal transverse bands. Abdomen with brown grey and pale yellow dorsal transverse bands. Antennae banded white and brown.


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Inshore shrimps - Family, Genera and species of commercial importance in India

Penaeus monodon

Penaeus semisulcatus


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S. Lakshmi Pillai

Fenneropenaeus: Rostrum serrated on dorsal and ventral margins. Hepatic carina generally absent, if present only feeble. Petasma semiclosed. Thelycum closed. Antennal and hepatic spines pronounced on the carapace. F. indicus: Adrostral crest extending as far as or just before epigastric tooth. Telson lacking lateral spines. Thelycum formed by 2 semiciruclar lateral plates with their median margins forming tumid lips. Distomedian projection of petasma strongly curved and overhanging distal margin of costae. Body yellowish white, pereopods generally of same colour as body. Pleopods pink or red.Uropod pink or red.

F. merguiensis: Adrostral crest extending to or just before epigastric tooth, tip of rostrum horizontally straight.Rostral crest very high and broadly triangular in large specimens and in females. Telson lack lateral spines. Anterior process of thelycum slightly rounded and concave. Distomedian projection of petasma short not reaching distal margin of costae.



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F. pencillatus: Rostral crest generally slightly elevated in young and adult males to moderately high in large females. Body slightly greenish and with numerous minute dark brown dots; distal half of uropods yellowish to greenish but always with reddish tips. Parapenaeopsis: Rostrum serrated only on dorsal margin. Telson without fixed subapical spines but with lateral movable spines. Exopod present on all pereiopods. Third pereiopod without epipod. Body slender integument thin. P. cornuta: Petama with long and slender horn like distolateral projections with the distal part curving inwardly. Thelycum oblong and concave and fused posteromedially with posterior plate.A median tuft of long setae behind the thelycum. Transverse brown bands on abdomen.

P. hardwickii: Distomedian projection of petasma wing like, wider than long. Anterior plate of thelycum concave, rounded anteriorly, posterior plate flat, anteromedian margin bearing a transverse row of long setal hairs. Body grey sometimes with a touch of pink.


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P. maxillipedo: Distolateral projection of petasma slender, long and horn like. Thelycumsubquadrate, posteriorly depressed and medially fused to posterior plate.Median tuft of long setae behind the thelycum. Pale brown in colour. Abdomen with dorsal transverse dark bands.Uropods greenish to red brown with a Pale stripe along margins.

P. sculptilis: Rostrum sigmoid in femlaes and upcurved in large males, curving downwards. Distomedian projection long and rabbit ear shaped. Distolateral projection of petasma directed anteriorly and short. Thelycum with anterior plate distally rounded and broadly articulating with posterior plate. The latter has a median tubercle bearing a tuft of long setae. Body pale with black transverse bands. Carapace dark brown dorsally except for a white band about its middle.



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P. stylifera: Distolateral projection of petama slender, horn like and directed anterolaterlly. Anterior plate of thelycum square, concave with a slender stem like posterior process. Posterior plate deeply notched anteromedially. Body pale brownish or pinkish in colour.

P. uncta: Distolateral projection of petasma tapering to ends each with a long dorsomedian spine like process. Anterior plate of thelycum wide and short with curved anterior margin and with two longitudinal ridges medially fused with the quadrate posterior plate. Body brown. Carapace with a large dorso-posterior dark brown patch.


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Metapenaeus: Rostrum serrated only on the dorsal margin. Telson generally without fixed subapical spine, but usually with movable lateral spines; antennular peduncle lacking parapenaeid spine. Pleurobrach present on somite XIII; exopods on maxillipeds and anterior four pairs of pereiopods; fifth pereiopod without exopod.

M. affinis: Merus of fifth pereiopod bears a proximal notch followed by a twisted keeled tubercle. Distomedian projection of petasma crescent shaped. Anterior plate of thelycum long and deeply grooved. Lateral plates with strongly raised lateral margins forming two longitudinal crests. Body pale pinkish/pale greenish in colour.

M. brevicornis: Distomedian projection of petasma with long and slender apical filament. Anterior plate of thelycum square and grooved; lateral plates boomerang shaped and enclosing 2 pear shaped plates.Distal part of uropods brown to rusty red sometimes only the tips are coloured.



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M. dobsoni: Merus of 5th pereiopod with one or two large traiangular teeth. Distomedian projection of petasma with a short filament on ventral surface and another on the dorsal surface. Thelycum with a long grooved tongue like anterior plate partially ensheathed in a horse shoe like process formed by lateral plates. Body pale yellow to brown.

M. ensis: Merus of 5th pereiopod with a proximal notch in adult males. Distomedian projection of petasma convoluted, greatly swollen and directed forward, triangular in shape, concealing almost entirely distolateral projections in ventral view. Anterior plate of thelycum lone and deeply grooved. Body pink to greenish grey.

M. kutchensis: Distomedian projection of petasma bifid and transversely placed. Thelycum with an anterior median plate extending beyond and lying in level with the coxal projections.The posterior lateral plates larger, rounded and swollen.Body in fresh condition in the shade of carrot.


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M. lysianassa: Rostrum short and crest high. Distomedian projection with a minute filament on their median margins. Distolateral projection of petasma bifurcate distally. Anterior plate of thelycum tongue like and grooved. Posterior plates suboval.

M. monoceros: Distomedian projection of petasma hood like. Lateral thelycal plates with salient end parallel ear shaped lateral ridges. Body greenish. Distal part of uropods purple- blue.



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M. moyebi: Merus of fifth pereiopod with a proximal notch followed by a twisted keeled tubercle. Anterior plate of thelycum flask shaped and lateral plates kidney shaped.

Metapenaeopsis: Rostrum serrated only on the dorsal margin. Telson with two or more pairs of conspicuous spines anterior to subapical spines. Third maxilliped and second pereiopod with basial spine; petasma asymmetrical.

M. barbata: Left distoventral projection of petasma long. Thelycalplate broadly subquadrate. Posterolateral part of carapace with 16-27 stridulating organ. Body whitish mottled with irregular red blotches. Antennal flagella crossed with red and white bands.


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M. stridulans: Carapace, abdomen and telson with red patches. Stridulating organ present consisting of 5-7 strong ridges in a wide straight band on the carapace.

M. toloensis: Stridulating ridges 14-22 in a curved band. Left distoventral projection of petasma short and left distoventral projection broadly swollen. Thelycal plate subquadrate with rounded corner. Body with dark red to brown mottling.

Trachysalambria: Rostrum serrated only on the dorsal margin. Third pereiopod with epipod; body thick set; third maxilliped lacking basial spine. Thelycum with plate on sternite XIV shallowly emarginated or occasionally produced in small median prominence, not continuous with medial protuberance; Petasma with disto-lateral projections tapering gently from relatively narrow base, extending almost straight laterally or curving slightly backwards.

T. aspera: Red band on the third and fourth abdominal segment. Rostrum slightly curved upwards with 7 dorsal teeth. Telson with 2 pairs of spines of which posterior pair is much longer. Petasma T shaped bearing a pair of distal pointed wing like process. Anterior plate of thelycum semicircular in outline. Uropods red with purple margins.



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T. curvirostris: Rostrum with 7-11 dorsal teeth reaching distal half of second antennular segment. Telson armed with 3 to 4 small movable lateral spines subequal in size. Petasma with broad wing like disto lateral projection directed laterally and curved distoventrally. Anterior plate of thelycum curved anteriorly with a middle groove posteriorly. Uropods bright red to reddish brown, sometimes dark brown with distinct white margins.

Megokris: Third pereiopod with epipod; body thick set; third maxilliped lacking basial spine. Telson with 3 pairs of movable lateral spines. Petasma symmetrical. Thelycum closed with plate on sternite XIV very short medially, deeply excavate, embracing extremely long caudal extension of median protuberance. Petasma with disto-lateral projections either moderately broad to rather narrow basally and extending laterally tomesially or forward directed hook-like tip or extremely broad basally but narrowing rapidly, ending in forward directed tip. M. sedili: Distolateral projection of petasma horn like directed laterally their tips slightly curving forward. Anterior and posterior plates of thelycal plates with strongly raised lateral margins.

Parapenaeus: Rostrum serrated only on the dorsal margin. Telson with only one pair of minute lateral spines anterior to subapical spines.


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P. longipes: Rostrum reaching just beyond the eyes. Third maxilliped reaches the tip of the antennal scale. The process on the distomedian lobe of the petasma directed backwards.

Marsupenaeus: Adrostral carina and sulcus extends behind epigastric tooth, gastrofrontal carina present. Gastro-frontal sulcus markedly bifid posteriorly; thelycum with a ventral undivided plate on sterniteXIVinfolded laterally, forming pouch opening anteriorly. M. japonicus: Rostrum with single ventral tooth. Carapace with a round white colour spot. Last abdominal band discontinous. Telson with lateral movable spines.



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Melicertus: Adrostral carina and sulcus extends behind epigastric tooth; gastro-frontal carina present. Gastro-frontal sulcus not markedly bifid posteriorly; thelycum with a pair of lateral plate on on sternite 14 shielding sac like seminal receptacle opening midline. Telson usually armed with three pairs of movable lateral spines (absent only in M. canaliculatus). M. canaliculatus: Rostrum with single ventral tooth. Body yellow with red brown to brown transverse bands. Last abdominal band reaching the ventral margin.Uropods with a large brown transverse band.

M. latisulcatus: Each abdominal segments with a short vertical black bar on pleuron. Hinges on abdomen bear dark brown spots. Uropods bright yellow with distal half and outer margins of exopods bright blue.


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Superfamily Sergestoidea Family Sergestidae Acetes indicus: One large and long clasping spine on the lower antennular flagella of adult males. Lower antennular flagella

Petasma

Superfamily: Palaemonoidea Family: Palaemonidae Expalaemon styliferus: Dactyla of last three pereiopods not abnormally long. Pleopods normal in length. Nematopalaemon tenuipes: First two pereiopods chelated. Dactyla of last three pairs of pereiopod longer than propodus. Distal part of rostrum dark reddish brown. Reddish spot on basis of uropods.

Acetes johni: Two clasping spines on the lower antennal flagellum of adult males. Red mark on ventral side of last abdominal segment. Tooth present on distal inner margin of coxa of 3rd pereiopods in females. Lower antennular flagella

Petasma

Family: Hippolytidae Lysmata vittata: Dactyla of last three pairs of pereiopod much shorter than propodus. Lateral margin of telson convex. Apex of telson blunt with a pair of spines. Exhyppolysmata ensirostris: Dactyla of last three pair of pereiopods much shorter than propodus. Lateral margin of telson concave. Apex of telson sharply pointed without any spines.

Glossary of terms used in taxonomy (from Perez Farfante &Kensly, 1997)

Acetes japonicus: Two small clasping spines on the lower antennular flagellum of adult males. Distal part of capitulum of petasma is expanded like a bulb and has numerous hooks.

Lower antennular flagella

Petasma

Plural form in parentheses ADROSTRAL CARINA: Ridge flanking the rostrum, sometimes nearly reaching the posterior margin of the carapace. ADROSTRAL SULCUS: Groove flanking the rostrum mesial to the adrostralcarina , sometimes nearly reaching the posterior margin of the carapace. ANTENNA (ANTENNAE):.More lateral to the two paired, usually flagellate appendages projecting distally from the anterior end of the cephalothorax. ANTENNAL CARINA: Ridge extending posteriorly along



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Inshore shrimps - Family, Genera and species of commercial importance in India dorsal extremity of antennal region , often continuous with antennal spine.

DACTYL: Terminal podomere of a typically 7-segmented appendage.

ANTENNAL PEDUNCLE: Five basal segments of the antenna, from which the flagellum arises distally.

DISTOLATERAL PROJECTION: Distolateral , ventrally inclined projection or spur of the basis of the endopod of the male second pleopod.

ANTENNAL SPINE: Spine situated on the anterior margin of the carapace. ANTENNULAR FLAGELLUM (ANTENNAL FLAGELLA): Multiarticulate paired filaments (sometimes flattened lamellate) of the antennule. ANTENNULAR PEDUNCLE: Three basal segments of the antennule, from which the flagella arise distally. BASIAL SPINE: Spine projecting from basis of the thoracic appendage. BRANCHIA (BRANCHIAE): Respiratory organ (gill) associated with an appendage or with the body wall. BRANCHIA L REGION: Area of the carapace overlying the branchial cavity. BRANCHIOSTEGAL CARINA: Longitudinal ridge extending along anteroventral part of carapace, usually continuous with branchiostegal spine. BRANCHIOSTEGAL- HEPATIC CARINA: Longitudinal ridge consisting of the fusion of the branhiostegal and hepatic carinae. BRANCHIOSTEGAL SPINE: Short spine on or near anterior margin of the carapace ventral to the antennal spine and dorsal to the anteroventral angle of the carapace. BRANCHIOSTEGITE:Expanded ventro-lateral part of the carapace covering the gills. CARINA (CARINAE): A ridge or keel of the exoskeleton CARPUS (CARPI). Fifth podomere from the proximal end of a typically 7-segmented appendage. CHELA (CHELAE): Pincer formed by the two distal podomeres of a pereopod in which the movable finger (dactyl) opposes a fixed finger formed by a distal extension of the propod. CICATRIX (CICATRICES): Longitudinally disposed ridge(s) often present on lateral part of sixth abdominal somite.

DISTOMEDIAN PROJECTION: Distal relatively narrow extension of the dorsomedian lobule of the petasma. DISTOVENTRAL PROJECTION: Outer distal flap articulating with distal extremity of ventrolateral lobule of petasma in members of the genus Metapenaeopsis. DORSOLATERAL CARINA: Longitudinal ridge on dorsolateral region of carapace running dorsal to orbital region. ENDOPOD: Mesial ramus of biramous appendage, especially one arising from the basis or from the protopodite of the pleopod EPIGASTRIC TOOTH: Tooth on the carapace situated above the gastric region behind the first (posterior most ) rostral tooth. EPIPOD: Lateral exite of the coxa of a thoracic appendage sometimes branchial in function. EXOPOD: Lateral ramus of a biramous appendage, arising from the basis , or from the protopodite. GASTROFRONTAL CARINA: Short longitudinal ridge extending posteriorly from the ventral extremity of the orbital region. GASTROFRONTAL SULCUS: Short longitudinal depression accompanying the gastrofrontal carina dorsally. HEPATIC CARINA: Longitudinally or obliquely disposed ridge of variable length lying ventral to the hepatic region, sometimes extending almost to the anterior margin of the carapace. HEPATIC REGION: Paired anterolateral areas of the carapace bounded anteriorly by the antennal region, posteriorly by the branchial region, and mesially by the gastric region. HEPATIC SPINE: Lateral spine situated near the anterior margin of the hepatic region of the carapace.

COXA (COXAE): First or proximal podomere of a typically 7-segmented appendage.

HEPATIC SULCUS: Groove ventral to the hepatic region extending posteriorly sometimes from near the anterior margin of the carapace

COXAL SPINE: Spine projecting from the coxa of a thoracic appendage.

ISCHIUM (ISCHIA): Third podomere from the proximal end of a typically 7-segmented appendage.


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S. Lakshmi Pillai MANDIBLE: One of the heavily calcified jaws lying anterior to (beneath in ventral view) to other mouth parts.

PTERYGOSTOMIAN RIGION: Anteroventral area of the carapace.

MAXILLA (MAXILLAE): Paired mouthpart appendages of the fourth and fifth cephalic somites.

PTERYGOSTOMIAN SPINE: Marginal spine arising from the anteroventral angle or border of the carapace.

MAXILLIPED: One of a pair of three sets of thoracic appendages, arising posterior to the primary mouthparts. The two anterior pairs are often modified for feeding, while the third pair is often pediform, resembling the pereopods.

ROSTRUM(ROSTRA):Anteromedianprojection of the carapace between the eyes.

MERUS (MERI): Fourth segment from the proximal end of a typically 7-segmented appendage. PARAPENAEID SPINE: Spine projecting from distomesialmargin of the first antennular segment.

the

SCAPHOCERITE: Laterally rigid lamellate exopod of the antenna; the antennal scale SOMITE: Each of the main divisions of the body. STERNUM: Ventral surface of the cephalothorax or abdomen. SULCUS (SULCI): Groove.

PEREOPOD: One of the first posterior paired appendages or legs of the cephalothorax PETASMA (PETASMATA): The male genital structure consisting of the much enlarged and coupled endopods of the first pair of pleopods . The presence or absence of a petasma, or in juveniles, the position of the first endopds (situated more distally in females than in males), is the easiest means of distinguishing between the sexs in penaeidean shrimps. PLEOPOD: One of the biramouspaired appendages typically arising ventrally from each of the anterior five abdominal somites . In the shrimps they are primarily swimming organs. PLEURON (PLEURA): One of the lateral flaps on each of the anterior five abdominal somites. POSTANTENNAL SPINE: Spine located on anterolateral area of carapace on the posterior part of the antennal region. POSTCERVICAL SPINE: Spine located immediately posterior to cervical carina. POSTCERVICAL SULCUS: Subverticalcarapace groove located posterior to cervical sulcus. POSTORBITAL SPINE: Spine situated near the orbital margin posterior to the antennal spine

SUPRAHEPATIC SPINE: Spine arising from the edge of the cervical carina dorsal to the hepatic spine. SUPRAORBITAL SPINE: Spine located posterior to the orbital margin of the carapace. TELSON: Terminal unit of the abdomen bearing the anus. THELYCUM (THELYCA): The female genitalia consisting of modifications of the posterior two, or sometimesthree thoracic sternites (XII-XIV) serving for the storage or transfer of the sperm,usually in spermatophores, and often shielding seminal receptacles. UROPOD: Paired biramous appendage attached to the sixth abdominal somite, usually combining with the telson to form a tailfan.

Suggested reading Perez Farfante, I and B. F. Kensly. 1997. Penaeoid and Sergestoid shrimps and prawns of the world. Keys and diagnosis for the families and genera. Mem. Mus.natn.Hist.nat., 175: 1-233. E.V. Radhakrishnan, Josileen Jose and S.Lakshmi Pillai (eds). 2011. Handbook of Prawns. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18 125 pp. FAO species identification sheets. 1983. Fishing Area 51(Western Indian Ocean), 190 pp. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. 1998.The living marine resources of the western Central Pacific. Volume 2. Cephalopods, crustaceans, holothurians and sharks, 687 - 1396 pp.

POSTROSTRAL CARINA: Dorsomedian ridge extending posteriorly from the bace of the rostrum, sometimes nearly reaching the posterior margin of the carapace PROPODUS (PROPODI): Sixth or penultimate segment of a typically 7-segmented appendage PTERYGOSTOMIAN CARINA: Ridge running posterior to pterygostomian spine on antero-ventral part of carapace.



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S.Lakshmi Pillai Crustacean Fisheries Division, CMFRI, Kochi-18

Inshore shrimps support major commercial fishery in India, the penaeid shrimp production being nearly 2 lakh t and non penaeids 2.1 lakh t during 2013-14. Trawl is the major gear that catch shrimps, besides the minitrawl are prevelant along Kerala coast, thalluvalai along Tamil Nadu and trammel net along Vizhinjam-Manakudy coast. Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Metapenaeus monoceros, Fenneropenaeus indicus are the major species landed along the south-west coast. Along the south-east coast, Penaeus semisulcatus dominate the fishery in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay and M. dobsoni supports commercial fishery along the Chennai coast with 15-16 other species including Metapenaeopsis spp. and Trachypenaeus spp. M. monoceros is the dominant species along the Andhra coast. Along the Malabar Coast M. dobsoni, F. indicus and P. stylifera are the important species in the fishery. In the inshore waters of Cochin M. dobsoni is dominant followed by P. stylifera. P. monodon is the largest of the inshore shrimps (maximum recorded size 350 mm). Fenneropenaeus indicus, F. pencillatus as well as P. semisulcatus also grow to large size. The penaeid shrimp species that form fishery at important landing centers of the maritime states of India are: Veraval (Gujarat) - Parapenaeopsis hardwickii, Metapenaeus kutchensis, M. monoceros, M. affinis, Fenneropenaeus. pencillatus, Solenocera crassicornis, Fenneropenaeus merguiensis, Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Parapenaeopsis sculptilis, Penaeus semisulcatus, Parapenaeus longipes Mumbai (Maharashtra) - Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Metapenaeopsis stridulans, Metapenaeus kutchensis, M. brevicornis, Fenneropenaeus merguiensis, Metapenaeus affinis, Solenocera crassicornis, Parapenaeopsis sculptilis, M. monoceros. Mangalore (Karnataka) - Metapenaeus monoceros, Solenocera choprai, Metapenaeus dobsoni and Parapenaeopsis stylifera Calicut (Kerala) - P . stylifera, M. dobsoni, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Meliceratus canaliculatus, M.affinis, Penaeus

monodon, Penaeus semisulcatus, Trachypenaeus curvirostris Kochi (Kerala) - Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Metapenaeus affinis, Melicertus canaliculatus, Penaeus monodon, Penaeus semisulcatus, Trachypenaeus curvirostris Vizhinjam(Kerala)- Fenneropenaeus indicus, Penaeus monodon Penaeus semisulcatus Chennai (Tamil Nadu) - Metapenaeus dobsoni, Parapaenaeopsis maxillipedo, Metapenaeopsis stridulans, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Metapenaeus monoceros, Penaeus monodon, Penaeus semisulcatus, Metapenaeus affinis, Metapenaeus moyebi, Trachypenaeus sedili, T. asper, T. curvirostris Mandapam (Tamil Nadu) - Parapenaeopsis semisulcatus, Metapenaeopsis stridulan, Fenneropenaeus indicus. Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) - Penaeus semisulcatus, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Melicertus latisulcatus, M. canaliculatus, Penaeus monodon, Parapenaeopsis maxillipedo, P. stylifera,, Metapenaeus Monoceros, M. dobsoni, Trachypenaeus curvirostris, T. sedili. Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) - Metapenaeus dobsoni, Metapenaeus monoceros, Metapenaeopsis sp., Fenneropenaeus indicus, Metapenaeopsis stridulans, M. barbata, Metapenaeus moyebi Most of the penaeid shrimps have an estuarine phase in their life cycle. The post larvae migrate to the estuary, grow there to juveniles/sub-adults and migrate back into the Sea. The eggs, larvae and post –larvae have pelagic existence and the juveniles/subadults and adults are benthic in nature. Several species like Penaeus monodon, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Metapenaeus dobsoni, Metapenaeus monoceros, Metapenaeus brevicornis support important fishery in the estuarine systems (Hoogly-Matlah in West Bengal, Mahanadi & Chilka Lake in Odisha, Godavari & Krishna in AP, Vellar & Killai backwaters and Pulicat Lake in Tamil Nadu, Cochin

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backwaters & Vembanad Lake in Kerala; Narmada-Tapthi and Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat), in India. Penaeid shrimps are carnivorous, females are usually larger than males and have high fecundity which depends on the species, size of the female and ovary weight. They spawn throughout the year, peak seasons varying between years. Their life span is usually 2 to 2.5 years. The maturity stages in penaeid shrimps are classified as immature (IM), early maturing (EM), late maturing (LM), mature (M) and spent (SP). Stages of maturity can be ascertained externally through the exoskeleton.

Fenneropenaeus indicus - Indian white shrimp: Distributed all along the Indian coast but occurrence is poor along Maharashtra & Gujarat. Along the east coast it is available in good quantities up to Andhra Pradesh and gets gradually replaced by F. merguiensis and F. pencillatus along the OrissaWest Bengal coast. They are more abundant along Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh. It completes its life cycle in two phase, adults mature and spawn in the sea, fertilisation being external. Larvae moult in the sea and reach the coastal waters by wind and wave action by which time they become post larvae. Post larvae enter estuaries & backwaters and complete their nursery phase and then return to the Sea for further growth and maturation.


Fenneropenaeus merguiensis - Banana shrimp: They are of commercial value. Maximum length attained by males is 193 mm and females 242 mm. Early juvenile phase occurs in the estuaries. Penaeus monodon - Jumbo Tiger shrimp: Penaeus monodon is the largest species among the penaeids, distributed all along the Indian coast – supports commercial fishery mostly along the east coast between Cuddalore and the Sunderbans. It is cultured because of its large size, fast growth, hardiness and high market price. The post larvae, juveniles and the sub adults inhabit the backwaters and estuaries. Adults are found up to 160 m depth. Females attain sexual maturity at 196-200 mm TL and males at 166-170 mm TL. Penaeus semisulcatus-Green Tiger shrimp: Most dominant species supporting commercial fishery along Gulf of Mannar & Palk Bay, south-east coast of India. Juveniles and adults prefer marine environment with limited existence in estuarine environment. Distributed up to a depth of 130 m. Adults are purely marine. As they grow they prefer different substrata – juveniles prefer grass beds, estuaries and shallow bays; adults move to muddy or sandy substratum. Size at maturity is 123 mm carapace length. Parapenaeopsis stylifera-Kiddi shrimp : Medium sized shrimps of commercial value found at depth up to 90 m.


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IM

EM

LM M SP

Fig. Maturity stages in penaeid shrimps Of the 11 species recorded all are marine, except P. cornuta which is found usually in estuaries. They are distributed all along the coast, maximum abundance along Kerala coast. During non-monsoon months they are distributed at a depth of 20 m, with onset of monsoon the shrimps move to 20 to 40 m depth (June) and during July to September move to 40 to 60 m depth zone. They don’t have an estuarine phase in their life cycle. Size at maturity recorded is 70 mm (Kochi); 109 mm in males and 144 mm in females (Mumbai).

Metapenaeus monoceros- Speckled shrimp: Found up to a depth of 100 m in Sea mostly at 25 to 40 m, juveniles found in most of the estuaries and backwaters. They mature at 98 mm TL (males); 119 mm TL (females). Metapenaeus affinis- Jhinga shrimp: They are found below 40 m depth. Besides local consumption they are also exported as ‘medium’ shrimps. They are at times found in creeks but do not have much of an estuarine phase. Metapenaeus dobsoni-Kadal shrimp: Adults found at a depth of 30 to 40 m in Sea. Juveniles inhabit estuaries & backwaters, post larvae migrate into estuaries and grow into juveniles contributing to a good fishery. They mature by 64 to 68 mm total length. Metapenaeus kutchensis-Ginger shrimp: Endemic to Gujarat coast. Found at a depth range 3 to 12 m. Juveniles support seasonal fishery within the Rann of Kutch and adults are found in the trawling grounds in the Gulf of Kutch and Saurashtra

coast. Non-Penaeids: Bulk of the non penaeid shrimps are landed along Maharashtra and Gujarat followed by West Bengal. They are caught by trawl nets along Gujarat with reduced cod end (12-15 mm). Nematopalaemon tenuipes is obtained in trawl along Maharashtra. Acetes spp and other small shrimps are caught in ‘dol net’ or bag nets. From inshore creeks they are caught using smaller bag nets called ‘Bokshi’. North-west Coast is the major contributor of non penaeids with 87%, Gujarat with 47.7% and Maharashtra with 39.3%. West Bengal contributes around 6.2%. The species landed are Acetes spp (Paste shrimp), Nematopalaemon tenuipes (Spider prawn) and Exhippolysmata ensirostris (Hunter shrimp) the last being the largest among the coastal non peaneids. Five species of Acetes, namely A. indicus, A. johni, A. sibogae, A. erythraeus and A. japonicus form important fishery. They usually occur throughout the year with peak seasons of occurrence. Though they form a good fishery in NW coast of India, they are not of much commercial value. They indirectly play an important role in the trophic food chain as they form the prey of the majority of the pelagic and demersal fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans. Acetes indicus is the largest among the Indian Acetes species reaching 40 mm in total length. Sexes are separate with males having the petasma and large clasping spines on the outer antennular flagella. In Nematopalaemon, sexes are differentiated by the presence of appendix masculina on the 2nd pair of pleopods in male. Females carry eggs, attached to the ovigerous setae.

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Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps Rekha Devi Chakraborty Crustacean Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Shellfish systematics is the most unique one in Fisheries Science in view of its importance and implications in diversity. The systematic zoology is the science that discovers names, determines relationships, classifies and studies the evolution of living organisms. It is an important branch in biology and is considered to be one of the major subdivisions of biology having a broader base than genetics, biochemistry and physiology. The shellfish includes two highly diversified phyla i.e. phylum Arthropoda and phylum Mollusca. These two groups are named as shellfishes because of the presence of exoskeleton made of chitin in arthropods and shells made of calcium in molluscs. These two major phyla are invertebrates. They show enormous diversity in their morphology, in the habitats they occupy and in their biology. Phylum Arthropoda includes economically important groups such as lobsters, shrimps, crabs. Taxonomical study reveals numerous interesting phenomena in shellfish phylogeny and the study is most indispensable for the correct identification of candidate species for conservation and management of our fishery resources and aquaculture practices. On the whole taxonomic study on shellfishes furnishes the urgently needed information about species and it cultivates a way of thinking and approaching of all biological problems, which are much needed for the balance and well being of shellfish biology as a whole.

high price groups of invertebrates in the marine fishery sector of Kerala although the structure and organization of their community are not well known as that of coastal penaeid prawns. In view of the increasingly prominent role played by deep sea prawns and prawn products in the economy of the country, the taxonomic identity of various species exploited from the deep sea fishing grounds off Kerala is an essential prerequisite for the sustainable development and management of deep sea prawn wealth of Kerala. The deep sea prawns landed at various harbours of Kerala is an assemblage of wide array of species representing various families, the prominent being Pandalidae, Aristeidae, Solenoceridae and Penaeidae while family Oplophoridae contributes to only a minor portion of the deep sea trawl catches in Kerala.

Difference between penaeid and non penaeid shrimps Penaeid shrimp • Abdomen with posterior part of pleura covering anterior part of succeeding pleura. • Thelycum and petasma present, eggs are released directly

Shrimp resources are available both from inshore and from offshore waters. As the fish resource from inshore waters remained static during the last two decades, fishing pattern underwent several changes in the previous decade, leading to the exploitation of deep sea resources either with deployment of large sized vessels or modified medium/small sized vessels. Deepwater shrimps appear to have a world-wide distribution in tropical waters. They have been caught in surveys using baited traps in depths between 200 m and 800 m off continents and at 200- 500 m depth in the Indian Ocean. Deep sea decapod crustaceans constitute one of the dominant 75

Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps into water and not attached to the female

Caridean shrimp • 2nd abdominal pleuron greatly expanded, pear shaped and overlapping posterior part of 1st pleuron and anterior part of 3rd pleuron. • No specific copulatory organs, females carry eggs on the abdomen until hatching

Key to the deepsea prawns of Penaeidae, Pandalidae and Oplophotidae Penaeidae 1. Inner border of the antennular peduncle with a setose scale; Podaobranchiae absent 2 No setose scale on the inner border of the antennular peduncle; podobranchiae present; pleurobranchia on 10-13 segments reduced to mere papillae … Aristeus alcocki 2. Exopodite of the external maxillipeds large, absence of a brachio-cardiac sulcus in the branchiostegal region … 3 3. Symmetrical petasma; no basal spine at 3rd maxilliped …4 4. A long fissure on either side of the carapace throughout the entire length; rostrum not glabrous and less then 1/3rd the length of carapace ... Parapenaeus investigatoris No fissure on carapace wall; rostrum glabrous,as long as carapace ... Penaeopsis jerryi

Pandalidae 1. Carapace hard and rigid with longitudinal carinae; 2nd pair of pereiopods unequal .Heterocarpus ... 3 Carapace smooth without a longitidinal carinae; 2nd pair of periopods Carapace equal … 2 2. 3rd abdominal somite unarmed or with fixed posteromedial tooth; terminal segment of 2nd maxilliped broader than long, attached strip like to penultimate segment

with its longer side ... Plesionika …5 3. 3rd abdominal tergum without spines, length of 6th abdominal segment less than 5th…4 3rd abdominal tergum ends in a sharp spine dorsally; 6th segment more than double the length 5th ...Heterocarpus woodmasoni 4. Only one tooth present anterior to orbit; dorsal carapaceal ridge not prominent … Heterocarpus laevigatus More than two teeth anterior to the orbit; dorsal carapaceal ridge very prominent ... Heterocarpus gibbosus 5. Posterior 10 ventral rostral teeth corresponding to 8or fewer dorsal teeth, penultimate segment oh 3rd maxilliped usually less than 1.5 times as long as terminal segment … Plesionika quasigrandis Posterior 10 ventral rostral teeth corresponding to more than 8 dorsal teeth, penultimate segment of 3rd maxilliped more than 1.5times as long as terminal segment ... 6 6. Dactylus of 3rd pereiopod less than 1/7 times, as long as propodus, posterior 10 ventral rostral teeth usually corresponding to more than 13 dorsal teeth … Plesionika spinipes Dactylus of 3rd pereiopod more than 1/7 times, as long as propodus, posterior 10 ventral rostral teeth usually corresponding to 13or fewer dorsal teeth ... Plesionika grandis 7. Rostrum armed with a series of closely packed spines ventrally; distinct ocellus ...8 Rostrum armed with distantly placed spines; ocellus absent ... Plesionika alcocki 8. 3Rd abdominal tergum posteriorly protrudes as a sharp


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dorsal spine… Plesionika ensis 3rd abdominal tergum without spines but protrudes as a wavy margin ...Plesionika martia

Oplophoridae 1. Rostrum with atleast as many dorsal as ventral teeth; abdomen with 4thand 5th somites usually armed with posteromesial tooth; left mandible with incisor process not tapering sharply toward opposable margin, armed with 9-14 subacute teeth ... Acanthephyra 2. Abdomen with 6th somite shorter than 5th (not including posteromesial spine); telson simply pointed posteriorly, not terminating in spinose endpiece; 3rd maxilliped and 1st pereiopod with broadly compressed rigid exopods ... Oplophorus 3. Carapace without carina supporting branchiostegal spine; abdomen with posterior margin of 3rd somite distinctly excavate either side of posteriomedian tooth … Acanthephyra armata Carapace with strong carina extending from branchiostegal spine to branchial region; abdomen with posterior margin of 3rd somite not distinctly excavate either side of posteromedian tooth … Acanthephyra fimbriata 4. Abdomen with posteromedian tooth on 4th and 5th somites; telson armed with four pairs of dorsolateral spines ... Acanthephyra sanguine 5. Rostrum distinctly overreaching antennal scale; posterior extension of upper lateral rostral carinae on carapace subparallel in dorsal aspect;pleuron of 1st abdominal somite armed with small tooth on ventral margin;antennal scale unarmed on only distal 1/6 of lateral margin … Oplophorus gracilirostris Rostrum rarely overreaching antenna scale; posterior extension of upper lateral rostral carinae on carapace converging posteriorly in dorsal aspect; pleuron of 1st abdominal somite unarmed; antennal scale with distal ¼ of lateral margin unarmed ... Oplophorus typus

Penaeid shrimps Systematics Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Subphylum Crustacea Class Malacostraca Subclass Eumalacostraca Superorder Eucarida Order Decapoda Suborder Dendrobranchiata Superfamily Penaeoidea

Aristeus alcocki Ramadan 1938 Common name: Red ring Family: Aristeidae

Diagnostic characters: Large size red abdominal rings. 16 February – 8 March 2015

Rostrum in female long and slender upper margin curved downwards till distal end of 2nd segment of antennular peduncle. Rostrum in males much shorter and seldom surpassing tip of antennular peduncle, armed with three teeth above orbit; and no teeth on ventral side, lacks hepatic spine, upper antennular flagellum very short, Eyestalk with a tubercle. Petasma simple, membranous, right and left halves united with each other along the whole length of dorsomedian with a papilla-like projection directed posteromedially. Thelycum represented by a shield shaped plate directed anteroventrally bordered by an oblique ridge on either side. Colour: Pink with reddish bands on the posterior border of all abdominal segments. Fishery & biology: The catches were mainly composed of females and their size ranged from 78 mm to 188 mm in total length. The size distribution showed unimodal pattern with majority in size groups 146-165 mm. The males, which were very poorly represented in the catches were relatively smaller in size and their total length varied from 67 mm to 110 mm. Distribution: Indian Ocean; Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, at depth of 350-450 m off Quillon and Alleppey.

Plesiopenaeus edwardsianus Johnson, 1868 Scarlet shrimp Family: Aristeidae

Diagnostic characters: Rostrum very long in females and young males but becoming considerably short in adult males, with three or more dorsal teeth; carapace without postorbital spine; eye stalks with a tubercle on inner border; upper antennular flagella very short and flattened almost throughout their length; endopods of second pair of pleopods in males bearing appendix masculine and appendix interna; third and fourth pairs of pleopods biramous; telson armed


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Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps with 1 or 4 movable spines on each side; two well developed arthrobranchs on penultimate thoracic segment. Colour: Deep pink Fishery & biology: Three female specimens ranging in total length from 207 to 245 mm (rostrum partly broken in all specimens) and carapace length from 79 to 96 mm obtained in Bobbin Trawl at 876-976 m depth.

on dorsal side and no teeth on ventral side of the rostrum. Postrostral carina sharp but not laminose. Antennular flagella with red and white bands. The spines on the cervical groove situated ventral to the posteriormost rostral tooth which is well developed. The characteristic ‘L’ shaped groove on either side of the branchiostegal region is also clearly defined. Colour: Pink to red Distribution: Found all along the east and west coast of India at depths between 250 to 547 m.

Solenocera alfonso Perez Farfante, 1981 Deep water mud shrimp

Distribution: During one of the deep-sea trawling operations of FORV Sagar Sampada a few specimens of prawns, which were unusually large in size, were taken from about 900 m depth off Trivandrum on the southwest coast.

Solenocera hextii Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891

Diagnostic characters: Antennular flagella flattened and tube like, rostrum horizontal, exopod of uropod without distolateral spine (family character). Telson armed with lateral spines; post rostral crest elevated but not plate like. The postrostral crest is not separated from postrostral teeth by a distinct notch but postrostral crest behind cervical groove sometimes with an upper tooth. Posterior part of hepatic groove and anterior part of branchiocardiac groove both very distinct and strongly curving downward; median part of first abdominal segment very narrow and dorsal crest of second abdominal segment distinct. Colour: Pink to red

Deep sea mud shrimp Family : Solenoceridae Diagnostic characters: Flatenned rostrum with 7 teeth

Distribution: Found at depths between 176 to 547 m. Though an Indo-West Pacific species, earlier records were only from Philippines, Indonesia and Northwestern Australia. In 2011, the species was recorded from Tuticorin, southeast coast of India from a depth of 250 to 350 m.

Metapenaeopsis andamanensis (WoodMason, 1891) Rice velvet shrimp Family: Penaeidae

Male Female

Diagnostic characters: Rostrum more or less horizontal and straight with 6 to 7 teeth on dorsal side and no teeth on the ventral side. Lower antennular flagellum longer than the upper, much longer than the entire antennular peduncle but 0.7 times the carapace length. 3rd pereopod surpass


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Rekha Devi Chakraborty trilobed and sub elliptical in structure. Fishery & biology: Size range of female specimens ranged from 74-115 mm and males ranged from 70-110 mm. Distribution: All along the southwest coast of India particularly off Cochin, Quillon and Alleppey at depth of 275350 m

Non-Penaeid shrimps

the rostrum by the length of the entire chela. Assymetrical petasma. 3rd maxilliped and 1st pereopod with a basal spine, distal fixed pair of spines on telson. Colour: Pale pink to red Fishery & biology: The total length of males varied from 67 mm to 115 mm and that of females from 68 mm to 130 mm.

Systematics Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Subphylum Crustacea Class Malacostraca Subclass Eumalacostraca Superorder Eucarida Order Decapoda Suborder Pleocyemata Infraorder Caridea

Heterocarpus woodmasoni Alcock, 1901 Indian Nylon Shrimp Family : Pandalidae

Petasma (Male)

Thelycum (Female)

Distribution: A penaeid prawn commonly encountered in the trawl catches at all depths ranges upto 400 m and was obtained from all areas.

Penaeopsis jeryii

Common name: Dagger shrimp Family: Penaeidae Diagnostic characters: Carapace with 2 longitudinal crests on each side, extending over full length of carapace - post antennal crest and branchiostegal crest. A conspicuous elevated, sharp tooth at middle of dorsal crest of 3rd abdominal segment, telson bears 5 pairs of dorsolateral spinules besides those at the tip.

Diagnostic characters: Dagger shaped rostrum with teeth on dorsal side of the rostrum. Specimen appears to be pale red in color with white bands on the body. Cervical groove very prominent, antennal scale as long as rostrum. Thelycum 16 February – 8 March 2015


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Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps antennal crest very short. Fishery & biology: The size of the individual prawn varied from 67 to 140 mm in total length and the catches were represented by all groups of the females. Males are mostly in 90-100 mm size groups. The colour of the berry is light orange and turns dirty grey as embryo develops.

Male Female Fishery & biology: Size in the catches ranged from 72 to 135 mm in total length but dominated by 111-120 mm size groups in both the sexes. The fertilized eggs on the pleopods and the head-roe are light orange and this colour stands out in contrast with the pink colour of the prawn. The berry becomes greyish in advanced stages of development. Distribution: Andamans, Southwest of India off Cochin and Alleppey at depths of 250-400 m

Heterocarpus gibbosus Bate, 1888 Humpback nylon shrimp

Distribution: Southeast and Southwest coast off Cochin, off Alleppey at depths of 250-400 m. immature specimens were found in greater numbers in shallow waters while the bigger prawns seemed to prefer deeper grounds beyond 350 m.

Heterocarpus sibogae de Man, 1917 Diagnostic characters: Integument tomentose formed by lanceolate scalelike spines, rostrum about 2/3 as long as carapace, gradually recurved upwards, armed dorsally with 8 teeth followed by 6 on postrostral crest of which the first one placed behind middle of two small ones situated closely on distal part; a dark reddish spot covering almost the entire width of 3rd abdominal somite on either side appears to be characteristic; tip of rostrum, orbital margin, carinae of 1st and 2nd abdominal terga, distal portion of spines on 3rd and 4th terga, tip of dorsal antennular flagellum and perepods and the entire pleopods reddish; telson long, nearly as long as uropods, armed with 5 small dorsolateral movable spines on right side and 4 on left side in addition to 3 pairs at distal end; antennular flagella about the same length of carapace, stylocerite pointed and reaching middle of second segment of antennular peduncle; scaphocerite narrower distally, reaching 3/4 of rostrum; distolateral spine projecting well beyond anterior margin. Colour: Fresh specimen appears pink Fishery: One female, total length 114 mm, carapace length 34 mm; off Quilon at 310 320 m. Distribution: Southeast and Southwest coast of India

Diagnostic characters: The teeth on the dorsal crest and the rostrum together vary from 8 to 10. Teeth on the rostrum proper varying from 2 to 4 and 13-15 on ventral side. The dactyli of the 3 posterior legs short, median carination of the 3rd abdominal tergum is quite prominent. Carapace with 2 longitudinal crests on each side, extending over full length of carapace- post-ocular crest and branchiostegal crest. Post

Plesionika spinipes (Bate, 1888) Oriental Narwal Shrimp Pandalidae Diagnostic characters: Rostrum upturned at the tip. Rostrum is armed with 46 teeth on the dorsal side and 31 teeth on

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Male Female

Male Female

the ventral side., very long slender legs, Telson is double the length of the 5th abdominal somite. Lower antennular flagellum longer than the upper and about 5.4 times the carapace length. 3rd maxilliped extends beyond the antennal scale by the length of its dactylus. Second pereopod exceeds the tip of antennal scale by its chela and 1/8 length of carpus. Minute tubercle on the dorsal surface of the carapace at about 1/6th of its length from the hinder edge which corresponds in position to the small blunt median spine which is present in all the specimens.

Distribution: In Indian waters this species is known to occur along the south-west coast particularly through out the Kerala coast abundantly noticed from Quilon and Alleppey regions from the depth of 200-450 m.

Colour: Body pale red in colour Fishery & biology: The size of this prawn in the catches ranged from 63 to 125 mm but the size groups 95-110 mm in both sexes predominated. Berry is greenish-blue in colour with ovoid shape of fertilized eggs. Distribution: In Indian waters this species is known to occur in south-east and south-west coast of India abundantly noticed from Quilon and Mangalore regions from the depth of 250-400 m.

Plesionika martia (A. Milne-Edwards, 1883) Golden Shrimp Diagnostic characters: Rostrum very long pointed with 7-9 dorsal teeth including 2-5 teeth on carapace posterior to the level of orbital margin while ventral margin of the rostrum is armed with 34-56 teeth.

Family : Ophlophoridae Antennal scale sharply serrated; exopod of 1st pair of pereopods foliaceous….Ophlophorus typus Antennal scale smooth without any serrations. Exopod of 1st pereopods not foliaceous …..Acanthephyra

Ophlophorus gracilirostris Alcock, 1901 Diagnostic characters: Carapace with dorsal carina extending to the posterior margin. Rostrum very long almost equal in length to the carapace. Branchiostegal spine quite distinct, with a well-defined keel, spine on the 3rd abdominal tergum very much longer than those on the 4th and 5th. In the male the anterior border of the first abdominal somite is bilobed with the posterior lobe more pronounced and angular. Distribution: Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and Hawaiin Islands, Southwest of Cochin, off Alleppey 300-450 m

Ophlophorus typus H. Milne-Edwards 1837

Fishery & biology: The size of this prawn in the catches ranged from 71 to 120 mm in males and 80 to 130 mm in females. The modal lengths for males and females were at 90-95 mm and 96-100 mm respectively. Berry is deep blue in colour in the early stages and to light grey in advances stages of development.

Acanthephyra armata A. Milne-Edwards, 1881 Diagnostic characters: The carapace is without a straight ridge or carina running on the entire length of the lateral surface i.e., from the hind margin of the orbit to the posterior edge of the carapace. Rostrum long, upcurved with 5 to 6 teeth on the dorsal side and only one tooth on the ventral side of rostrum. Dorsal carina of 3rd to 6th abdominal somites 16 February – 8 March 2015


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Taxonomy, Biology and distribution of Deep sea shrimps Diagnostic characters: Rostrum longer than carapace with 7 dorsal and 5 ventral teeth, extending much beyong the tip of the antennal scale. Branchiostegal spine small, forming a small projection on frontal border of carapace and without a carina. Surface of carapace finely pitted as in all the species of the purpurea group. Dorsal carinae of 3rd to 6th abdominal somites ending in pointed spines, that of 3rd somite the longest and of 4th and 5th of equal size and smallest. Four pairs of dorsolateral spines present on the telson. ending in pointed spines. Sometimes the posterior spine on the sixth somite may be absent. Telson generally more or less truncated at the tip and laterally it is armed with spines. Eyes are well pigmented. Incisor process of the mandible is provided with teeth throughout the entire length of its cutting edge. Pereopods are not abnormally broad and flattened. Exopods of the third maxilliped and all pereopods are neither foliaceous nor rigid.

Male Female Distribution: Southeast and Southwest coast of India

Acanthephyra sanguinea Wood-Mason, 1892

Distribution: Southeast and Southwest coast of India

Suggested reading Alcock. A. 1901. A descriptive catalogue of the Indian deep-sea crustacea: Decapoda, Macrura and Anomala in the Indian Museum, Being a revised account of the Deep-sea species collected by the Royal Marine Survey Ship ‘INVESTIGATOR’, Calcutta, India, 286 pp. Alcock. A. 1906. Catalogue of the Indian Decapod Crustacea in the Collections of the Indian Museum. Part III. Macrura (Penaeus) Indian Museum, Calcutta, 55 pp. Calman, W.T. 1939. Crustacea: Caridea. John Murray Exped., 1933-34, Scientific Reports 6(4): 183-224. Chace, F.A., Jr. 1985. The caridean shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda) of the Albatross Philippine Expedition, 1907-1910, Part 3; Families Thalassocarididae and Pandalidae. Smithsonian contributions to Zoology, No. 411: 143 p. De Man, J.G. 1911. The Decapoda of the Siboga Expedition - Part I. Family Penaeidae. Siboga Exped. Monogr., 39a: 1-131. George, M J and George, K C (1964) On the occurrence of the caridean prawn Thalassocaris lucida (Dana) in the stomach of Neothunnus macropterus (Temminck and Schlegel) from the Arabian Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India, 6 (1). pp. 171-172. Holthuis, L.B. 1980. FAO species catalogue. Vol.1 Shrimps and prawns of the world. An annotated catalogue of species of interest to fisheries. FAO Fish. Synop., (125) Vol.1: 1-271. John, C. C. and C.V. Kurian. 1959. A preliminary note on the occurrence of deepwater prawn and spiny lobster off the Kerala coast. Bull. Cent. Res. Inst. Trivandrum, Ser. C., 7(1): 155-162. Lalitha Devi, S. 1980. Notes on three caridean prawns from Kakinada. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India., 22 (1&2):169-173.


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Rekha Devi Chakraborty Mohamed, K.H. and C. Suseelan. 1973. Deep-sea prawn resources off the SouthWest Coast of India. Proc. Symp. Living Resources of the Seas around India, CMFRI., India, pp. 614-633. Nandakumar, G., K.N. Rajan and K. Chellappan. 2001. Is the deep-sea prawn fishery of Kerala sustainable? Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., No. 170: 5-9. Oomen P. Varghese. 1980. Results of the exploratory fishing in Quilon Bank and Gulf of Mannar IFP. Bulletin, 4: 1-49. Rajan, K.N., Nandakumar, G. and Chellapan, K. 2001. Innovative exploitation of deepsea crustaceans along the Kerala coast. MFIS No. 168. Silas, E.G. 1969. Exploratory fishing by R. V. Varuna. Bull. Cent. Mar. Fish. Res. Inst., No. 12: 1-86.


Silas, E.G. 1969. Exploratory fishing by R.V. Varuna. Bull. Cent. Mar. Fish. Res. Inst., No. 12: 1-86. Sulochanan, P., K.N.V.Nair and D. Sudarsan, 1991. Deep-sea crustacean resources of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. Proc. National Workshop on Fisheries Resources Data and Fishing Industry: 98-107. Suseelan, 1974. Observations on the Deep-sea prawn fishery off the south-west coast of India with special reference to Pandalids. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India. 16(2): 491-511. Suseelan, C and K.H. Mohamed. 1968. On the occurrence of Plesionika ensis (A.M. Edw.) (Pandalidae, Crustacea) in the Arabian Sea with notes on its biology and fishery potentialities. J. mar. biol. Ass. India, 10(1): 88-94. Thomas, M.M. 1979. On a collection of deep sea decapod crustaceans from the Gulf of Mannar. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India, 21 (1&2):


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Classification, Biodiversity and Conservation of Marine Crabs Josileen Jose Crustacean Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

One of the best known and most intensely studied groups is the true crabs of the infraorder Brachyura. Brachyuran crabs belong to the Order Decapoda, the most diverse group of crustaceans alive today (Ng et al., 2008).The known size of crabs now ranges from a maximum leg span of approximately 4 m in the giant Japanese spider crab Macrocheira kaempferi and a maximum Carapace width of 46 cm in the giant Tasmanian crab Pseudocarcinus gigas (as cited in Schmitt, 1965) to a minimum of 1.5 mm across the Carapace for a mature ovigerous female pinnotherid, Nannotheres moorei, the smallest known species of crab (Manning and Felder, 1996). Every living thing is classified into one of the three domains. Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya are the three domains. The eight levels of classification are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. True crabs are classified as follows: Phylum:Arthropoda Subphylum:Crustacea Class:Malacostraca Order:Decapoda Suborder:Pleocyemata Infraorder: Brachyura Linnaeus, 1758 The basic crab design consists of an expanded Carapace (formed by a fusion of the head and some thoracic somites), and a strongly reduced abdomen that is tightly tucked underneath the thorax. In addition, the first pereiopods of brachyurans are fully chelate, and the walking legs are placed at the sides of the body. True brachyuran crabs are often confused with hermit and porcelain crabs belonging to the infraorder Anomura. In general, most anomuran crabs have only three pairs of walking legs clearly visible, with the last pair being very small and normally positioned under the abdomen and not visible externally.

Fishery Resources and their distribution In India, most of the edible crabs caught from marine and brackish water environments belong to the family Portunidae. In the Indian Ocean, the crab fauna of Portunidae family is included under sub families, Podophthalmidae (Borradaile), Catoptrinae (Sakai), Portuninae (Rafinesque), Caphyrinae (Alcock), Carcininae (Macleay) and Polybiinae (Ortmann). Most of the edible crabs caught from marine and brackishwater environments belong to the sub family Portuninae. In the seas around India, five genera of Portuninae have been reported by various authors. They are Scylla, Portunus, Charybdis,


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Lupocyclus and Thalamita. Among them the first three genera contribute to the commercial crab fishery Commercially important species are Scylla spp. (Mud crabs), Portunus pelagicus (blue swimmer crab), P. sanguinolentus (three spotted crab), Charybdis feriatus (crucifix crab), C. lucifera (Yellowish brown crab), C.natator (line crab) and Podophthalmus vigil (long eye-stalk crab; sub fly., Podophthalmidae). Distribution of commercially important species along the Indian Coast State

Crabs

Gujarat

1. Portunus sanguinolentus

State

5. C. smithi

2. Charybdis feriatus

6. C. annulata

3. P. pelagicus

7. C.lucifera

Maharashtra 1. C. feriatus

Karnataka

8. C. helleri

2. P. sanguinolentus

9. Podopthalmus vigil

3. P. pelagicus

10. P. gladiator

1. C. feriatus 2. P. sanguinolentus

Kerala

11. S. serrata Andhra Pradesh

1. P. pelagicus

3. P. pelagicus


1. P. pelagicus

3. C. feriatus


4. Scylla serrata

3. C. feriatus 4. C. lucifera

Tamil Nadu

Crabs

5. S. olivacea Orissa

1. P. pelagicus

5. Podopthalmus vigil


6. Scylla serrata

3. C. feriatus

1. P. pelagicus

4. Scylla serrata

2. P. sanguinolentus 3. C. feriatus 4. C. natator

4a. Width of frontal-orbital border not much less than greatest width of Carapace; 5 teeth on each anterolateral margin (first

5. S. olivacea West Bengal

1. S. olivacea 2. S. serrata

Portunidae Carapace hexagonal, transversely ovate to transversely hexagonal, sometimes circular; dorsal surface relatively flat to gently convex, usually ridged or granulose; front broad, margin usually multidentate; usually 5 to 9 teeth on each anterolateral margin, posterolateral margins usually distinctly converging.Endopodite of second maxillipeds with strongly developed lobe on inner margin. Legs laterally flattened to varying degrees, last 2 segments of last pair paddle-like. Male abdominal segments 3 to 5 completely fused, immovable.

tooth sometimes with accessory denticle) (Fig. 4a).............. 5 4b. Width of frontal-orbital border distinctly less than greatest width of Carapace; 6 or 7 teeth on each anterolateral margin (Fig. 4b) .............................................................................. 6 5a. Basal antennal segment with a smooth or granulated ridge (Fig. 5a)...................................................... Thalamita crenata 5b. Basal antennal segment with several sharp spines (Fig. 5b)........................................................ Thalamita spinimana 6a. Posterior border of Carapace forming an angular junction with posterolateral border (Fig. 6a); merus of cheliped without

Key to species of interest to fisheries occurring in the area 1a. Carapace with 2 anterolateral teeth; eyes very long, reaching lateral edge of Carapace (Fig. 1) Podophthalmus vigil 1b. Carapace with more than 2 anterolateral teeth; eyes normal in size...................................................................... 2 2a. Carapace rounded; ventral surface of palm with stridulatory (sound-producing) ridges (Fig. 2a) ......... Ovalipes punctatus 2b. Carapace transversely ovate; palm without any stridulatory (sound-producing) ridges (Fig. 2b)....................................... 3 3a. Five to 7 teeth on each anterolateral margin (Fig. 3a-c) .4 3b. Nine teeth on each anterolateral margin (Fig. 3d)........ 12 16 February – 8 March 2015

distal spine on posterior border................ Charybdis truncate 6b. Posterior border of Carapace forming a curve with posterolateral border (Fig. 6b); Merus of cheliped with distal spine on posterior border..................................................... 7 7a. Carapace with distinct ridges or granular patches behind level of last pair of anterolateral teeth (Fig. 7a)....... Charybdis natator 7b. Carapace without distinct ridges or granular patches


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behind level of last pair of anterolateral teeth (Fig. 7b)........ 8 8a. Merus of cheliped with 2 spines on anterior border; palm with 2 spines on upper surface (Fig. 8a) . Charybdis anisodon 8b. Merus of cheliped with 3 or 4 spines on anterior border; palm with more than 2 spines on upper surface (Fig. 8b)..... 9 9a. First anterolateral tooth not truncate or notched (Fig. 9a). Charybdis annulata

9b. First anterolateral tooth truncate or notched (Fig. 9b) . 10 10a. Palm of cheliped with 4 spines on upper surface (Fig. 10a); male abdominal segment 4 keeled (Fig. 11a) ........................................Charybdis feriatus 10b. Palm of cheliped with 5 spines on upper surface (Fig. 10b); male abdominal segment 4 not keeled (Fig. 11b)..... 11

11a. Palm with well-developed spines (Fig. 12a); male abdominal segment 6 with convex lateral borders (Fig. 13a); last anterolateral tooth smallest and spiniform, not projecting beyond preceding tooth (Fig. 14a) ........... Charybdis japonica 11b. Palm with poorly developed spines (Fig. 12b); male abdominal segment 6 with lateral borders parallel in proximal half (Fig. 13b); last anterolateral tooth elongate, projecting laterally beyond preceding tooth (Fig. 14b)... Charybdis affinis 12a. Last anterolateral tooth subequal in size to others (Fig. 15a)................................................................................... 13 12b. Last anterolateral tooth at least 2 times larger than others (Fig. 15b)................................................................ 16 13a. Carpus of cheliped with only 1 low to very low granule

on outer surface, never spiniform (Fig. 16a); colour of palm usually with at least some patches of orange or yellow in life ................................................. 14 13b. Carpus of cheliped with 2 distinct spiniform or sharp granules or spines on outer surface (Fig. 16b); colour of palm in life green to purple................ 15 14a. Frontal margin usually with sharp teeth (Fig. 17a); palm usually with distinct, sharp spines (Fig. 18a).................................... Scylla paramamosain 14b. Frontal margin usually with rounded teeth (Fig. 17b); palm usually with reduced, blunt spines (Fig. 18b)........ Scylla olivacea 15a. Frontal margin usually with rounded teeth (Fig. 19a); sharp granules on palm and carpus never spiniform; colour in life: Carapace usually very dark green to black, outer surface of palm purple and never with marbled pattern, last legs marbled only in males ........................... Scylla tranquebarica 15b. Frontal margin usually with sharp teeth (Fig. 19b); sharp granules on palm and carpus often spiniform; colour in life: Carapace usually green to olive-green, outer surface of palm green and often with marbled pattern, last legs marbled both in males and females......................................... Scylla serrata 16a. Carapace with 3 purple to red spots on posterior half. . . Portunus sanguinolentus 16b. Carapace marbled or with uniform coloration............ 17 17a. Front with 4 teeth (Fig. 21a); inner margin of merus of

cheliped with 3 spines (Fig. 22a).............. Portunus pelagicus 17b. Front with 3 teeth (Fig. 21b); inner margin of merus of cheliped with 4 spines (Fig. 22b)....... Portunus trituberculatus

Key – P.K.L.Ng .1998. FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes – Crabs –Portunidae .

Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Flower crab). Carapace rough to granulose, front with 4 acutely triangular teeth; 9 teeth on each anterolateral margin, the last tooth 2 to 4 times larger than preceding teeth. Chelae elongate in males; larger chela with conical tooth at base of fingers. Colour: males with blue markings, females dull green/ greenish brown.


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Josileen Jose.

Portunus sanguinolentus (Herbst, 1783)( Three-spot swimming crab).

Colour: orangish red overall, with ridges on Carapace and legs dark reddish brown.

Carapace finely granulose, regions just discernible; 9 teeth on each anterolateral margin, the last tooth 2 to 3 times larger than preceding teeth. Chelae elongated in males; larger chela with conical tooth at base of fingers; pollex ridged. Colour: olive to dark green, with 3 prominent maroon to red spots on posterior 1/3 of Carapace.

Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, 1798)

Charybdis feriatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Crucifix crab) Carapace ovate; 5 distinct teeth on each anterolateral margin. Colour: distinctive pattern of longitudinal stripes of maroon and white, usually with distinct white cross on median part of gastric region; legs and pincers with numerous scattered white spots.

Charybdis natator (Herbst, 1789) (Ridged swimmimg crab)

Carapace distinctly broader than long; anterior margin much broader than posterior margin, with posterolateral margins converging strongly towards narrow posterior Carapace margin; orbits very broad. Eyes very long, reaching to or extending beyond edge of Carapace. Colour: Carapace green; chelipeds and parts of legs violet to maroon in adults.

Scylla spp. The taxonomy of the genus Scylla has been terribly confused and is still difficult. Recent research in Australia (Keenan et al., 1998) has clearly shown, using morphological, DNA, and allozyme data, that there are 4 species of Scylla.

Scylla serrata (Forsskål, 1775) (Giant mud crab)

Carapace with densely covered with very short pubescence which is absent on several distinct transverse granulated ridges in anterior half.

Carapace smooth, with strong transverse ridges; H-shaped

Charybdis feriatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Charybdis natator (Herbst, 1789)

Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, 1798)

Portunus sanguinolentus (Herbst, 1783)



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Classfication Biodiversity and Conversation of Marine Crabs

Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

gastric groove deep; relatively broad frontal lobes, all more or less in line with each other; broad anterolateral teeth, projecting obliquely outwards, colour green to greenish black; legs may be marbled. Well- developed spines present on outer surface of chelipedal carpus and anterior and posterior dorsal parts of palm.

frontal lobes more rounded and projecting slightly forwards of the lateral ones, the anterolateral teeth gently curving anteriorly, giving the Carapace a less transverse appearance. It also has very low spines on both the outer surface of the chelipedal carpus and the dorsal surface of palm.

Scylla paramamosain Estampador, 1949 ( Green mud crab)

Scylla tranquebarica (Fabricius, 1798) (Purple mud crab) Colour varies from brown to almost black in coloration, and has very well-developed spines on the outer surfaces of the chelipedal carpus and the palm (as seen in S. serrata). It differs from S. serrata, however, by having the frontal teeth more acutely triangular, the median pair projecting slightly forwards of the lateral pair, and the anterolateral teeth gently curving anteriorly, giving the Carapace a less transverse appearance.

Scylla olivacea (Herbst, 1796) (Orange mud crab) Carapace brownish to brownish green in colour (sometimes orangish), palm orange to yellow. It has a smoother, more evenly convex Carapace with very low transverse ridges, a shallow H-shaped gastric groove, the median pair of the

Scylla serrata (Forsskål, 1775)

Carapace usually green to light green, palm green to greenish blue with lower surface and base of fingers usually pale yellow to yellowish orange. Frontal margin usually with sharp teeth, palm usually with distinct, sharp spines.

Diversity of Species along west coast A total of 226 species of brachyuran crabs belonging to 130 genera and 39 families have been recorded from the different maritime states of the west coast of India. Highest species diversity recorded in Kerala (93 species) followed by Maharashtra (92 species). However, generic diversity is more in Maharashtra (64 genera) than in Kerala (63 genera). Of the 39 families, Mathildellidae and Geryonidae are found

Scylla tranquebarica (Fabricius, 1798)


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Josileen Jose.

Scylla olivacea (Herbst, 1796)

Scylla paramamosain Estampador, 1949

exclusively in Kerala while two families namely, Pseudoziidae and Trapeziidae, known only from Maharashtra and the family Gecarcinidae from Goa. Among the states in the west coast of India, three brachyuran families, viz., Homolodromiidae, Atelecyclidae and Goneplacidae are recorded only from the state of Kerala; their representatives do not occur in the east coast but are found only in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep within Indian territorial waters. Among the 39 families, the family Portunidae contains the maximum number of species (28) followed by Xanthidae (23 species) and Leucosiidae (22 species). The genus Charybdis supports the maximum number of species (11) in the west coast (Dev Roy, 2013). The complete list is annexed at the end of the chapter.

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit for terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in recent Earth atmosphere, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb). It can grow to up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in length from leg to leg. It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands, mirroring the distribution of the coconut palm; it has been extirpated from most areas with a significant human population, including mainland Australia and Madagascar.

Conservation At present, there is no ban on fishing immature and the berried crabs and the minimum size at capture is not implemented in India. As a conservation measure, only possibility is to educate fishermen to release the juvenile, berried and soft crabs to the sea while they are alive. The governments should take steps to implement ban during peak spawning seasons to prevent indiscriminate fishing. The best method to ensure a sustainable fishery throughout the year as well as to improve the quality of the yield is to ban fishing and marketing of undersized and berried crabs (Josileen, 2007). Recently CMFRI has suggested minimum legal size (MLS) at fishing for important fishery resources for Kerala state (Mohammed et al., 2014). None of the Indian brachyuran crabs is in the IUCN list; terrestrial hermit crab Birgus latro and Horse Shoe crab of Limulidae family are only coming in this category.

Coconut crab-Birgus latro Order: Decapoda Family:Coenobitidae Genus:Birgus Leach, 1816 16 February – 8 March 2015

The coconut crab is the only species of the genus Birgus, and is related to the terrestrial hermit crabs of the genus Coenobita. It shows a number of adaptations to life on land. Like hermit crabs, juvenile coconut crabs use empty gastropod shells for protection, but the adults develop a tough exoskeleton on their abdomen and stop carrying a shell. Coconut crabs have organs known as “branchiostegal lungs”, which are used instead of the vestigial gills for breathing. They cannot swim, and will drown if immersed in water for long. They have developed an acute sense of smell, which has developed convergently with that of insects, and which they use to find potential food sources. Mating occurs on dry land, but the females migrate to the sea to release their fertilised eggs as they hatch. The larvae are planktonic for 3–4 weeks, before settling to the sea floor and entering a gastropod shell. Sexual maturity is reached after about 5 years, and the total lifespan may be over 60 years. Patankar and D’souza (2012) categorized the coconut crab Birgus latro, as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, and described the conservation needs of the species on the Nicobar Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. The species is threatened with extinction across most of its range and in India it is found only on a few islands in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelagoes. Athough the coconut crab is legally protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act none of the villagers were aware of this. They surveyed six islands and recorded the presence of 17 and 14 crabs on two islands, respectively


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Classfication Biodiversity and Conversation of Marine Crabs and on four islands villagers reported the presence of the crab prior to the tsunami of 2004, and on two of these islands the species may now be locally extinct. A small population size and a fragmented distribution in areas of coconut plantations suggest that the species is threatened. It occurs on oceanic atolls and islands in the Indo-Pacific region and is reported to grow up to 35 cm in length and weigh up to 5 kg. The species’ only dependence on the sea is for releasing eggs, which hatch in contact with seawater; the planktonic larvae then migrate onto land where they develop into long-lived adults (Reese & Kinzie, 1968). In many parts of its range the coconut crab is hunted for consumption. A slow

occasionally come onto the shore to mate. In recent years, a decline in the population has occurred as a consequence of coastal habitat destruction in Japan and overharvesting along the east coast of North America. Because of their origin 450 million years ago, horseshoe crabs are considered as living fossils. The Limulidae are the only recent family of the order Xiphosura, and contain all four living species of horseshoe crabs: Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, the mangrove horseshoe crab, found in Southeast Asia. Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic horseshoe crab, found along the American Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Tachypleus gigas, found in Southeast and East Asia. Tachypleus tridentatus, found in Southeast and East Asia. Tachypleus gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda are found within Indian limits. The distribution of T. gigas and C. rotundicauda is restricted to north-east coast of Orissa and Sunderbans area of the West Bengal, respectively. The occurrence of both species at the same place has not been observed. Mature pairs of both speices, in amplexus, migrate towards the shores for breeding purpose, throughout the year. C. rotundicauda prefers nesting in mangrove swamps whereas, T. gigas breeds on a clean sandy beach (Chatterjee and Abidi, 2001).

Photo: Vardhan Patankar growth rate and long life span combined with high levels of exploitation and habitat degradation make the species susceptible to overexploitation (Fletcher & Amos, 1994) and in many countries the crab is virtually extinct (Schiller, 1992). The coconut crab is afforded the highest level of legal protection in India, categorized under Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. However, this categorization was based on secondary data rather than field investigations of the species.

The larger female horseshoe crab can reach up to 60 cm in length and can weigh up to 5 kg. The ‘U’ or horseshoeshaped Carapace (shell) is smooth and brown, although in some environments the Carapace is covered with epiphytic plants and epizooic animals. This is usually observed toward the end of the horseshoe crab’s lifespan of approximately 19 years. During its formative years, the horseshoe crab sheds its Carapace periodically, or molts, to accommodate its growing body. The new skeleton is flexible so that it can accommodate the increased body size. The new Carapace then hardens and its color forms during tanning of its protein component.

Horseshoe crab Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Chelicerata Class: Merostomata Order: Xiphosura Family: Limulidae Leach, 1819 Horseshoe crabs resemble crustaceans, but belong to a separate subphylum, Chelicerata. They are closely related to arachnids such as spiders, scorpions and ticks. Horseshoe crabs are fascinating creatures. They live primarily in and around shallow ocean waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms. They

Underside of a horseshoe crab showing the legs and book gills


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Josileen Jose. The body is divided into an anterior cephalothorax and a posterior abdomen. The spike-shaped tail, or telson, functions as a tool for digging in sand and a lever if the animal finds itself upside down. The tail might not always be effective however. The horseshoe crab is equipped with 4 pairs of jointed walking legs (pedipalps) each ending in a claw. The fifth pair is larger and allows the animal to lurch forward. The middle segment of each leg is covered with spines used to chew food before it is passed forward and into the mouth located at the base of the legs. Interestingly, locomotion and feeding are closely related, since the animal can chew only when it moves. Horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes located all over their bodies, most located on the back or sides of the animal. Some contain only photoreceptors such as the eyes located on their tails. The eyes found on the back each have about 1,000 photoreceptor clusters or ommatidia, each with a lens, cornea and photoreceptor cells. Horseshoe crabs have the largest rods and cones of any known animal that are about 100 times the size of humans’. In spite of the number of eyes, horseshoe crabs still have “poor” eyesight used only to sense light and locate mates. Horseshoe crabs’ respiration is conducted through 6 pairs of appendages attached to the underside of the abdomen called gill books. The first pair, called the operculum, protects the other five pairs, which are respiratory organs and houses the opening of the genital pores through which eggs and sperm are released from the body.

Exploitation Humans capture the horseshoe crabs primarily for bait and to use in fertilizer. A protein found in the blood of horseshoe crabs is used to detect impurities in intravenous medications;

the animals are apparently not harmed during blood extraction. Horseshoe crab blood has also been used in cancer therapy research, leukemia diagnosis and to detect vitamin B12 deficiency. Another interesting fact is that horseshoe crabs are quite literally “blue blood.” Oxygen is carried in the blood of the horseshoe crab by a molecule that contains haemocyanin, which contains copper causing the blood to turn blue when exposed to air. Most red-blooded animals carry oxygen in ironrich hemoglobin causing their blood to turn red when exposed to air. This valuable creature is a potential source of bioactive substance, a diagnostic reagent, the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) from its blue blood. The reagent is highly sensitive and useful for the rapid and accurate assay of gram negative bacteria even if they are present in a very minute quantity. The indiscriminate exploitation of horse shoe crab for medicinal and other purposes, has threatened it with extinction all over the world. In USA, large numbers of brooder crabs are sacrificed every year for the preparation of LAL on commercial scale. In addition to this, the LAL is also useful in lipopolysaccharides assay and water quality research. These resulted in considerable depletion of the population of horse-shoe crab in USA. Japan was the first country to realise the declining trend and subsequently took measures for conservation by declaring horse shoe crab as a national monument (Chatterjee and Abidi, 2001).

Suggested readings Chatterjee, A and S.A.H. Abidi. 1993. The Indian Horse Shoe crab- A living fossil. Journal of Indian Ocean Studies 1: 43-48. Carpenter, K.E. and Niem, V.H. (eds). 1998. FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 2. Cephalopods, crustaceans, holothurians and sharks. 687-1396 p. Dev Roy, M. K. 2013. Diversity and Distribution of Marine Brachyuran Crab Communities Inhabiting West Coast of India.In K. Venkataraman et al. (eds.), Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Marine Faunal Communities. 147-169. Ehlinger, G. 2011. Limulus polyphemus- “Comprehensive Description”. Indian River Lagoon Species resource- © Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. Jeyabaskaran R and Ajmal Khan S. 2007. Diversity of brachyuran crabs in Gulf of

Horseshoe crab Anatomy 16 February – 8 March 2015

Willie Heard, 2001. ©ProjectOceanograph


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Classfication Biodiversity and Conversation of Marine Crabs Mannar (Southest coast of India). In: Biodiversity Conservation of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve (Kannaiyan S, Venkataraman K, eds), National Authority, Chennai, India. 68-82. Josileen Jose and N. G. Menon, 2007. Fishery and growth parameters of the blue swimmer crab Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) along the Mandapam coast, India. J. Mar. Bio. Ass. India, 49 (2): 159-165. Keenan, C.P., P.J.F. Davie, and D.L. Mann. 1998. A revision of the genus Scylla De Haan (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae). Raffles Bull. Zool., 46(1): 217-241. Mohamed,K.S., Zacharia, P. U., Maheswarudu, G. Sathianandan, T.V, Abdussamad, E. M., Ganga U., Pillai, S.Lakshmi, Sobhana, K.S, Nair, Rekha J, Josileen, Jose, Chakraborty Rekha, D., Kizhakudan Shoba Joe and Najmudeen, T. M. 2014. Minimum Legal Size (MLS) of capture to avoid growth overfishing of commercially exploited fish and shellfish species of Kerala. Marine Fisheries Information Service; Technical and Extension Series, 220: 3-7. Ng, P.K.L. 1998. FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes – Crabs – Portunidae. Ng, P.K.L., D. Guinot and P. J. F. Davie. 2008. Systema brachyurorum: part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The raffles bulletin of zoology 17:1–286. V. Patankar, V. and E. D’souza. 2012. Conservation needs of the coconut crab

Birgus latro on the Nicobar Islands, India Fauna & Flora International, Oryx, 46(2), 175–178. Radhakrishnan, E.V., Mary K. Manisseri and G. Nandakumar. 2007. Status of research on crustacean resources. In: Mohan Joseph Modayil and N.G. K. Pillai (Eds.) Status and Perspectives in Marine Fisheries Research in India, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi : 135-172. Stephenson W. 1972. An annotated check-list and key to the Indo-West Pacific swimming crabs (Crustacea:Decapoda: Portunidae).Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand,10:1-64. Zaldívar-Rae, J., R.E. Sapién-Silva, M. Rosales-Raya, and H. J. Brockmann. 2009. American horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus in Mexico. In: Biology and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs. J. Tanacredi, M. Botton, and D. Smith (eds.). Springer Science. Pp. 97-113.


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Life Cycle and Biology of Portunid Crabs Josileen Jose Crustacean Fisheries Division, CMFRI, Kochi-18

Growth In crustaceans, as growth progresses, certain dimensions of the animal’s body may grow much more than others, resulting in the phenomenon known as relative growth (Hartnoll, 1974). Studies of relative growth are often used to determine changes in the form and size of the abdomen, pleopods, or chelipeds during ontogeny. Knowledge of these distinguishing characters and size relationships in sexually mature individuals is of particular importance in the study of commercially valuable crustaceans. Such knowledge can be useful for further studies on the life history of the species and in the development of its fishery, resource management, and culture. The mathematical length-weight relationship thus yields information on the general well-being of individuals, variation in growth according to sex, size at first maturity, gonadal development, and breeding season. Study of the length-weight relationship in aquatic animals has wide application in delineating the growth patterns during their developmental pathways (Bagenal, 1978). In population studies, morphometric analysis provides a powerful complement to genetic and environmental stock identification approaches (Cadrin, 2000) and length-weight relationships allow the conversion of growth-in-length equations to growthin-weight for use in a stock assessment model (Moutopolos & Stergiou, 2002). Information about individual body weightlength/width relationships in populations is important for estimating the population size of a stock, specifically for the purpose of its exploitation. The length-width/weight relationships are regarded as more suitable for evaluating crustacean populations (Prasad & Neelakantan, 1988; Prasad et al., 1989; Sukumaran & Neelakantan, 1997). The interrelationships between various morphometric characters will be useful in comparing the different stocks of the same species at different geographical locations (Josileen,2011a).

ecdysis. Quantifying patterns of crustacean growth is difficult. Although there have been many studies, there is no generally accepted or convincing model describing crustacean growth, which is comparable to the models widely applied to fish growth. Among the reasons for this are the complications of incremental, discontinuous growth by moulting and the variety of life history strategies expressed by crustaceans. The best way of describing the growth of many crustacean species is by observing their moulting pattern. Crustacean growth is dependent upon the duration of the intermoult (moult interval) and size increase at each moult (moult increment). The processes of the moulting cycle have been adequately described by Skinner (1985). The growth of Portunus pelagicus from the first instar to stage 16 was studied by rearing the crabs in the laboratory (Josileen and Menon, 2005). The males have grown from an initial average carapace width of 2.38 ± 0.18 mm to 159.86 ± 3.52 mm;

Crustaceans are equipped with a hard exoskeleton that must be shed in order to grow, i.e., through moulting or 93

Life Cycle and Biology of Portunid Crabs i.e. from first instar to sixteenth instar within a mean period of 272 days and further reared to a maximum of 455 days. The average total weight gained was 275.00 ± 25.41 g from an initial weight of 0.008 g. Females have grown from an initial average carapace width of 2.43 ± 0.34 to 154.31 ± 2.73 mm, reached sixteenth instar within a mean period of 332 days. The average weight gain during the same period was 0.006 g to 210.33 ± 18.39 g. In crabs there are certain morphological features which are present in full expression at sexual maturity. These changes in morphological characters are otherwise known as secondary sexual characters, are prominent in both sexes of the crabs. In males, pubertal changes include the colour of the chelae and other pereiopods, length and depth of the pereiopods, and length of the first pleopods relative to the sternites in the sternal depression. In P. pelagicus it was noticed that there is a drastic change in the length of chelae in males by their 12th moult. The total increment was 24.23 mm from the previous moult registering 97.51% increase in chelar propodus length. Chelar propodus depth also increased, 3.68 mm (45.71%), but it was more prominent in the subsequent mature moultings. Male has pleopods modified as copulatory organ on the first and second abdominal somites. Onset of sexual maturity was explicit in female crabs too. In contrast to males, passage of a female through pubertal moult was indicated by gross morphological changes particularly of the abdomen and accessory reproductive structures. The most evident change in the female was the change of the triangular abdomen to oval shaped one and in later moultings it almost attained a semicircular shape. In juveniles, abdomen was held tightly against the sternum and by the puberty moult the abdominal flap become free. All the abdominal segments become freely articulated and bordered by small setae. If the abdomen of the female was lifted, round oviduct openings can be seen which was a slit like in a juvenile crab. There are four pairs of biramous pleopods on the second to fifth abdominal segments and these pleopodal endopodites bear clusters of long and silky setae to which eggs are attached during spawning.

Food & feeding Knowledge of the dietary habits of a species is essential for understanding its nutritional requirements and thus its interactions with other groups of animals. Crabs include filter feeders, sand cleansers, mud, plant, and carrion feeders, predators, commensals, and parasites (Dall & Moriarty, 1983). Crabs occupy many different niches and inhabit many different habitats in a variety of geographical areas, and this is reflected in the variety of food consumed by them. The crab uses its mouthparts to chop the food into small pieces and then the gastric mill ossicles further reduce the food to unidentifiable fragments. The majority of researchers

use the foregut contents to study the quantity and nature of the different food items the crab has consumed (Sukumaran & Neelakandan, 1997; Chande & Mgaya, 2004 and Josileen, 2011b). They are all opportunistic omnivores with a preference for animal prey, but within that framework only rarely feed on more mobile prey such as fish and prawns. Josileen (2011b) observed that crustaceans constitute the most favoured item in Portunus pelagicus diet, followed by molluscs and fish. Also recorded the presence of detritus (80%) in the stomachs, which suggests that these crabs are also detritivorous, consuming both fresh and decaying flesh of all kinds of animals. It was found that the stomachs of juveniles and sub-adults are predominated by debris. Grapsid, xanthid, majid, potamid, and portunid crabs (in portunids particularly juveniles) have also been reported to consume plant material.

Fecundity Fecundity is an index of reproductive capacity, expressed in terms of the number of eggs produced by an organism. Among decapod crustaceans, fecundity varies widely within families and genera, and in crabs it varies from species to species. There is also variation within the same species, due to factors such as age, size, nourishment, ecological conditions of the habitat, etc. (Giese & Pearse, 1974; Shields, 1991). In general, fecundity in crabs is measured as the number of eggs produced in each clutch, and it is usually described as a function of body size (Corey & Reid, 1991). Fecundity allows a better understanding of the reproductive potential, dynamics and evolution of a given population (García-Montes et al.,1987).Variation in fecundity was primarily a reflection of variation in the size of the crab at maturity. Brachyuran crabs show a great diversity in embryonic development, especially owing to a significant variation in egg size. Fecundity, expressed as average number of eggs in ovigerous females, was positively correlated with the size of the egg-bearing females in all species. The relationship between female size and egg number is usually described as an allometric function equivalent to that between size and weight (Hines, 1988; Josileen 2013). The increase in fecundity is here explained by positive allometric relationship (increase in egg number with the increase in total width). For brachyuran crabs correlation is often high and body size is the prime determinant in fecundity per brood and reproductive output. For example, Josileen (2013) reported that in Portunus pelagicus the fecundity measured ranged between 60,000 and 19,76,398 in crabs with carapace widths of 100 to 190 mm from Indian waters. In same species from Malaysia, fecundity estimates ranged from 1,48,897 to 8,35,401 eggs within a carapace width of 102-140 mm (Arshad et al., 2006). Sexual dimorphism and sexual characters In crabs sexes are separate and sexes can be distinguished from the shape of the abdomen. In males the abdomen is narrow, inverted ‘T’ shaped and in addition mature males


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Josileen Jose have larger and broader chelae. The first and second abdominal appendages (pleopods) are highly modified to form an intromittant copulatory organ. Females possess a broad abdomen, conical/oval in shape (according to the stage of maturity) and bear four pairs of pleopods. Many species of crabs show sexual dimorphism, with males being larger, smaller, or possessing special or enlarged structures. In some species the females are the larger. Most commonly, males have proportionately much larger chelipeds or chelae. In some heterochelous crabs, males have one of their chelipeds extremely enlarged to be used for courtship. Males always have only two pairs of gonopods (uniramous swimmerets or pleopods) which are specially modified for

copulation (most crabs practice internal fertilisation). The first gonopod (G1) is basically a highly modified pleopod which has been folded or rolled longitudinally to form a cylindrical tube. The degree of this folding varies; from incomplete, leaving a prominent longitudinal gap between the two margins, to having the folds overlapping several times. The channel thus formed can vary from very wide to extremely narrow and almost capillary-like. The form of the G1 varies from broad to very slender, straight to sinuous, and even strongly recurved.

Reproductive system The male reproductive system of is bilaterally symmetrical creamy to whitish in colour,

Diagram showing the internal organs of the Portunid crab 16 February – 8 March 2015


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Life Cycle and Biology of Portunid Crabs composed of a pair of testes, a pair of vas differentia, and a pair of ejaculatory ducts internally, and a pair of pleopods externally as accessory reproductive organs, present on the inner side of the abdominal flab. The vas differentia has been divided into three distinct regions, based on the morphological and functional criteria: Anterior (AVD), Median (MVD) and Posterior (PVD) vas deferens. The female reproductive system composed of a pair of ovaries, a pair of seminal receptacles (or) spermatheca, and a pair of oviducts open to the exterior through the female genital opening situated on the left and right sternites of sixth thoracic segment. The ovaries are categorized into five stages, according to the size, colour and external morphology of the ovaries; immature, early maturing, late maturing, ripe and spent. In general males mature earlier than females and the size at first maturity varies from species to species.

8-12 days in tropical species and the period is considerably long in other species. Hatching generally takes place during early morning hours.

Life cycle & Larval stages of Portunid crabs In general, development in almost all crabs is via zoeae. The eggs hatch into first zoeae which typically go through 1–6 instars before becoming a megalopa. Some species have larger eggs and fewer zoeal stages. Majids in particular, typically have only two zoeal stages. Some groups have species in which the typical number of zoeal stages is reduced, with their zoeae more advanced in form, and having fewer stages. This is termed semi-abbreviated development. In extreme cases, there may only be one zoeal stage that may not even need to feed, relying entirely on stored yolk inside the body. In a few species, the larval development is even more truncated, with no free swimming zoeal stages, and the eggs hatch directly into megalopae, or even the first crab stage. This is abbreviated development. Few marine crabs practice abbreviated development, notable being some species of pilumnids, dromiids, homolodromiids, freshwater sesarmids and all true freshwater crab families.

Zoea-I

Zoea-II

Mating and spawning

Zoea-III

Like in shrimps, mating takes place as soon as the female crab moults with a hard male. The sperms are transferred and stored in the spermathecal of the female crab. After the spawning the eggs are attached to the endopodites of the pleopods and females carry the ‘berry’ till hatching and release the planktonic larvae (zoeae). The embryonic development takes

A- Carapace, I- Abdominal segment, H- Telson,

Zoea-IV

Megalopa

K- First abdominal segment with spines *Larval stages of the marine crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) * For details refer Josileen, J. and N. G. Menon. 2004.


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Josileen Jose The larva passes through zoea (no. vary according to the species) and megalopa stages and moult to crab instar. For example P. pelagicus has four zoeae & a megalopa stage and Scylla spp. have five zoeae & a megalopa stage.

Mud Crab, Scylla Spp. Larval development The different Scylla spp. pass through 5 zoeal stages and a megalopa stage before it moults to the crab stage, taking 2125 days for the entire cycle.

Scylla Larval stages (Zoea 1- 5 & megalopa)



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Berried Mother

Crab instar-I

Pleopodal setae with eggs

Life Cycle of Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Zoea-I

Megalopa

Zoea-IV

Zoea-II

Zoea-III

Charybdis feriatus Crucifix crab has six zoeal stages, the maximum number recorded for a portunid crab in the Indo- Pacific region. The larval stages recorded for the species are found to be similar to the larval stages of C. feriatus, reported from other regions (Josileen, 2011c).


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Zoeal stages of Charybdis feriatus (Crucufix Crab) American blue crab, Callinectes sapidus The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, represents the most valuable fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic states of Mary land, Virginia and North Carolina. Recently, due to fishing pressure and destruction of coastal nursery habitats has driven the crab populations to a crisis situation. In 2005, researchers from Maryland University succeeded in the mass larval rearing of the species with scope of further upgradation of the technology. It passes through 8 zoeal stages and a megalopa stage taking a minimum period of 50 days to reach the first crab stage.

Suggested reading Arshad, A., Efrizal, M.S. Kamarudin and C.R. Saad. 2006. Study on Fecundity, Embryology and Larval Development of Blue Swimming Crab Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) under Laboratory Conditions. Research Journal of Fisheries and Hydrobiology,1 (1) : 35-44. Bagenal, T.,1978. Method for assessment of fish production in fresh waters (3rd ed.): 1-365. (IBP Handbook, 3. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford). Cadrin, S. X., 2000. Advances in morphometric identification of fishery stocks. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 10: 91-112. Chande, A. I. and Y. D. Mgaya. 2004. Food habits of blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus, along the coast of Dar es Salaam. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science, 3(1): 37-42. García-montes, J. F., A. García and L. A. Soto, 1987. Morphometry, relative growth and fecundity of the Gulf crab, Callinectes similis Williams, 1966. Ciencias Marinas, 13: 137-161. Giese, A. C. and J. S. Pearse, 1974. Introduction. In: A. C. GIESE & J. S. PEARSE (eds.), Reproduction of marine invertebrates, 1, Acoelomate and pseudocoelomate metazoans: 1-49. (Academic Press, New York, NY). Hartnoll, R. G., 1974. Variation in growth pattern between some secondary sexual characteres in crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana, 27: 131-136.


Hines, A. 1982. Allometric constraints and variables of reproductive effort in brachyuran crabs. Marine Biology 69: 309-320. Hines, A. 1988. Fecundity and reproductive output in two species of deep-sea crabs, Geryon fenneri and G. quinquedens. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 8(4): 557-562. Josileen Jose and N.G. Menon, 2004. Larval stages of blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus,1758) (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana, 77 (7): 785-803. Josileen Jose and N.G. Menon, 2005. Growth of the blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Brachyura) in captivity. Crustaceana, 78(1): 1-18. Josileen Jose. 2011a. Morphometrics and Length-Weight Relationship in the Blue Swimmer Crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Mandapam Coast, India. Crustaceana, 84 (14): 1665-1681. Josileen Jose. 2011b. Food and feeding of the blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, brachyura) along the Coast of Mandapam, Tamil Nadu, India. Crustaceana, 84 (10): 1169-1180. Josileen Jose. 2011c. Captive spawning, hatching and larval development of crucifix crab, Charybdis feriatus (Linnaeus, 1758). Journal of Marine Biological Association of India, 53 (1): 35-40. Josileen, Jose. 2013. Fecundity of the Blue Swimmer Crab, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae) along the coast of Mandapam, Tamil Nadu, India. Crustaceana, 86 (1). pp. 48-55. Moutopoulos, D. K. and Stergiou, K. I. 2002. Weight-length and length-length relationships for 40 fish species of the Aegean Sea (Hellas). Journ. appl. Ichthyol., 18: 200-203. Prasad, P. N. & Neelakantan, B. 1988. Morphometry of the mud crab — Scylla serrata. Seafood Export Journ., 20(7): 19-22. Prasad, P. N., Reeby, J., Kusuma N.and B. Neelakantan, 1989. Width-weight and length-weight relationship in three portunid crab species. Uttar Pradesh Journ. Zool., 9(1): 116-120. Sukumaran, K. K. and Neelakantan, B. 1997. Length-weight relationship in two marine portunid crabs, Portunus (Portunus) sanguinolentus (Herbst) and Portunus (Portunus) pelagicus (Linnaeus) from the Karnataka coast. Indian Journ. mar. Sci., 26(1): 39-42. Sukumaran, K. K. and B. Neelakantan, 1997. Food and feeding of Portunus (Portunus) sanguinolentus (Herbst) and Portunus (Portunus) pelagicus (Linnaeus) (Brachyura: Portunidae) along the Karnataka coast. Indian Journal of Marine Science, 26(1): 35-38.


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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan Crustacean Fisheries Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Lobsters are among the most prized of fisheries resources and of significant commercial interest in many countries. Because of their high value and esteemed culinary worth, much attention has been paid to lobsters in biological, fisheries, and systematic literature. They have a great demand in the domestic market as a delicacy and is a foreign exchange earner for the country.

Taxonomic status Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Subclass: Eumalacostraca Superorder: Eucarida Order: Decapoda Suborder: Macrura Reptantia The suborder Macrura Reptantia consists of three infraorders: Astacidea (Marine lobsters and freshwater crayfishes), Palinuridea (Spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters) and Thalassinidea (mud lobsters). The infraorder Astacidea


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contains three superfamilies of which only one (the Nephropoidea) is considered here. The remaining two superfamilies (Astacoidea and parastacoidea) contain the freshwater crayfishes. The superfamily Nephropoidea (40 species) consists almost entirely of commercial or potentially commercial species. The infraorder Palinuridea also contains three superfamilies (Eryonoidea, Glypheoidea and Palinuroidea) all of which are marine. The Eryonoidea are deepwater species of insignificant commercial interest. The Glypheoidea includes an almost exclusively fossil group. About 120 species are included in the superfamily Palinuroidea. The third infraorder, the Thalassinidea, contains a single superfamily, the Thalassinoidea which contains around 100 species. Only few representatives of this superfamily are known to be used as food and bait. Key to the three Infraorders and their Superfamilies 1a. First three pairs of pereiopods with true chelae, the first pair the largest and most robust 2a Fourth pereiopod, and usually also the fifth, without true chelae. Carapace cylindrical not flattened ..... Infraorder Astacidea, Superfamily Nephropoidea 2b All pereiopods, or at least the first four, with true chelae. Carapace flattened. Deep-sea species ..... 16 February – 8 March 2015

Infraorder Palinuridea, Superfamily Eryonoidea, Family Polychelidae 1b. Third pereiopod never with a true chela,in most groups chelae also absent from first and second pereiopods 3a Antennal flagellum reduced to a single broad and flat segment, similar to the other antennal segments ..... Infraorder Palinuridea, Superfamily Palinuroidea, Family Scyllaridae 3b Antennal flagellum long, multi-articulate, flexible, whiplike, or more rigid 4a Epistome long, about 1/3 of carapace length. Eyes on a median elevation of the cephalon ..... infraorder Palinuridea, Superfamily Glypheoidea, Family Glypheidae 4b Epistome short, far shorter than 1/3 of the carapace. Eyes not placed on an elevation of the cephalon 5a Carapace with numerous strong and less strong spines and two frontal horns over the eyes. Rostrum absent or reduced to a single spine. Legs 2 to 4 without chelae or sub chelae ..... Infraorder Palinuridea, Superfamily Palinuroidea, Family Palinuridae 5b Carapace with at most a few spines; no frontal horns. Rostrum present, even though sometimes small. Legs 1 and 1 simple, chelate or subchelate 6a First pereiopods simple, rostrum flat, broad and triangular or broadly oval ..... Infraorder Palinuridea, Superfamily Palinuroidea, Family Synaxidae


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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters 6b First pereiopod chelate or subchelate. Rostrum of diverse shapes ..... Infraorder Thalassinidea Superfamily Palinuroidea Latreille, 1802 Three families make up this superfamily, namely the Palinuridae (spiny lobsters), Synaxidae (furry lobsters) and Scyllaridae (slipper lobsters). Key to families 1a. Antennal flagellum reduced to a single, flat, plate which forms the sixth and final segment of the antenna. The shovellike appearance of the antennae is responsible for the names shovel-nose lobster and bulldozer lobster also used for the animals of this group Scyllaridae 1b. Antennal flagellum long and consisting of numerous small articles, whip-like or spear-like

Antennal flagellum long and consisting of numerous small articles, whip-like or spear-like. Rostrum absent or visible as a small on anterior margin of carapace. Carapace with a pair of frontal horns above the eyes, and usually with spines on the dorsal surface; hairs on carapace, if present, few and scattered Palinuridae There are 11 genera in this family Justitia, Jasus, Linuparus, Nupalirus, Palibythus, Palinurus Palinustus, Panulirus, Projasus, Puerulus, Sagmariasus, (those in bold letters are represented in India) Key to genera occurring in the family Palinuridae Two distinct widely separated tooth-like frontal horns, between which the anterior margin of the carapace is visible; antennal flagella quite flexible; flagella of antennules long, whip-like longer than peduncle of antennules; antennular plate and stridulating organ present Panulirus Genus Panulirus White, 1847 Anterior margin of carapace between frontal horns with about 10 small, sharp teeth; pleura of second to fifth abdominal somites with a strong anterior tooth followed by a lobe denticulated on the posterior margin Palinurus George and Main (1967) recognized nineteen species within this genus in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Six of these occur along the Indian coast. Tooth-like frontal horns ; antennal flagella quite flexible; flagella of antennules long, whip-like, longer than peduncle of antennules; antennular plate and stridulating organ present.

Family: Palinuridae Latreille, 1802

The species found in Indian waters are Panulirus homarus, P. polyphagus, P. ornatus, P. versicolor, P. penicillatus, and P. longipes longipes. There are three subspecies: Panulirus homarus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758), P. homarus rubellus (Berry, 1974) and P. homarus megasculpta (Pesta, 1915)


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Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan Key to species of Panulirus recorded off the Indian coast and the island groups, Andaman Nicobar Island and the Lakshadweep Islands 1. Abdominal segment 2-5 with the transverse grooves ..... 2 Abdominal segments 2-5 without transverse grooves or with indistinct grooves in juveniles only ..... 4 2. Margin of transverse abdominal grooves with squamae varying from well developed and even in size to minute and irregular in size. Overall colour ranges from brownishred in specimens with large squamae to olive green in specimens with minute squamae ..... P.homarus 3. Abdominal segment 2-5 with the transverse grooves ..... 2 Abdominal segments 2-5 without transverse grooves or with indistinct grooves in juveniles only ..... 4 4. Margin of transverse abdominal grooves with squamae varying from well developed and even in size to minute and irregular in size. Overall colour ranges from brownish-red in specimens with large squamae to olive green in specimens with minute squamae ..... P.homarus Margin of transverse abdominal grooves with no trace of squamae ..... 3 5. Antennular plate (between the stridulating organs) with 2pairs (4) of subequal principle spines, fused at their bases. Supraorbital horns rounded in cross section. Overall colour olive-black ..... P.pencillatus Antennular plate with 1 pair (2) of equal principle spines; supraorbital horns flattened bilaterally. Overall colour purplish-red with abdomen covered with conspicuous white spots ..... P.longipes Antennular plate with 1 pair of equal spines; white bands on each abdominal segment. Legs with white spots. Colour Olive green ..... P.polyphagus 6. Conspicuous transverse white band posteriorly on each abdominal segment. Legs with longitudinal white stripes, juveniles have white antennae. Overall colour black and green ..... P.versicolor No transverse white band on abdominal segments but above each pleural spur is a conspicuous white spots. Legs with irregular transverse mottling, no longitudinal stripes. Overall colour bluish green ..... P.ornatus

Panulirus homarus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758) Diagnosis: Abdominal segments 2-5 with transverse grooves interrupted in the middle; minute squammae on the upper margin of the groove; antennular plate with four spines; exopod of third maxilliped absent; second maxilliped with no flagellum; olive green in specimens with minute squamae. Distribution: The P. homarus homarus subspecies has a broad geographic range extending from East Africa to Japan including Indonesia, Australia, New Caledonia and the Marquesas Archipelago (Holthius, 1991). Northwest, southwest, southeast coast of India, A& N Islands and Lakshadweep Islands. Forms fishery along southwest and southeast coast; promising species for aquaculture

Habitat and ecology: The species is commonly found in very shallow water (1-15m), although can be found to depths of 90m. It inhabits rocky reefs for shelter (Holthius, 1991). Biology: Maximum total length 31cm, carapace length 12cm. Average total length 20 to 25cm Major fisheries are on the southeast and southwest coast of India. The commercial fishery at Muttom, Kanyakumari district was found to be largely supported by 1st and 2nd year animals. At a given

carapace length females are heavier than males. Females attain functional maturity at a carapace length (CL) of 55mm. Males attain maturity at 63mm CL on the basis of allometric growth of III walking leg. Peak breeding season is from November to December.

Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst, 1793) Diagnosis: Abdominal somites smooth, without transverse groove. Surface of abdominal somites naked and smooth. Exopod of third maxilliped absent; second maxilliped with flagellum present; antennular plate with two strong spines; white transverse bands on the abdomen. Distribution: This species has abroad range from Pakistan and India to Vietnam, the phillippines, Indonesia, northwest Australia and the Gulf of Papua (Holthius, 1991). In India this species is the most important commercial species contributing to nearly three-fourth of the total lobster catch of the country. Major fisheries are on the northwest coast of India. Exported in whole-cooked frozen form; promising species for aquaculture. Habitat and Ecology: The species is commonly found in



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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters coastal waters on muddy and rocky substrates to a depth of 40m, although it is occasionally seen at 90m and is often seen near the river mouths (Holthius, 1991). Biology: The size in the fishery ranged from 75mm to 385mm total length (TL), those between 160mm and 230mm TL forming the mainstay of the fisheries in Maharashtra. Juvenilesof both sexes showed identical growth rate and

Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji (Holthius, 1991). Forms fishery along the southeast coast of India. Habitat and ecology: In shallow, sometimes slightly turbid coastal waters; from 1 to 8m depth, with a few records from depths as great as 50m; on sandy and muddy substrates and sometimes on rocky bottom often near the mouth of rivers, but also on coral reefs. The species has been reported as solitary or as a living in pairs, but has also been found in larger concentrations. Biology: This is the largest of the Panulirus species and can attain a total body length of about 50cm, but usually is much smaller (25-30cm). Mainly form fishery along the southeast coast of India. P.ornatus is caught both by trawlers and gillnets. P.ornatus forms major component of the trawler catch. P.ornatus appears throughout the year, but highest catch is in May at Tuticorin. The size of lobsters in the fishery ranges from 113 to 233mm TL in males and 128-452mm TL in females with 41% falling in the size range of 181-190mm TL, which are juveniles. At Tuticorin the inshore fishery for juveniles P.ornatus is detrimental to the stock. Occasionally found along the west coast of Kanyakumari district and form a small fishery at Tikkoti, Calicut. Occurrence of adult and egg bearing population at 40-60m depth indicated that the species breed probably at relatively deeper areas. This is a fast growing spiny lobster among the tropical species. Females mature at 90mm CL. The Fecundity in specimens caught along

measured 85mm TL in the first year, 145mm TL in the second year and 205mm TL in the third year. Males demonstrated faster growth rate. Females attained 50% maturity at 175mm TL. Peak breeding is in September. High exploitation ratio of 0.85 and 0.82 in males and females respectively has resulted in recruitment overfishing in Mumbai waters (Radhakrishnan et al., 2007). Exported in whole-cooked frozen form.

Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius, 1798) Diagnosis: Abdominal somites smooth and naked; colour of abdomen brownish or greenish-grey with utmost minute indistinct speckles. The usually large eyespot in the anterior half near the base of the pleura is accompanied by an oblique pale streak placed somewhat median of the eyespot. Legs not streaked, but with very sharply defined irregular dark spots. Distribution: Tropical Indo-Pacific; It ranges from Natal in South Africa, along the coast of East Africa and the Red sea to southern Japan, the Solomon island, Papu New Guinea, Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan the Chennai coast (104.4mm to 145.1mm CL) ranges from 5,18,181 to 19,79,522 eggs.

Panulirus versicolor (Latreille, 1804) Diagnosis: Antennular plate with 4 strong spines arranged in a quadrangle. Carapace whitish with well-defined, sharply delimited area of bluish black; antennal peduncles pink; antennal flagella white; abdominal somites 2 to 5 with white transverse bands; legs with streaks of white lines.

1, 70, 212 to 7, 33, 752.

Panulirus penicillatus (Olivier, 1791) Diagnosis: Antennular plate with 4 strong spines which are fused at the base forming a single bunch of 4 diverging points, the anterior pair shorter than the posterior. Transverse grooves over the abdomen uninterrupted.

Distribution: This species known throughout Indian ocean (east coast of Africa and the Red sea) east to Japan, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and northern Australia (Holthius, 1991). Along the Indian coast the species has been reported from southeast, southwest, A&N Islands and Lakshadweep. Habitat and ecology: This species is found in areas of coral reef, most often on the seaward edge of the reef plateau, where it utilizes the reef and rocks for shelter. It is found in shallow waters to a maximum depth of 15m (Holthius, 1991). Furthermore, they are nocturnal and they only aggregate in very small numbers. Biology: Fishery of lower magnitude reported along the Chennai, Mandapam, Trivandrum coasts. In A& N Islands, P.versicolor formed 26% of total landings (0.12t) in 19992000 (Kumar et al., 2010). The fecundity of P.versicolor (66.0 to 95mm CL) from Chennai coast was estimated to range from

Distribution: This species has the widest distribution of any of the spiny lobsters. It occurs in Indo-west Pacific and East Pacific regions (Holthius, 1991). South from the Red sea to South and East Africa; Madagascar and surrounding islands, through the Indian Ocean and South china sea to Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii, Samoa, northern and eastern Australia and as far as east as the islands of north west coast of US and Mexico. Along the Indian Coast, the species is distributed along the southeast and southwest coast. Lakshadweep as well as in A&N Islands. Habitat and ecology: This nocturnal species commonly inhabits depths of 1 to 4m (Maximum 16m), on rocky substrates (Chan, 1988). It is often found in the outer reef slopes, subtidal zone or surge channels, and as such can occur on small islands or near arid coast (Holthius, 1991). In the Western Pacific, females seem to be reproductive all year round (Chan, 1988) Biology: Little information is available on the biology of the species as there is only occasional capture of the species from Indian coast. The species has been successfully cultured in the 16 February – 8 March 2015


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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters laboratory (Nelson et al., 2006). There is little demand for the species in the live lobster export market.

Panulirus longipes (A. Milne Edwards, 1868) This species is comprised of two subspecies Panulirus longipes longipes (A.Milne Edwards, 1868) and P. longipes bispinosus Borradaile, 1899. The species found along the Indian coast is P. longipes longipes.

P. longipes longipes (A. Milne Edwards, 1868) Diagnosis: Body or especially the abdomen covered with numerous distinct round spots; legs with light longitudinal streaks; abdomen dark purple. No pubescent area on the abdominal somites behind the transverse groove; exopod of third maxilliped present.

Genus Puerulus Ortmann, 1897 Antennular plate distinct, a stridulating organ present. Carapace with a median ridge behind the cervical groove, often with spines or tubercles, but without submedian rows ..... Puerulus Four species have been recognized so far in this genus, all deep waters forms P. sewelli forms a commercially important fishery along the southwest and southeast coast of India Key to species (after Berry, 1969)

Distribution: Indo-west pacific, East Africa to Thailand, Taiwan, the Phillippines, Indonesia and India. Along the Indian coast the species was reported from the southeast and southwest coast and the A& N Island. Habitat and ecology: The species lives in clear or slightly turbid water at depths of 1-18 m (also reported from 122m), in rocky area and coral reefs. The animals are nocturnal and not gregarious (Holthius, 1991).

1. Two teeth between frontal horns and the cervical groove 1a. Median keel of carapace with 5 post-cervical and 2 or 3 intestinal teeth. Fifth pereopod of male not chelate ..... P. sewelli

Puerulus sewelli Ramadan, 1938 Diagnosis: Median keel of carapace with 5 post-cervical and 2 or 3 intestinal teeth. Fifth pereopod of male not chelate. Distribution: Western Indian Ocean; Somalia, Gulf of Eden, off Pakistan, southwest (Quilon Bank, Mangalore) and southeast (off mandapam and Tuticorin, Gulf of Mannar) of India and A&N Islands. Habitat and ecology: Known from depth between 180 and 300m on a substrate of coarse sand hard mud and shells (Holthius, 1991).

Biology: As this is not a commercial species and occasionally landed as single specimens, not much information is available on the biology of the species from Indian waters. Maximum total body length 30cm, average length 20 to 25cm. The smallest ovigerous female has a total length of 14cm

Biology: Maximum total body length 20cm, maximum carapace length about 8cm. Average total length about 15 cm. The species was commercially exploited along the southwest and southeast coast of India. A catch rate of 200-300kg/hr was reported from vessels opening off Mandapam. January to April is the peak period of abundance. During 1998-2000, 524t were landed at Sakthikulangara, Kollam, and Kerala. The sizes of P. sewelli ranged from 76-80mm to 176-180 TL in Males and from 81-85mm to 176-180mm in females.


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Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan 26% of females were found in mature/berried stage. Due to coincidence of peak breeding and the fishery, the breeding population has been heavily exploited. The species has been overexploited and the current landing is around 2 tonnes/ annum from Quilon Bank. A large single median tooth before the cervical groove. Apart from two submedian and two lateral longitudinal rows of spines the posterior half of the carapace is smooth and without spinules. Abdominal pleura ending in two single sharp teeth ..... Projasus

Genus Palinustus A. Milne Edwards, 1880 This genus is characterized by the shape of the frontal horns, that do not end in a sharp point but in a broad, bluntly truncated to that sometimes is crenulated; a strong spine is present on the outer margin of each horn. Four species have been described of this genus, none with any commercial value as the species all seem to be very scarce and all occur at considerable depths. The taxonomic status of some of the species is not yet clear. From the data in the literature it seems most likely that almost all the specimens, other than the type material, thathave been identified as Palinustus mossambicus do not belong to that species but must be assigned to Palinustus waguensis. Antennular plate narrow, unarmed; Major supraorbital processes terminating in a blunt crenulated margin; two spines on anterior straight margin of carapace between the supraorbital processes; first peduncular joint of antennae extending beyond and of peduncle of antennules ..... Palinustus

spinules or tubercles on the anterior margin;anterolateral corners with a single spine or unarmed. 2a. A strong median spine, in addition to several others, on the anterior margin of the carapace between the frontal horns. Inner margin of the horns without spines (230b). Epistome with 5 tubercles on the anteromedian margin; anterolateral corner with a strong spine. Western Atlantic ..... P. truncates 2b. No median spine on anterior margin of carapace. Epistome with tubercles or spinules on anteromedian margin; anterolateral corner with a small spine or unarmed. Indo-West Pacific. 3a. Anterior margin of carapace between frontal horns with a single pair of strong submedian spines; rest of the margin as well as the inner margin of the horns unarmed or with 2 very small spinules (Fig. 230c). Deep sea (406 m ), but also reported from 59 to 61 m. East Africa (Somalia, Mozambique) ..... P. mossambicus 3b. Anterior margin of carapace as well as inner margin of the frontal horns with several distinct spines. Shallow water form, 0 to 180 m. Indo-West Pacific region (India, Thailand, Philippines, Japan) ..... P. waguensis

Family: Scyllaridae Latreille, 1825 Key to Identification of the family Antennal flagellum reduced to a single, flat plate which forms the sixth and final segment of the antenna. The shovel-like appearance of the antennae is responsible for the name shovel-nosed lobster for the animals of this group ..... Scyllaridae The greater part of the lobsters seem to be omnivores and scavengers, but few detailed observations are available on feeding habits. Some species are attracted by dead fish put as bait in lobster traps, but others are hardly ever caught in such traps. The Thalassinidea are mostly detritus feeders. Some lobsters also eat live animals; e.g., Scyllarides tridacnophaga has been observed to attack, open and eat specimens of the giant clam Tridacna. The family Scyllaridae includes 19 genera which are distributed in 4 Subfamilies, Arctidinae Holthuis, 1985, Ibacinae Holthuis, 1985, Scyllarinae Latreille, 1825 and Theninae Holthuis, 1985

Key to species 1a. Anterior margin of carapace between the frontal horns convex, with a single median spine; no other spines on this margin, but a single, small denticle on the inner margin of each horn. Epistome with 5 to 7 spines on the anterior margin, and small spines in the anterolateral corner(Natal, South Africa) ..... P. unicornutus 1b. Anterior margin of carapace between the frontal horns straight or convex, with two or more spines. Epistome with 16 February – 8 March 2015


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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters (Chan 2010). A single species coming under the subfamily Theninae alone is of commercial importance along the Indian context. The subfamily Arctidinae contains two genera Arctides Holthuis, 1960 and Scyllarides Gill, 1898. Two species under the genus Scyllarides have been reported from Indian coast. Subfamily Arctidinae Holthuis, 1985 Genus Scyllarides Gill, 1898 Scyllarides elisabethae (Ortmann, 1894) Diagnosis: Lateral margin of carapace with distinct cervical and postcervical incisions. Anterior margin of the carapace between the eye and the antero-lateral angle evenly concave Distribution: Indo-west Pacific region; Known from southeast Africa and Vizhinjam, Southwest coast of India. Habitat and ecology: Depth range from 37 to 380m (mostly less than 100m) on substrate of fine sediments mud or fine sand. The animals seem to dig into the mud. Biology: A single female specimen measuring 120mm CL, 330mm TL and weight 740g was caught off Vizhinjam coast from a depth of 50m by trammel net.

Scyllarides tridacnophaga

Subfamily: Theninae Holthuis, 1985 This monotypic family was recently revised by Burton and Davie (2007). There is only one genus Thenus in the subfamily. Five species has been identified using both morphology and molecular methods. The species so far described as Thenus orientalis from most part of Indian coast is T.unimaculatus (Radhakrishnan et al., 2013). T. indicus is also presumed to exist along the southeast coast of India (Jeena, 2013). Genus Thenus Leach, 1816 Diagonosis: Orbits on the anterolateral angle of the carapace. Body strongly depressed. Lateral margin of the carapace with only the cervical incision. No teeth on the lateral margin of the carapace, apart from the antero-lateral and postcervical. Fifth leg of female without a chela.

Thenus unimaculatus Burton & Davie, 2007 Diagnosis: Purple to black pigmentation blotch on inner surface of merus of second and sometimes third legs, usually large but variable in extent and may be reduced to a narrow streak; purple pigmentation occasionally surrounding eye socket on carapace; outer phase of propodus of p2 having upper-most longitudinal groove bearing obvious setae over atleast proximal half. Merus of third Maxilliped with a small spine proximally on inner ventral margin; inner margin of

Scyllarides tridacnophaga


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Rekha Devi Chakraborty and E.V.Radhakrishnan ischium prominently dentate along the entire length. No single morphometric ratios that fall outside the following maximum and minimum values; carapace width (CM1) greater than 1.29 times carapace length (CL); length of propodus of pereopod 1 (PL1) less than 0.23 times carapace length (CL); length of propodus of pereiopod 2 (PL2) greater than 0.39 times carapace length (CL); width of propodus of pereiopod 1 (PW1) greater than 0.35 times length (PL1). Distribution: Indo-west Pacific region. In India, the species is distributed along the northwest, southwest, southeast and the northeast coasts. Forms commercially fishery in Saurastra region, Kollam and Chennai. Habitat and ecology: Depth range from 8 to 70m, usually between 10 and 50m; on soft substrate, sand or mud. Biology: Maximum total body length about 25cm; often appears as bycatch in trawl; also caught in gillnets. At Kollam, Kerala peak fishery was observed from November to February. Total length varied between 61-230 mm in males and 46250mm in females. Length at recruitment (Lr) was 48mm. Absolute fecundity varied from 14750 to 33250 mature eggs (Radhakrishnan et al., 2013). 3a Eye not pigmented. Body granular and hairy, but not covered with evenly placed large pearly tubercles. Pleura of second abdominal somite ending in a long sharp point ..... Nephropsis 3b. Eye with pigmented, although small, cornea. Body entirely covered by conspicuous rounded pearly tubercles. Pleura of second abdominal somite broadly trapezoid, distal margin obliquely truncate, ending in a blunt posterior tooth ..... Nephropsis Genus Nephropsis Wood-Mason, 1872 Five species reported from Indian waters. N. carpenteri Wood-Mason, 1885 English name: Ridgeback lobsterette Distrubution range: Bay of Bengal N. stewarti Wood-Mason, 1872 English name: Indian Ocean lobsterette Range distribution: Indo-West Pacific from Eastern Africa to Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Northwestern Australia from 170 to 1,060 m depth (Chan, 1998). Southwest coast (Mangalore, Cochin), Southeast coast of India (Chennai), A&N Islands (Ross Island) Habitat and ecology: Depth 250-500m; Forms small scale fishery at Mangalore. During 2000-2006, the average annual landing of the species was estimated at 23.3t with the highest landing in 2001 (51t) and the lowest in 2005 (9 t).


Biology: Fishery was constituted by the length range 58158mm. Females < 80mm (Total length) were found to be immature. Highest percentage (33%) of immature females was found during November).

N.sulcate MacPherson, 1990 English name: Grooved lobsterette Range distribution: Indo-Pacific; southwest coast of India


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Taxonomy, Biology and Distribution of Lobsters

N.ensirostris Alcock, 1901 English name: Gladiator lobsterette Range distribution: North of Lakshadweep, Arabian sea N.suhmi Bate, 1888 English name: Red & White lobsterette Range distribution: Aru Islands, Indonesia, West coast of India

Suggested readings

George, M.J and K.C.George.1965. Palinustus mossambicus Barnard (Palinuridae:Decapoda), a rare spiny lobster from Indian waters. J.Mar.Biol. Assn.India, 7(2): 463-464. Holthuis, L.B. 1991. Marine losters of the World. FAO species catalogue, Vol.13. FAO Fisheries Synopsis, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 125 (13):1-292. Jeena, N.S. 2013. Genetic divergence in losters (Crustacea: Palinuridae and Scyllaridae) from the Indian EEZ. Ph.D Thesis submitted to Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India, May 2013, pp.153 Tsang, L.M., K.Y.Ma, S.T. Ahyong, T.Y.Chan and K.H.Chu. 2008. Phylogeny of Decapoda using two nuclear protein coding genes. Orgin and Evolution of the Reptantia. Molecular phylogenetics and Evolution, 48: 359-368.

Chan, T.Y. 2010. Annotataed checklist of world’s marine losters (Crustacea, Decapoda: Astacidea, Glypheida, Achelata, Polychelida). The raffles Bulletein of Zoology, SupplementNo.23: 153-181.


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Classical methods in fish taxonomy

V.K. Venkataramani Former Dean and Director of Research and Extension (Fisheries) Directorate of Research and Extension (Fisheries), TANUVAS, Fisheries College and Research Institute Campus, Thoothukudi - 628 008.

Introduction The three principal tasks of the taxonomists are identification, classification and study of species formation and evolution. For taxonomical revision of a family or genus, the investigator should study specimens from various museums including the holotype and also fresh specimens available in its native environment. The identification of a fish is more difficult when no convenient keys and manuals are available. When these are available, the description of the appropriate species should be checked character by character. If illustrations are given it should be compared. If these points agree, then the identification is considered as tentatively made. Once this is over, the identifier has to compare with the type specimens deposited in the established museums. While collecting fishes for revisional study there should not be any biased population samples. Specimens of all stages and different sexes have to be collected with adequate number of samples. Collections should cover all localities of the species. Sampling should be done in such a way as to provide study materials not only for the species but also for the evolutionist. All the characters of a particular species for identification should be carefully studied. The following are the morphological methods used in the identification of a finfish:

i. External morphology The importance of morphological characters in ichthyotaxonomy needs no mention. The nature of adipose eyelids, its development, extension of maxillae, position of nostrils, nature of operculum whether serrated or not, presence of pores around the mouth region

and barbels, its numbers, type of mouth, the arching of lateral line, naked area of breast region, pigments, bands on the lateral side, etc., are to be studied carefully in large number of specimens covering different length groups. Sometimes a morphological character attributed by a taxonomist as valid one for a species at a given length, may prove to be invalid at larger length groups or at smaller length groups. Hence, the taxonomists have to study the morphological characters at all length groups covering large number of specimens. Likewise the colour pattern in most of the fishes changes after death. Ichthyotaxonomists should not give more importance to colouration. While studying colourations, the specimens available at fish markets must not be studied and the colour pattern will also change when the fish is preserved. Similarly the number of bands on the body, the spots and pigmentation have to be studied only in fresh specimens. The morphological characters are of immense use in separating a family taxon, genus taxon in addition to their use in identifying species taxon.

ii. Morphometrics The morphometric characters are measurable features. These characters have been helpful for separating closely related genera and species and even population within species and are used in ichthyotaxonomical studies. Measuring the linear dimension of whole or parts of finfish is probably the most widely used technique in finfish taxnonomy. The commonly used length measurements in finfishes are (i) total length, (ii) standard length and (iii) fork length. Of these, the most frequently chosen one is total lengtth, because it is quick and easy to measure. Further, total length has been related to many factors such as weight, age, fecundity, maturity, etc. These parameters should be easily assessed in relation to total length. 111

Classical methods in fish taxonomy Though total length is the easiest to measure, in larger species with a deeply forked caudal fin, such as in scombrids, carangids, etc., fork length is preferred. Though standard length is used by ichthyotaxonomists, in large specimens standard length is not used because of the difficulty in ascertaining the posterior margin of the hypural plate. Head of a bony fish

C –Chin F- Forehead HL- Head length IOP-Inter opercle MB- Maxillary barbel SOR- Sub orbital

MN- Mandible MO- Mouth MX- Maxillary NA- Nape NO- Nostrils OP- Opercle

Head region of a clupeoid fish

PMX- Premaxillary POP- Pre opercle SOP- Sub opercle BR- Branchiostegal rays

a. Methods of Measuring Measurements are made with special measuring boards. Length measurements are usually made with the fish lying on its right side snout to the left, on a measuring board consisting essentially of a wooden or metal base carrying a centre scale and having a headpiece (nose block) against which the snout is to be pressed (Holden and Rait, 1974). The mouth of the fish should be closed, the fish body and tail are straightened along the mid-line and the readings are to be recorded from the scale. The measurements should be recorded to the nearest 0.5 mm with a fine draftsman dividers using a fresh fish in a near to relaxed condition as far as possible. Rays and other dorso-ventrally flattened fishes may be measured by lying straight on their ventral surface. Disc width rather than overall length is sometimes used as linear dimension of rays. Large fishes could be measured with calipers or from point to point along the body surface with a tape. If a fish is to be measured in centimeter units, a board with 1 m long is sufficient. For a larger specimen, an extension piece of 30 cm long can be clipped or hinged to the board. For fish measured in half-centimeter units, a board of 50 cm long is usually sufficient. The scale must correspond to the measurements being recorded. It is also not possible to measure fish to the nearest centimeter below on a board ‘marked 2 cm intervals’. Too many divisions in a scale will, either lead to mistake or waste time in recording characters to the nearest division. Over all measurements are made between perpendiculars along the longitudinal axis from the snout .Measurements are taken with the mouth closed. The standard length is taken from the snout to the tip of hypural bone. The fork length is taken from the snout to the cartilaginous tip of shortest or median caudal ray. The total length is taken from the tip of snout to the longest caudal fin ray, upper or lower, or an average of both of them. All measurements should be taken

Types of mouth

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V.K. Venkataramani in percent of standard length or fork length. Thus the factor has to be multiplied with each morphometric character for a single specimen to get the percentage of standard length in cm or mm. The same procedure has to be made for all the specimens of a species that are studied. From this, range,

Measuring Board standard deviation, standard error and confidence interval ranges should be computed for each morphometric character in a species. To obtain full information, range of overlapping, overlapping ratio and percentage of overlapping ratio for all body proportion should be calculated in all combinations (morphometric characters) for all closely related species or species coming under different genus.

b. Morphology and morphometric characters of shark The measurement of most of the morphometric characters are similar to bonyfish. As sharks do not have spines or rays in fins, measurements of fins should be from the origin of the fin to the respective fin lobe. The characters should be selected for sharks from the one given for bonyfishes in accordance to its morphology. Length of claspers and measurements of upper and lower lobes of caudal fin should be taken in addition to the characters listed for bonyfishes.

Morphology and morphometric measurements of rays For rays, the following measurements should be recorded: i) Preorbital length – Distance between snout to orbit ii) Postorbital length of disc – Distance between posterior part of orbit to anus iii) Body depth – Maximum distance across the body iv) Tail length – Distance between anus to the tip of posterior part of tail. The other characters are similar to that of sharks and bony fishes.

c. Comparison of sexes The morphometric characters are to be taken separately for males and females. To find out any difference for a character, least square method has to be employed by taking standard length as ‘X’ and different morphometric characters as ‘Y’. Analyses of co-variance (F-test) should be employed to find out any significance. If there is any significance, the sexes should be treated separately.


Morphometric characters of a teleost 1. Total length

11. Base A2 fin

2. Fork length

12. Pelvic fin length

3. Head length

13. Pectoral fin length

4. Orbit

14. Curved lateral line (CLL)

5. Depth D1 – P2

15. Snout to D1 fin

6. Depth D2 - A2

16. Snout to D2 fin

7. Snout length

17. Snout to pelvic fin

8. Upper jaw length

18. Snout to pectoral fin

9. Base D2 fin

19. Snout to A2 fin

10. Straight lateral line (SLL)

iii. Meristic Characters Meristic characters which are countable have been widely used in studies of fish population and species. Unlike the body proportions or colouration, meristic characters are fixed usually at or before metamorphosis and remain constant throughout the life of an individual. All the meristic characters should be treated separately and the frequency distribution of meristic characters must be given so as to find out any variation between species or between populations of a species. The following abbreviations are used in fins, scales and gill rakers of a teleost: D A P1 P2 or V2 C L1 Ltr O Gr


– – – – – – – – –

Dorsal fin Anal fin Pectoral fin Ventral fin Caudal fin Lateral line scales Lateral transverse row of scales Adipose dorsal fin Gill rakers 113

Classical methods in fish taxonomy Dorsal fin count and anal fin count includes spines and rays. Among two dorsals , one spinous and other ray type, then the formula may be given as D1 and DII where, DI stands for spinous first dorsal and DII stands for rays of second dorsal fin. If 3 spines and 7 branched rays are present in a single dorsal fin, then the formula may be given as DIII, 7. The anal fin count includes spines and rays. If two spines and 5 rays are present, the formula may be given as AII, 5.

Different types of fins and rays

Procumbent predorsal spine

Pectoral fin count can be made on the left side. However, counts can be made on both sides in a few number of specimens to permit estimation of bilateral variations. Pelvic fin count includes both spines and rays if present. Fin count formula is given as below: D1, I, VII-VIII -This denotes first dorsal fin with one spine separated from the rest of spines (VII-VIII). D2, I, 15-16 -This denotes second dorsal fin with one spine followed by 15-16 rays. AII, I, 10-15 -This denotes anal fin with two spines separated from one spine followed by 10-15 rays. Gill raker counts are for lateral gill rakers on the first arch, normally on the left side. The raker at the junction of the upper and lower limbs (epibranchial and ceratobranchial) is included in the lower limb count as the major part of the base of the raker is over the ceratobranchial. Rudimentary gill rakers, with the base width (lateral) of the raker equal to, or less than the raker length, occur at the anterior ends of the upper and lower limbs and these are included in the counts, though differentiated as ii, 7+19, iv=32. Laterial line scales (L1) are scales along the lateral line from its origin to its posterior most part of the lateral line. In some teleostean fishes as in clupeids lateral line is absent. In such case, scales will be counted along the row where the lateral line normally would have been present. Predorsal scales are scales on the midline in front of the dorsal fin origin. These scales are counted as the scale rows which intersect the midline from the anterior point of the dorsal fin to the orbit. Scales above and below the lateral line (Ltr) – A transverse series below of scale rows; below the lateral line scales are counted from the origin of the anal fin, not including the median ventral scale row, along a forward diagonal to the lateral line; above lateral line scales are counted from the origin of the dorsal fin, not including the median dorsal scale row, on a diagonal backward to the lateral line; the lateral line row is not included in these counts.

Spines (unsegmented and unbranched) rays (segmented and usually branched)

upper procurrent rays

Lower procurrent rays

1.Supra temporal band Caudal fin 2.Predorsal scales

3.Upper scale rows 4.Lateral line 5.Lower scale rows

Predorsal scales and count of scales rows above and below lateral line

iv.Osteology The importance of osteological studies in finfish taxonomy has been well stressed by many reasearchers. Comparison of bones of different species and their structure will be useful


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V.K. Venkataramani in separating the genera and species. Osteological studies are useful in finfish taxonomy because bonal variations are very insignificant during growth. Apart from bonal variations, presence or absence of bones will also be useful in separating the related species or genera. The following osteological morphometric characters should be studied. 1. Cranial length – Distance from tip of vomer to the end of basioccipital 2. Rostral length-distance from tip of vomer to lateral ectethmoids of two sides. 3. Diameter of orbit – Distance between the lateral end of the ectethmoid and the antero – lateral angle of the sphenotics. 4. Postorbital length of skull – Distance from basisphenoid to posterior end of basioccipital. 5. Length of various bones 6. Width – The widest calibre across the two sphenotics 7. Depth – The vertical distance passing through the middle of the supraoccipital. Measurements must be recorded on large number of specimens covering different length groups. All the morphometric measurements in skull bones should be expressed as percentage of cranial length in mm. In studying the osteology of finfishes, fresh specimens of a species should be boiled in water to make tissues soft and cranium is taken out. All the above measurements have to be recorded. All the bones in the neurocranium, chondrocranium, girdles and vertebral column should be disarticulated and critical comparison has to be made in identifying the closely related species or genera. Alizarin staining of bones will be useful for the identification of bones. Hydrogen peroxide may be used to bleach bones for easy removal of tissues. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) can also be used. The procedure for alizarin staining of fish is given below. Clean the fish with tap-water, tie it on a glass plate with a metal wire, so that it will help a lot for placing and removing the fish from the KOH solution – and place it in KOH solution (the concentration of the KOH solution can be varied according to the thickness and the size of the fish i.e. for a thin and smaller fish take two to four percent KOH solution and for a thick and bigger fish use five to eight percent KOH solution). The KOH solution should be kept only in glass vessels of appropriate size. After 4-6 hours, observe it, if the flesh is not completely removed, take the fish, decant the used KOH solution and place the fish inside the vessel and add fresh KOH solution of appropriate concentration, and repeat the procedure until the flesh is completely removed. After the removal of the flesh from the fish body, place it in a glass vessel and add alizarin solution.


Preparation of Alizarin solution Take 0.5 gm of Alizarin (i.e. dihydroxyanthraquinone, C14 H6O2 (OH)2 and dissolved it in 1% KOH solution. The bones of the flesh-removed fish in the Alizarin solution will get stained. When a particular intensity of the colour is reached, remove the fish and place it in diluted glycerin for one day. Next day take it and tie it in a glass plate of appropriate size and keep it in glycerin.

Note If the fish is much bigger in size boil it for 5-8 minutes. Never boil more than 10 minutes. Good results can be obtained only by constant practice. The following bones have to be studied in fishes:

Otolith sagitta Otolith sagitta has been used as a valid taxonomic character in the identification of finfishes. Species specific sculptural patterns of otolith sagitta could be observed. The structure of otolith and its internal groove pattern also show remarkable variations in closely related species. The otolith sagitta lodged inside the prootic bone shelf has to be taken out in each specimen. The sagitta should be washed and dried. The outer view, inner view and internal groove pattern if present should be drawn using a camera lucida. In establishing otolith characters to identify species taxon, large number of specimens are to be collected and recorded.

A. Outer view

B. Inner view Otolith sagitta

Vertebral column The vertebral bones, their number and shape may also be taken as taxonomical characters in the identification of finfishes. In fishes, the backbone of a fish has a series of segments, the vertebrae. Throughout the trunk region, the vertebrae have lateral processes that bear ribs. Throughout the length of the column, the vertebrae also form, above the centra, a series of arches that protect the spinal cord. In some of the bony fishes, the last few caudal vertebrae may fuse to form hypural plate. The centra of caudal vertebrae have both neural and hemal arches. The infracentral grooves in the vertebrae also differ in genus and species taxon. The nature of vertebrae, its number, the position of parapophyses, zygopophyses, occurrence of foramina and hemal arches and formation and types of


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Classical methods in fish taxonomy infracentral grooves are taken as characters in establishing the taxon.

names. (e.g. Polynemus tetradactylus , Cantor 1850 and Polydactylus rhadinus, Jordon and Evermann 1902.)

v. Soft anatomy

The earliest of such names are the senior homonyms and the later ones are the junior homonyms.

In the identification of fishes, soft anatomical characters are more dependable. The number and nature of pyloric caecae, electric organs, intestinal convolutions, nature of air bladder its shape, shape of liver and nature of intestine are the major characters to be examined in separating a genus and species taxon.

Important Rules to be followed in Fish taxonomy i. Law of priority This is the principle that the correct formal scientific name for an animal taxon, the valid name, correct to use the oldest available name that applies to it. e.g. Nunneley, 1837 established a gastropod, Limax maculatus. Wiktor, 2001 classified this species as a junior synonym of Limax maximus, Linnaeus, 1758. As Limax maximus was first established, if Wiktor, 2001 classification is accepted. Limax maximus takes precedence over L. maculatus and this becomes a valid name for the species. If any conflicts occur between simultaneously published divergent acts, the first subsequent author can decide which has precedence. It supplements the principles of priority which starts with the first published name take the precedence. Thus in general, names published earlier takes precedence over the same rank published latter. The other names subsequently published for the same taxon becomes synonyms [invalid names]. For e.g. Fowler erected a species Anchoviella indica in the year 1941.This species erected by him goes as a synonym with the species Stolephorus indicus erected by Van Hasseit, 1823. As per law of priority S. indicus becomes valid as per the law of priority. ii. Homonyms Homonyms are identical names for two or more different taxa. Homonyms are two types, they are primary homonym and secondary homonym. In primary homonym, each of two or more identical species group name at the time of original publication, were proposed in combination with same generic name (e.g. Polynemus tetradactylus, Shaw, 1804 and Polynemus teria, Buchanan, 1822.) In secondary homonym, each of two or more identical species names which at the time of original publication were proposed in combination with different generic names, but which, through subsequent transference, reclassification or combination of genera have come to bear the same combination of a generic and species

iii. Authorship The author [authors] of a scientific name is [are] the person [persons] who erect the species of the first type. The name of the author [authors] who cited follows the scientific name of the species thus erected. [e.g. Sardinella longiceps, Valenciennes]. Citing the original author[authors] not only give credit to the individual[individuals] but also fixes the responsibility for the name and aids in locating the original description. If a species group taxon described in a given genus and later transferred to another genus the name of the author [authors] of the species group name should be enclosed in parenthesis. e.g. Eleutheronema tetradactylus [Shaw, 1804] =Polynemus tetradactylus, Shaw 1804 In case of reviser name is to cited, the name of the reviser should follow parenthesis that enclose the name of the original author. If the name of a taxon was published anonymously, and if the author is known, his name when cited should be enclosed in square brackets to show the original anonymity. iv. Naming of species The species group name must be in a noun in the nominative singular or be treated as such. The species group name must be a simple word of more than one letter or a compound word and must be treated as such as a) An adjective in a nominative singular agreeing in gender with a generic name[e.g. Gasterosteus aculeatus] b) A noun in the nominative singular standing in opposition to the generic name [e.g. Cichlasoma maculicauda] c) A noun in the genitive singular such occurs in patronymic[e.g. Trachinotus russelli, Epinephalus clarki] d) An adjective used as substantive in the genitive case, derived from the species name of an organism with which the animal in question is associated. e) Name in the genitive plural indicating something about the habitat[e.g. Alepes djedaba] and f) Character of the species[e.g. Eleutheronema tetradactylum, Nibea maculata] a species group name can also be published in combination with genus group name but the latter need not be valid [e.g. Atropus atropus] A species group taxon formed by the union of two or more species group taxa taken the oldest valid name among those


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V.K. Venkataramani of the components. If the same is invalid or unavailable it must be replaced by the next oldest valid name.

8) Paratopotype or Isotype: A specimen other than holotype taken at the same place as the holotype and included in the original description.

v. Types 1) Holotype or Type: The single specimen designated or indicated as “the type” by the original author at the time of publication of the original description 2) Syntype: If there is no holotype, then all the specimens of the type series are syntypes. Syntypes may include specimens not seen by the author but were based upon previously published descriptions or figures upon which he founded his taxon in whole or in part 3) Paratype: After the holotype has been labeled the remaining specimens of the type should be labeled as ‘paratype’ in order to clearly identify the components of the original type series. 4) Lectotype: It is one of the series of syntypes. Selection of lectotype should be undertaken only by a specialist during revision work. If the description of the species is clearly based on particular specimen, the specimen should made the lectotype. It should never be done merely in order to add a type specimen in the collection. 5) Neotype: A specimen selected on type subsequent to the original description in cases where the original types are known to be destroyed and were suppressed by the commission. 6) Allotype: A paratype of opposite sex to the holotype. 7) Topotype: Specimen from the type locality collected there subsequent to the original description.


vi. Other technical terms used in taxonomy a) Nomen nudum: A species name published without satisfying the condition of availability is generally called as Nomen nudum b) Nomen dubium: The name of a nominal species for which the available evidence is insufficient to permit recognition of the zoological species to which it was applied c) Nomen oblitum: A name that has been remained unused as a senior synonym in the zoological literature for more than fifty years is to be considered as a forgotten name d) Tautonymy: One and the same name applied both to the genus group name and to an included species group name. e.g. Atropus atropus e) Taxonomic character: Any attribute of a member of a taxon by which it differs or may differ from a member of a different taxon

Suggested reading D. E. Candolle, Augustin. P, 1813, Théorie élémentaire dela botanique.chez daterville Paris viii+500+27pp Holdon, M. J. and D. S. S. Raitt 1974.manual of fisheries science. Part 2-methods of resource investigation and their application. FAO, Rome, 1974 210pp Mayr E. Principles of systematic zoology Tata McGraw–Hill publishing company LTD, NewDelhi. 428pp Nelson, J. S. 2006 Fishes of the world. Jhon Wiley and Sons Inc, Hoboken, NewJersy, 601ppw


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An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction The term Elasmobranchs or chondrichthyans refers to the group of marine organisms with a skeleton made of cartilage. They include sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras. These organisms are characterised by and differ from their sister group of bony fishes in the characteristics like cartilaginous skeleton, absence of swim bladders and presence of five to seven pairs of naked gill slits that are not covered by an operculum. The chondrichthyans which are placed in Class Elasmobranchii are grouped into two main subdivisions Holocephalii (Chimaeras or ratfishes and elephant fishes) with three families and approximately 37 species inhabiting deep cool waters; and the Elasmobranchii, which is a large, diverse group (sharks, skates and rays) with representatives in all types of environments, from fresh waters to the bottom of marine trenches and from polar regions to warm tropical waters with over 950 different species. Chimaeras are big-

eyed, stomachless, deep-sea creatures that possess an upper jaw which is fused to its cranium (unlike in sharks). The great majority of the commercially important species of chondrichthyans are elasmobranchs. The latter are named for their plated gills which communicate to the exterior by 5–7 openings. In total, there are about 869+ extant species of elasmobranchs, with about 400+ of those being sharks and the rest skates and rays. Taxonomy is also perhaps infamously known for its constant, yet essential, revisions of the relationships and identity of different organisms. Classification of elasmobranchs certainly does not evade this process, and species are sometimes lumped in with other species, or renamed, or assigned to different families and other taxonomic groupings. It is certain, however, that such revisions will clarify our view of the taxonomy and phylogeny (evolutionary relationships) of elasmobranchs, leading to a better understanding of how these creatures evolved.

Fig. 1. Main parts of an Elasmobranch fish Summer school on recent advances in marine biodiversiy conservation and management

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Fig. 2. Shark tail

Fig. 3. Eye of sharkw (Source: FAO Species Catalogue No.8, vol. 1)

Class Chondrichthyes fishes)

(cartilaginous

Subclass Holocephali (chimaeras and fossil relatives) Order Chimaeriformes (chimaeras or silver sharks) Subclass Neoselachii (modern sharks and batoids) Cohort Selachii (modern sharks)

Superorder Squalomorphii (Squalomorph sharks)

Order Hexanchiformes (cow and frilled sharks) Order Squaliformes (dogfish sharks) Order Squatiniformes (angel sharks) Order Pristiophoriformes (sawsharks)

Superorder Galeomorphii (Galeomorph sharks)

Order Heterodontiformes (bullhead sharks) Order Lamniformes (mackerel sharks) Order Orectolobiformes (carpet sharks) Order Carcharhiniformes (ground sharks) Cohort Batoidea (batoids) Order Torpediniformes (electric rays) Order Pristiformes (sawfishes) Order Rajiformes (skates and guitarfishes) Order Myliobatiformes (stingrays)

Order Hexanchiformes (cow and frilled sharks) • One dorsal fin, without spine,trunk cylindrical, head slightly depressed • Anal fin present • Six or seven gill slits present on sides of head, posteriormost in front of pectoral fin origins • Eyes without nictitating fold • Spiracle present but small, well behind eye • Nostrils without barbels • Nasoral grooves separate from mouth • Mouth large, arched and elongated, extending well behind eyes 16th February – 8th March 2015

• Labial furrows when present reduced or absent on lower jaw • Teeth without enlarged anterior or posterior teeth without a gap or small intermediate teeth between anterior and lateral teeth in the upper jaw • 2 families • Family Chlamydoselachidae (Genus Chlamydoselachus) • Family Hexanchidae (Genera Hexanchus, Heptranchias)

Order Squaliformes - dogfish sharks • • • • • • •

Two dorsal fins, with or without spines Anal fin absent Five gill slits Spiracles present Nictiating lower eyelid absent Lateral-line canal closed 7 families - Echinorhinidae*, Oxynotidae, Squalidae, Etmopteridae, Centrophoridae, Somniosidae, Dalatiidae • As per Nelson (2006), Family Echinorhinidae is placed in a separate order Echinirhiniformes

Order Squatiniformes – angel sharks. • Marine, temperate to tropical, found along continental shelves and upper slopes • Atlantic, and Pacific • Body ray like • Eyes dorsal • Two spineless dorsal fins • No anal fin • Five gill openings • Spiracle large • Mouth almost terminal • Nostrils terminal with barbels on anterior margin. Maximum length up to 2 m. • Family Squatinidae– angel sharks.

Order Pristiophoriformes– saw sharks. • Marine (rarely in estuaries), temperate to tropical, continental and insular shelves and slopes


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Fig. 4 Measurements used for sharks (Source: FAO Species Catalogue No.8, vol. 1) Summer school on recent advances in marine biodiversiy conservation and management

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Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia • Western Atlantic in region of Bahamas, Florida, and Cuba, Southwestern Indian off South Africa, and Western Pacific from Southern Australia to Japan. • Body shark like • Snout produced in along flat blade with teeth on each side • One pair of long barbels • No dorsal fin spines • Anal fin absent • Spiracles large

➢ ➢

∗Family Pristiophoridae - saw sharks.

Family Pseudocarchariidae - crocodile sharks

Superorder Galeomorphii (Galeomorph sharks)

➢ ➢ ➢

Order Heterodontiformes sharks)

(bullhead

• Two dorsal fins, each with a spine • Anal fin present • Five gill slits • Spiracle present but small • Snout pig like • Nictitating fold absent • Oviparous • One family - Heterodontidae • 1genus Heterodontus, with eight species

Order Lamniformes – mackerel sharks • • • • • • • • •

Head conical, not expanded laterally Eyes usually on sides of head Nictitating eyelids, barbels absent Snout very short Spiracles usually present Five gill slits, last two above pectoral fin origin Two dorsal fins, without spines Anal fin present 7 families with 10 genera and 15 species * Family Odontaspididae - Sand Tiger Sharks * Family Pseudocarchariidae - Crocodile Sharks * Family Alopiidae – Thresher Sharks * Family Cetorhinidae– Basking Sharks * Family Lamnidae - Mackerel Sharks * Family Mitsukurinidae - Goblin Sharks * Family Megachasmidae – Megamouth Sharks

Family Odontaspididae - sand tiger sharks ➢ ➢

Eyes relatively small Gill openings all in front of pectoral fin, relatively large but not extending onto dorsal surface of head ➢ Caudal peduncle with an upper precaudal pit, without a lateral keel ➢ 2 genera- Carcharias and Odontaspis, with three species ➢ Carcharias taurus-, Odontaspis ferox, Odontaspis noronhai

Family Mitsukurinidae - goblin sharks 16th February – 8th March 2015

Head nearly as long as trunk Snout with a greatly elongated with flattened blade like projections ➢ Jaws very protusible ➢ Gill openings short ➢ Peduncle pit absent ➢ Eye small ➢ Caudal fin long but ventral lobe not developed ➢ One genus, one species- Mitsukurina owstoni, Goblin shark

Eyes exceptionally large Mouth large, parabolic, ventral on head, jaws protrusible Teeth large, anterior ones narrow, laterals compressed blade like ➢ Gill openings extending onto dorsal surface of head ➢ Pectoral fins small, pelvic large ➢ Caudal peduncle with upper and lower precaudal pits and with low lateral keel ➢ One genus with one species- Pseudocarcharias kamoharai, Crocodile shark

Family Megachasmidae – megamouth sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Head elongated, about length of trunk Mouth very large, terminal Snout short and broadly rounded Gill opening moderately long but not extending onto dorsal surface of head last two gill slits over pectoral fin base ➢ Teeth small, in numerous rows ➢ One genus with one species Megachasma pelagiosMegamouth shark

Family Alopiidae – thresher sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Upper lobe of caudal fin long and curving, about as long as rest of shark Last two gill openings above pectoral fin base Gill openings short Mouth small Pectoral fins long and narrow One genus, Alopias, with three species

Alopias superciliosus ∗ ∗

Head nearly flat between eyes, with a deep horizontal groove on nape on each side above gills Eyes very large, with orbits expanded onto dorsal surface of head

Alopias pelagicus

∗ Head narrow, forehead nearly straight ∗ Eyes smaller, with orbits not expanded onto dorsal surface of head ∗ Pectoral fins nearly straight and broad-tipped


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Sides above pectoral bases dark

Alopias vulpinus

∗ Head broad, snout shorter ∗ Eyes smaller, with orbits not expanded onto dorsal surface of head ∗ Forehead strongly arched ∗ Sides above pectoral-fin bases marked with a white patch

Family Cetorhinidae– basking sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Gill openings exceptionally large, extending almost to the top of the head; Teeth small and numerous Mouth large Eye small Gill rakers elongate One genus with one species Cetorhinus maximus, basking shark

Family Lamnidae - mackerel sharks ➢ Large sharks with pointed snouts and spindle-shaped bodies ➢ Mouth large with blade like teeth, 40 rows in each jaw ➢ Gill slits long ending far lateral to mid dorsal surface ➢ Gill rakers absent ➢ Caudal fin nearly symmetrical and caudal peduncle with strong lateral keel and precaudal pits. ➢ Three genera, Carcharodon, Isurus and Lamna, with five species

Genus Isurus • Cusplets absent on teeth • Origin of first dorsal fin over or behind rear tips of pectoral fins • Origin of second dorsal fin well in front of anal-fin origin • Secondary keel absent on caudal fin • 2 species - Isurus oxyrinchus and Isurus paucus

Family Scyliorhinidae - cat sharks • • • •

Small sharks , body slender and elongated 5 gill slits, the last two posterior to pectoral fin origins First dorsal fin base opposite or behind pelvic fin base Nictitating eyelids rudimentary

• Spiracles present • Teeth very small, numerous, with a single medial cusp and usually one or more cusplets on each side near the center of mouth • Intestine with spiral valve • Lateral keels or precaudal pits absent on caudal peduncle • 16 genera- of which 7 genera are deep sea forms found in Indian Ocean Apristurus, Atelomycterus, Aulohalaelurus, Haploblepharus, Cephaloscyllium, Scyliorhinus, Poroderma, Holohalaelurus, Halaelurus, Scyliorhinus

Family Proscyllidae– finback cat sharks • • • • •

Nictitating eyelids rudimentary Spiracles large Posterior teeth comb like Labial furrows short or absent Three genera, Ctenacis (1), Eridacnis(3), and Proscyllium (1), with five species

Family Pseudotriakidae– false cat sharks • • • • • •

First dorsal fin low, elongate, and keel –like Nictating eyelids rudimentary Spiracles large Tooth rows exceptionally numerous Posterior teeth comblike Two monotypic genera, Gollum and Pseudotriakis

Family Leptochariidae– barbeled hound sharks

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Labial furrows very long Anterior nasal flaps formed into slender barbels Nictitating eyelids internal Spiracles small Intestine with spiral valve One species, Leptocharias smithii, Barbeled hound shark

Family Triakidae– hound sharks • • • • •

Labial furrows moderately long Anterior nasal flaps usually not slender or barbel like Spiracles present Intestine with spiral valve Nine genera with at least 38 species

Family Hemigaleidae– weasel sharks • Dorsal fin margin undulated • Precaudal pit present • Nictitating membrane internal • Spiracles small • Labial furrows moderately long • Intestine with spiral valve • Four genera, Chaenogaleus (1), Hemigaleus (1), Hemipristis (1), and Paragaleus (4), with seven species

Order Orectolobiformes - carpet sharks • Two dorsal fins, without spines • Anal fin present, broad, last two to four above or behind pectoral fin origin • Five narrow gill slits • Nictitating eyelids absent • Barbels and nasoral grooves present • Spiracles present • Mouth short, ends in front of eyes • 7 families, 14 genera and 32 species ∗ Family Parascyllidae ∗ Family Brachaeluridae ∗ Family Orectolobidae ∗ Family Hemiscylliidae ∗ Family Stegostomatidae ∗ Family Ginglymostomatidae ∗ Family Rhincodontidae

Species reported from Indian waters ∗ ∗ ∗

Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann, 1783) Nebrius ferrugineus (Lesson, 1830) Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828

Suborder Parascyllioidei ➢ ➢

Spiracles minute, without gill filaments; fifth gill opening large Origin of anal fin well in front of origin of second dorsal fin.

Suborder Orectoloboidei ➢

Spiracles moderate to large, with gill filaments; fifth gill opening moderate

16th February – 8th March 2015

in size ➢ Origin of anal fin behind origin of second dorsal fin.

Family Parascyllidae – collared carpet sharks • • • • •

Marine, tropical to temperate, continental to slopes Spiracles minute Anal fin origin well in front of origin of second dorsal-fin Short caudal fin Caudal fin origin behind anal fin base at a distance greater than anal fin base • Maximum length 3.3m, in Cirrhoscyllium expolitum , most under 9 m Two genera, Cirrhoscyllium and Parascyllium, with seven species. 1.Genus Cirrhoscyllium ➢ Snout long, narrow pointed ➢ A pair of barbels on throat ➢ Head broad and flattened ➢ Eyes oval ➢ Spiracles large. ➢ Origin of anal fin well behind second dorsal origin, separated from lower caudal origin by space less than its base length ➢ Pectoral fins thin, large ➢ Dark saddles present on body. 2.Genus Parascyllium ➢ Snout short, thick, and broadly rounded ➢ Pectoral fins thick, muscular, and rather small ➢ No barbels on throat ➢ Eyes more elongated and slit-like ➢ Body with spots, in some with collar

Family Brachaeluridae - blind sharks • Marine, tropical to temperate continental shelf, primarily coastal • Spiracles large • Nasal barbels very long • Eyes dorsolateral • Vertebrae 117-142. • Maximum length about 1.2m, reported in Brachaelurus waddi. • Two monotypic extant genera, Brachaelurus and Heteroscyllium

Family Rhincodontidae (Rhiniodontidae) whale shark • • • •

Broad, flat head, truncated snout Mouth large, terminal Caudal peduncle with strong lateral keels. Caudal fin with a strong ventral lobe, but without a strong terminal lobe and subterminal notch • Teeth reduced, numerous internal gill slits inside mouth cavity with filter screens. • Gill openings very large, fifth gill slit well separated from


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An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs fourth • Gill rakers elongate • One species Rhincodon typus, whale shark

Chiloscyllium griseum - Grey bamboo shark Chiloscyllium hasselti

Marine, tropical to warm temperate, continental shelf Head and body depressed; flattened, variegated Mouth nearly terminal; skin flaps present Nostrils with very long pointed or branched barbels Spiracles large, gill slits small Enlarged fang like teeth at symphysis of upper and lower jaws • Maximum length about 3.2m, reported in Orectolobus maculates • Three genera, Eucrossorhius, Orectolobus and Sutorectus, with six species

2. Genus Hemiscyllium ➢ Nostrils terminal on snout ➢ Preoral snout short ➢ Mouth closer to snout tip than eyes ➢ Eyes and supraorbital ridges prominently elevated ➢ Large dark spot or spots on sides of body above pectoral fins, or a black hood on head ➢ 5 species recognised – Hemiscyllium strahani Hemiscyllium trispeculare Hemiscyllium freycineti Hemiscyllium ocellatum Hemiscyllium hallstromi

Family Hemiscylliidae - bamboo sharks

Family Stegostomatidae - zebra sharks

• • • •

• Species moderate in size • Eyes placed lateral on head without movable upper eyelids • Spiracles large • Nostrils with short pointed barbels • Caudal fin unusually long, almost as long as rest of shark • Caudal peduncle without lateral keels or precaudal pits • Maximum length possibly 3.5m, usually under 2.5m • One genus, one species, Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann, 1783).

Family Orectolobidae – wobbegongs • • • • • •

• • • •

Marine , tropical and subtropical, continental shelves Small, slender sharks, nasal barbels short; spiracles large Dorsal fins two, spineless Anal fin low and rounded, origin well behind origin of second dorsal fin Caudal peduncle without lateral keels or precaudal pits Vertebrae 151-192 Maximum length about 1.0m, recorded in Chiloscyllium punctatum and 70 cm in Hemiscyllium ocellatum. Two genera, Chiloscyllium and Hemiscyllium with 12 species.

1.Genus Chiloscyllium ➢ Nostrils subterminal on snout ➢ Preoral snout long ➢ Mouth closer to eyes than snout tip ➢ Eyes and supraorbital ridges hardly elevated ➢ 7 species recognised – Chiloscyllium indicum Chiloscyllium plagiosum Chiloscyllum arabicum -Arabian carpet shark Chiloscyllium punctatum Chiloscyllium burmensis

Family Ginglymostomatidae – nurse sharks • Spiracles small, behind the eyes • Eyes placed lateral on head in Nebrius • Nostrils with short to moderately long barbels, no lobe and groove around outer edges of nostrils • Circumnarial grooves absent, nasoral grooves present • Fourth and fifth gill slits almost overlapping • Maximum length about 3m, recorded in Ginglymostoma cirratum and Nebrius ferrugineus • 3 monotypic genera, Ginglymostoma, Nebrius and Pseudoginglymostoma 1. Genus Ginglymostoma ➢ Nasal barbels elongate reaching mouth ➢ Lower lip trilobate ➢ Second dorsal and anal fins much smaller than first dorsal fin ➢ Eyes and gill openings dorsolateral on head ➢ Teeth neither compressed nor imbricate ➢ Pectoral fins broad and not falcate ➢ One species - Ginglymostoma cirratum 2. Genus Nebrius ➢ Eyes and gill openings lateral on head ➢ Teeth compressed on sides of jaws ➢ Pectoral, dorsal and anal fins angular apically ➢ Pectoral fins narrow and falcate


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One species - Nebrius ferrugineus - Tawny nurse shark

3. Genus Pseudoginglymostoma ➢ Nasal barbels greatly reduced, not reaching mouth ➢ Lower lip not trilobate ➢ Caudal fin short ➢ One species - Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum

Order Carcharhiniformes - ground sharks This order includes many of the most ecologically and commercially important species. Prominent characters are • Nictitating eyelids present • Two dorsal fins without spines • Anal fin present • Five gill slits, with the last one to three over the pectoral fin • Gill rakers absent • Mouth extending behind eyes • Includes 8 families, 49 genera, and at least 224 species ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

Family Scyliorhinidae Family Proscylliidae Family Pseudotriakidae Family Leptochariidae Family Triakidae Family Hemigaleidae Family Carcharhinidae Family Sphyrnidae

Family Scyliorhinidae - cat sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Small sharks , body slender and elongated 5 gill slits, the last two posterior to pectoral fin origins First dorsal fin base opposite or behind pelvic fin base Nictitating eyelids rudimentary Spiracles present Teeth very small, numerous, with a single medial cusp and usually one or more cusplets on each side near the center of mouth Intestine with spiral valve Lateral keels or precaudal pits absent on caudal peduncle


➢

16 genera- of which 7 genera are deep sea forms found in Indian Ocean Apristurus, Atelomycterus, Aulohalaelurus, Haploblepharus, Cephaloscyllium, Scyliorhinus, Poroderma, Holohalaelurus, Halaelurus, Scyliorhinus

Family Carcharhinidae – requiem sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Dorsal fin margin undulated, origin ahead of pelvic base. Precaudal pit present Spiracles usually absent Nictitating eyelids internal Intestine with scroll valve 32 species from Western Indian Ocean

1.Genus Carcharhinus ➢ Small to large sharks with round eyes, internal nictitating eyelids, usually no spiracles. ➢ Teeth usually blade like with one cusp. ➢ Development usually viviparous with young born fully developed. Includes several dangerous species. ➢ Carcharhinus hemiodon (Valenciennes, in Müller & Henle, 1839) – Pondicherry shark -protected under WPA (1972). 2.Genus: Rhizoprionodon ➢ Labial furrow long, conspicuous ➢ Teeth oblique and narrow-cusped Rhizoprionodon acutus –Milk shark ∗ Distinct line of pores at corners of mouth ∗ Teeth narrow, sharply angled and finely serrated ∗ 2nd dorsal fin origin behind anal fin origin


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An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs 3. Genus Galeocerdo ➢ Short blunt snout ➢ Large mouth ➢ Pointed tail, curved serrated teeth, ➢ Raised keels on either side of caudal peduncle ➢ Dusky bars on body ➢ One species – Galeocerdo cuvier 4. Genus Triaenodon: ➢ Snout very short, broadly rounded ➢ Teeth narrow, smooth-edged cusps with strong cusplets on each side, no serrations ➢ First dorsal and caudal fin tips broad white ➢ Second dorsal fin half the height of first dorsal. 5. Genus Negaprion: ➢ Snout short ➢ Teeth with narrow unserrated cusps 6. Genus Lamiopsis: ➢ Snout long ➢ Preoral length about equal to mouth width. ➢ Upper teeth with broad, triangular, serrated cusps, lowers with narrow, smooth cusps 7. Genus Loxodon: ➢ Labial furrows reduced confined to mouth corners ➢ Notch present posteriorly on eye 8. Genus Scoliodon ➢ Second dorsal fin smaller than first dorsal ➢ Head greatly depressed trowel-shaped. ➢ Pectoral fins triangular in shape

➢ ➢

Free rear tip of first dorsal on a vertical over midbases of pelvic fins. Postventral margin of caudal fin only slightly concave.

9. Genus Prionace 10. Genus Nasolamia ➢ Snout very narrow ➢ Nostrils large close-set ➢ Internarial space 1.3 times nostril width or less 11. Genus Glyphis ➢ Cusps of lower teeth protruding when mouth is closed ➢ Second dorsal fin 1/2 the height of first dorsal. ➢ Precaudal pits longitudinal ➢ Snout broader, smaller nostrils more widely spaced, internarial space 3 times the nostril width ➢ Glyphis gangeticus – protected under Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972) 12. Genus Isogomphodon ➢ Second dorsal fin smaller than first ➢ Snout triangular dagger-shaped in dorsoventral view, while narrow and spearlike laterally ➢ Tooth rows 49 - 56

Family Sphyrnidae – hammerhead sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Head with lateral, bladelike expansions Eyes at its outer edges Two dorsal fins, first dorsal fin high and pointed, base shorter than caudal fin, anterior to origins of pelvic fins Second dorsal and anal fins much smaller than the first dorsal fin Three species reported from Indian waters


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Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia

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Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837) Sphyrna lewini (Griffith and Smith, 1834). Sphyrna zygaena (Linnaeus, 1

Family Proscyllidae – finback cat sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Nictitating eyelids rudimentary Spiracles large Posterior teeth comb like Labial furrows short or absent Posterior teeth on dental bands comb like Labial furrows very short or absent, when present confined to mouth corners Three genera, Ctenacis (1), Eridacnis(3), and Proscyllium (1), with five species

1. Genus Ctenacis

➢ ➢ ➢

Spiracles small Intestine with spiral valve One species, Leptocharias smithii, Barbeled hound shark

Family Hemigaleidae – weasel sharks

2. Genus Eridacnis Eridacnis radcliffei Smith, 1913- Pygmy ribbontail catshark ➢ One of the smallest living sharks ➢ Anal fin and two equal-sized, spineless dorsal fins ➢ Nictitating eyelids, mouth triangular, ➢ Labial furrows rudimentary or absent, ➢ posterior teeth comblike

➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

3.Genus Proscyllium

Family Triakidae – hound sharks

Family Pseudotriakidae – false cat sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Head without laterally expanded blades Eyes elongated and slitlike, nictating eyelids rudimentary Spiracles large Tooth rows exceptionally numerous Posterior teeth comb like First dorsal fin low, elongate, and keel –like Two monotypic genera, Gollum and Pseudotriakis

Family Leptochariidae – barbeled hound sharks ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Eyes horizontally oval Labial furrows very long Anterior nasal flaps formed into slender barbels Nictitating eyelids internal


➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Dorsal fin margin undulated Precaudal pit present Nictitating membrane internal Spiracles small Labial furrows moderately long Intestine with spiral valve Four genera, Chaenogaleus (1), Hemigaleus (1), Hemipristis (1) and Paragaleus (4), with seven species One of the most species-rich orders of sharks First dorsal fin originates in front of pelvic fins Labial furrows moderately long Anterior nasal flaps usually not slender or barbel like Spiracles present Intestine with spiral valve Anal fin smaller than second dorsal and with concave rear margin Precaudal pits absent Top edge of caudal fin not undulated 9 genera with at least 38 species

1.Genus Mustelus • Slender houndsharks with long, parabolic subangular snouts, • Eyes dorsolateral, strong subocular ridges,


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An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs • Mouths angular, teeth formed into a pavement, with cusps and cusplets variably developed • Medial teeth not differentiated from anterolaterals • Second dorsal fin nearly as large as first 1. Mustelus mosis Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1899 - Arabian smooth-hound ∗ Head snout short, broad internarial space, ∗ Large eyes, narrow interorbital space, ∗ Upper labial furrows about equal to lowers, ∗ Low-crowned teeth with weak cusps, ∗ Dorsal fins unfringed, a semifalcate ventral caudal lobe, 59 to 81 precaudal centra, ∗ Heavily hypercalcified head and other cartilages. ∗ This is the only species of Mustelus in most areas where it occurs.

• Two genera with 22 species Subfamily Torpedininae ( Torpedo electric rays ) • Tail and dorsal and caudal fins well developed • This taxon is ranked as a separate family by some workers • Genus Torpedo Sub family Hypninae ( coffin rays ) • Tail and dorsal and caudal fins very small. • Continental shelf and uppermost slope, off Australia

Family Narcinidae – numbfishes • • • •

Disc rounded anteriorly; Jaws stout, strong labial cartilages Rostrum present Mouth transverse and entirely surrounded by a deep groove or labial folds

2. M. mustelus 3. M. mangloreanses

Order Torpediniformes -electric rays • Powerful electric organs, derived from branchial muscles in head region • Skin soft and loose • Eye small to obsolete • Caudal fin well developed • Dorsal fin 0-2 • Body disc thick and flabby, oval to roundish, snout short, truncate or rounded, skin soft and loose, without armature of dermal denticles or their modifications • Tail section thick, caudal fin well developed • Electric production is largely for feeding and defence. • 2 families ∗ Family Torpedinidae– Torpedo Electric Rays ∗ Family Narcinidae – Numbfishes

Family Torpedinidae– torpedo electric rays • • • • •

Disc truncate or emarginated anteriorly Jaws extremely slender No labial cartilages Rostrum reduced Mouth arcuate and not entirely surrounded by a deep groove or labial folds • Shape of disc truncate or emarginate anteriorly

• Shape of disc rounded anteriorly • 9 genera with around 37 species The family has 10 recognized genera, with about 43 nominal species, of which four genera and five species are considered to be deep–sea inhabitants; three genera and five species occur in the Indian Ocean deep–sea. Deep sea species occurring in the Indian Ocean Benthobatis moresbyi Alcock, 1898 -Moresby’s blind electric ray Sub family Narcininae ( Numbfishes) • Deep groove around mouth and lips, jaws long and strongly protractile


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Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia • Rostrum broad • Usually two dorsal fins • Four genera, Benthobatis (4), Discopge (1), and Narcine (17), with 26 species and many undescribed species Sub family Narkinae (Sleeper rays) • Shallow grooves around mouth, jaws short and weakly protractile • Rostrum narrow; usually a single dorsal fin • Five genera, Crassinarke (1), Heteronarce (4), Narke (3), Temera (1) and Typhlonarke (2) with 11 species

Order Pristiformes– saw fishes Family pristidae – sawfishes ➢

Snout produced in a long flat blade with teeth on each side ➢ Barbels absent ➢ Body somewhat shark like, although the head is depressed ➢ Two distinct dorsal fins and a caudal fin ➢ Two genera, Anoxypristis and Pristis, with about seven


species 1.Genus Pristis

Pristis zijsron ∗ Long, saw-toothed snout ∗ Gill slits located entirely on white ventral surface ∗ 1st dorsal fin origin is behind the pelvic fin origin ∗ 24-28 teeth on each side of saw that are more closely spaced nearer ∗ the saw-tip than near the mouth Pristis microdon Latham, 1851 ∗ Rostral saw with 14 to 23 pairs of teeth ∗ Rostrum with sides markedly divergent posteriorly ∗ Rostrum broad and stout ∗ Rostral teeth moderately flattened, ∗ Elongated interspace between posterior most 2 rostral teeth ∗ 1 to 2 times space between first 2 rostral teeth ∗ First dorsal fin with origin well anterior to pelvic-fin origins ∗ No secondary caudal keel below the main one on the caudal-fin ∗ Caudal fin without a subterminal notch but with a short ventral lobe 2.Genus Anoxypristis

Anoxypristis cuspidata (Latham, 1794) ∗ Rostral saw with 16 to 29 pairs of teeth ∗ Posteriormost teeth on rostral saw well anterior to base


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∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

of saw Rostral teeth greatly flattened, blade-like, and triangular Broad incurrent grooves on underside of snout Nostrils long, narrow and diagonal A secondary caudal keel below the first one on the caudal-fin base. Caudal fin with a shallow subterminal notch and a long, prominent ventral lobe.

Order Rajiformes – skates ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

Caudal fin moderately well developed, reduced , or absent; Tail extremely slender Dorsal fins 0-2 Most with prickles or thorns on skin, often with a row along midline of back Claspers long , slender , and depressed distally Four families, 32 genera, and 285 species Family Rhinidae - Bowmouth Guitarfishes Family Rhynchobatidae - Wedge Fishes Family Rhinobatidae - Guitarfishes Family Rajidae - Skates

Family Rhinidae - bowmouth guitarfishes ➢

Body intermediate between sharklike and skate like

➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Caudal fin large, bilobed Origin of first dorsal over or in front of pelvics Head and anterior part of head broadly rounded, with deep indentation separating it from pectoral fin origin Rhina ancylostoma

Family Rhynchobatidae - wedge fishes ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

➢

Body moderate between sharklike and skatelike Caudal fin large, bilobed Origin of first dorsal over or infront of pelvics Snout and anterior part of head broadly angular and wegde shaped, with shallow indentation separating it

from pectoral fin origin One genus Rhynchobatus, with four species

Family Rhinobatidae - guitarfishes ➢

Body intermediate between shark like and skate like


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Rekha J. Nair and P.U Zacharia ➢ ➢

Tail stout, not definitely marked off from body Two distinct dorsal fins and a caudal fin, the latter not bilobed ➢ Origin of first dorsal behind pelvics ➢ Denticles over body from a row on midline of back ➢ Tail without spine ➢ Snout wedge-shaped and variously prolonged but not as a blade and without lateral teeth ➢ Four genera, Aptychotrema (3), Rhinobatos , Trygonorrhina (1), and Zapteryx (3), with 42 species ∗Rhinobatos granulatus Cuvier, 1829 ➢ ➢ ➢

Brain very small, posteriorly placed in large cranial cavity Tail with one or two serrate spines Hexatrygon bickelli Heemstra and Smith, 1980

Super family Urolophoidea

Family Plesiobatidae – deep water stingrays FAMILY RAJIDAE -

SKATES ➢ Caudal fin moderately well developed, reduced, or absent ➢ Tail extremely slender ➢ Weak electric organs derived from caudal muscles ➢ Dorsal fins 0-2, most with prickles on skin, often with a row along midline of back ➢ Tail variable in shape and length with or without armature of prickles, thorns, and spines ➢ Disc not fleshy toward margins ➢ Body mostly firm

Order Myliobatiformes– stingrays

➢ ➢

Nasal curtain incompletely inited, not reaching the mouth Maximum length 2.7m

∗

Plesiobatis daviesi (Wallace, 1967)

Family Urolophidae - round stingrays ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Disc less than 1.3 times as broad as long Caudal fin small but well developed Dorsal fin present in some species Tail moderately long with a barbed spine

Superfamily UROTRYGONOIDAE

Suborder – Myliobatoidei

Family Urotrygonidae - american round stingrays

Family Hexatrygonidae– sixgill stingrays

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➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

➢ ➢

Six gill openings and six gill arches Snout elongate, thin, translucent No supraorbital crests on cranium Spiracles large, well behind eyes, with external flap like valve


Disc not more than 1.3 times as broad as long Tail slender and about as long as disc length, without dorsal fin with poisonous spines, Caudal fin well developed, supported by cartilaginous radials Tail broad and thick at base and not whip-like distally Two genera, Urobatis (6), and Urotrygon (10), with 16 species


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An introduction to the classification of elasmobranchs Super family Dasyatoidea

Family Dasyatidae (Trygonidae )- whiptail stingrays ➢ Eyes and spiracles on top of head; ➢ Head part of disc, anterior margins of pectoral fins continuous along sides of head ➢ No separate cephalic fins or rostral lobes ➢ Disc about 1.3 times as broad as long ➢ Caudal fin absent, tail long very slender to whiplike, ➢ Poisonous spines on tail

➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Caudal fin absent Tail much longer than disc width; Transverse parts of nasal curtains with fringed margins Floor of mouth with several fleshy papillae

➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Disc more than 1.5 times as broad as long Tail distinctly shorter than disc width Transverse parts of nasal curtains smooth-edged Papillae absent on floor of mouth Tail short No caudal fin 2 genera, Aetoplatea (2) and Gymnura (least 9), with at least 11 species

Family Myliobatidae – eagle rays ➢ ➢

Distinct but small dorsal fin present Most species with one or more long poisonous spines on tail ➢ No caudal fin ➢ Head elevated above disc ➢ Eyes and spiracles lateral on head ➢ Gill openings about length of eye to much longer ➢ Tail much longer than disc ➢ Small dorsal fin ➢ Pectoral fin absent or reduced ➢ Anterior parts of pectoral fins forming 1 fleshy lobe extending below front of head, or this lobe with a more or less deep median notch, thus forming 2 basally connected lobes ➢ Teeth large, flat, and in a few series only Subfamily Myliobatinae ( Eagle rays)➢ Anterior face of cranium nearly straight

Family Potamotrygonidae -river stingrays ➢

Long , median, anteriorly directed process from the pelvic girdle ➢ Angular cartilages present, within hyomandibularMeckelian ligament ➢ Adaption to freshwater as evidenced by rectal gland

Family Gymnuridae - butterfly rays ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Eyes and spiracles on top of head; head part of disc, anterior margins of pectoral fins continuous along sides of head; No separate cephalic fins or rostral lobes Disc extremely broad Dorsal fin and tail spines present or absent

➢ Subrostral fin not incised ➢ Four genera, Aetobatus (3), Aetomylaeus (4), Myliobatis and Pteromylaeus (2) Subfamily RHINOPTERINAE (COWNOSE RAYS)


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Anterior face of cranium concave, subrostral fin incised (bilobed) One genus , Rhinoptera Rhinoptera javanica

Subfamily MOBULINAE ( DEVIL RAYS) ➢ Members of this family are the only living vertebrates with three pairs of functional limbs ➢ The cephalic pair assist in feeding and are the anterior sub division of the pectorals ➢ Two genera, Manta and Mobula


Family Mobulidae ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Anterior subdivisions of pectoral fins forming 2 thin and widely separated cephalic fins teeth minute and in bands of many series in 1 or both jaws Mobula japonica, M. kuhlii, M. tarpacana Manta birostris, Manta alfredi

Further reading 1. Fishes of the World by Joseph S. Nelson 2. FAO Species Catalogue, Vol. 4, Part 1 Sharks Of The World, FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, Volume 4, Part 1


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Basics of sample collection, preservation and species identification of finfish K. K. Joshi and K.M. Sreekumar Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Fisheries are one of the most important renewable resources. With increasing fishing pressure, the only option left for the sustainability of fisheries is their rational management. Proper management is possible with a thorough knowledge of the dynamics of the fish stocks. For a meaningful study of the dynamics, knowledge of natural history of the species is necessary and this in turn can be acquired by the correct identification of fish species. This assumes greater importance in tropical seas where, a multitude of closely related and morphologically similar species occur. The role of taxonomy and proper identification cannot be overstressed in studies of population dynamics. Acquaintance with the main species should be such that there should no errors in identification of them in any special form such as racial differentiation, abnormalities, malformation due to decay or disease. As to species of less importance collections and observations can be made for taxonomic studies which will be useful in future. Species identification study is also a step towards understanding the bewildering biodiversity that characterizes in the marine ecosystem. Pioneering studies on taxonomy of Indian fishes began in the late 18th century by European scientists and officers of the British East India Company. One of the pioneers was Bloch (1795), and his student Schneider (1801), followed by Lacepède (1798-1803). Dr. Alcock who undertook the first marine fisheries survey in India published the findings in 1869. Perhaps the most important work during this period, pertaining to the subject was that of Sir Francis Day, Surgeon Major with the British troops in Bengal, who studied the systematic of Indian fishes in depth for over 20 years. His monumental work was published in two volumes as the ‘The Fishes of India: being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India. Vol.I and II’ (1878) and the ‘The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma’ (1889). During the subsequent period of one century, a

large number of fishes have been described and added to the list already prepared by Day, and the important works during this period with regard to the taxonomy of fishes of the Indian waters are by Munro (1955), Jones and Kumaran (1980), who published descriptions of over 600 species from Laccadives archipelago, Talwar and Kacker (1984), and the most recent compilation is that of Talwar and Jhingran (1991a, 1991b), who published descriptions of a total of 930 species of inland (fresh and brackish water) fishes of India.

i. Sampling and Preservation Sampling for taxonomic studies For taxonomic study, specimens of all species occurring in the ecosystem covering the entire length range were collected and preserved in 5% formalin after injecting 5% formalin through the vent and dorsal musculature. The specimens were preserved in a wide mouthed bottle in such a manner that the shape is not distorted during storage. Morphometric and meristic data were taken following Hubbs and Lagler (1947). Measuring linear dimensions of whole or parts of fish is probably the most widely used technique in taxonomic studies. Such observations are made with taps and calipers. Measurements are usually but not always taken along straight lines. Fish Collection Methods The major objective of the bioinventory is to identify all the available species in the habitat using all the gear combinations. Two types of gears are employed can be divided in to two viz, active and passive categories. Passive gear is usually set and left stationary for a period and commonly used gear are gillnet and traps. Active gears used in the inventory are seine nets, trawl nets, dip nets, hooks and line and electric fishing. Different factors affect fish sampling such as water depth, conductivity, water clarity, water temperature, fish size and fish behavior.


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K. K. Joshi and K.M. Sreekumar Fish Preservation techniques

Genetic sampling

Careful and correct preservation procedures are important for getting good results of collected specimens. Usage of correct fixative, correct concentration, appropriate containers, clean and sharp dissecting tools, quality labels will enhance the quality and value of the preserved specimens. Voucher specimens are the representative samples of species identified in the field and preserved to verify the field identification. Type specimens are the name bearing specimen preserved to verify the taxonomy of species.

Recently more attention is being done to utilize genetic markers for population studies. These techniques are useful in fisheries management to identify populations of fish, select broodstock, assess purity of hatchery stock, determine genetic population structure and assess biodiversity at the genetic level. Commonly used techniques are electrophoresis and DNA analysis. Tissue samples can be collected from muscle tissue, fin clips, scales and epithelial tissue.

Preservation All fish must be killed before the fixation and preservation. This can be achieved by keeping the fish in high doses of the anaesthetizing solution like clove oil; killing of fish is an ethical treatment of a live animal and also serves scientific purpose. Make a small incision on the right side of the abdomen to facilitate penetration of preservative. The right side is chosen for this and similar operations like removal of scale samples, because left side is used for getting morphometric data and is commonly shown in photographs.

Samples classified in to three categories depending upon the method utilized(1) Protein electrophoresis: Requires organ tissue including heart, muscle, eye, and kidney, either fresh or fresh frozen. (2) DNA analyses with no PCR amplification: Requires large amounts of tissue often fresh and in buffer solution. (3) DNA analyses with PCR amplification: Requires very little tissue (fin clips, scale) and can be preserved in ethanol.

Time of the formalin fixation of the average specimen may range from two days to a week. For permanent preservation formaldehyde can be removed by soaking the specimen at least for two days in fresh water with regular water change. The permanent preservation can be done in 70% of alcohol or 40 % alcohol.

Labelling

Fixation

ii. Identification of fish

(1) Formalin: It is commonly used preservative for specimens and it is available in the liquid form. About 10% of formalin is used for preservation of fish specimens. 10% solution of buffered formalin is prepared by combining in 1 part full strength formalin and 9 parts distilled water and add 3ml of borax per litre. (2) Paraformaldehyde: It is in a powder form and can be used to make formalin solution. A mixture of 1 part paraformaldehyde, 4 parts of anhydrous sodium carbonate and a small amount of Alconox (wetting agent) can be added to 20g powder mixture of 400ml of distilled water to produce 10% buffered formalin solution. (3) Alcohol: Ethanol and Isopropanol are commonly used to fix and preserve fish specimens.

To learn the characters of importance for the identification of fishes and by which they may be accurately identified. Line drawings, colour plates and photographs provide basis for the learning the salient characters used for their classification. Identification keys can be used as distinguishing characters of each family and order in which forms are treated according to the phylogeny.

Fixation procedure Specimen should be fixed immediately after collection. To fix the specimen wide mouthed glass filled with fixative solution is can be used. Tight lids must be used for fixation. The specimen must be preserved in as natural as possible. The fixative should be injected to the body cavity to facilitate penetration and preservation of internal organs. 16 February - 8 March 2015

Labelling has to be done neatly and should not make any confusion in the future. Labels include date of collection, place of collection, ecological details, method of capture and name of collector.

Example: 1. Determine the family in “Key” to the families”. 2. Identify to the lowest taxonomic unit listed in key to the family of which the fish is member 3. Verify the final determination by ascertaining -by comparing the similarities of the specimen with illustration. 4. The specimen collected matches specimens previously identified by taxonomist. 5. Confirm the geographical range as given in the standard texts includes the locality from which the specimen was taken. 6. Compare the descriptions given in the FAO identification sheets, Smiths sea fishes, Catalog of Fishes and Fish base.


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Basics of sample collection, preservation and species identification of finfish

iii. Measurements Smoothly working dividers or digital calipers can be used for measurements. A steel scale of good quality is recommended for precise reading. Measuring board commonly used in fishery biology investigations is not suitable for taxonomic studies. All measurements are taken in a straight line Definition of Body Measurements (All measurements along the antero-posterior axis) 1. Total Length (TOL): The greatest dimension between the most anteriorly projecting part of the head and the farthest tip of the caudal fin when the caudal rays are spread out together. 2. Standard Length (STL): The distance from the anterior most part of the head backward to the end of the vertebral column (structural base of caudal rays). 3. Fork Length (FOL): Distance from the tip of snout to the end of the middle ray of the caudal fork when the fish is being flattened out. 4. Head Length (HEL): Taken from the tip of the snout to the posterior most point reached by the bony margin of the operculum. 5. Pre-orbital length (PRO): Distance from the tip of the snout to the forward point of eye. 6. Eye diameter (EYD): Horizontal diameter of the visible part of the eye, i.e., the distance between the front edge and the back edge of the orbit. 7. Postorbital length (PSO): Distance from the backward point of eye to middle of the backward bony edge of the operculum. 8. Upper jaw length (UPJ): Length of maxillary is taken from the anterior most point of the premaxillary to the posterior point of the maxilla. 9. Lower jaw length (LOJ): Length of lower jaw from anterior tip to angle of mouth. 10. Body depth (BDD): Distance between the middle point of dorsal finbase to straight downward central margin of the body, excluding fins. 11. Pre-dorsal length 1 (PD1): Distance from the tip of the snout to the forward origin of the dorsal (intersection point of the forward edge of the first ray of the dorsal, D1, with the outline of the back, the fish being flattened out) 12. Pre-dorsal length (PD2): Distance from the tip of snout to the forward origin of the dorsal (intersection point of the forward edge of the first ray of the dorsal, D2, with the outline of the back, the fish being flattened out). 13. Pectoral fin length (PEL): Distance from the extreme base of the uppermost ray to the farthest tip of the fin, filament if any. 14. Pelvic fin length (PVL): Distance from the extreme base of the uppermost ray to the farthest tip of the fin, filament if any. 15. Dorsal fin length 1 (DF1): Distance from the origin of the tip of the fin to the anterior lobe.

16. Dorsal fin length 2 (DF2): Distance from the origin of the tip of the fin to the anterior lobe. 17. Inter dorsal length (IDL): Distance from the base of the last spine (ray) of first dorsal to the intersection point of second dorsal fin. 18. Pectoral fin base length (PEB): Distance from the base of the anterior fin ray of the pectoral (P) to the backward end of the last ray, the pectoral being extended on the side of the fish in its normal position. 19. Pelvic fin base length (PVB): Distance from the base of the anterior fin ray of the pelvic fin (P) to the backward end of the last ray, the ray being extended on the side of the fish in its normal position. 20. Dorsal fin base length (DB1): Distance from the forward origin of the dorsal (D1) to the backward edge (Intersection point of the backward edge of the last spine, D’, with the outline of the back, the fin being extended). 21. Dorsal fin base length (DB2): Distance from the forward origin of the dorsal (D2) to the backward edge (Intersection point of the backward edge of the last ray, D2, with the outline of the back, the fin being extended. 22. Anal fin length (AFL): Distance from the origin of the tip of the fin to the anterior most outer tip of the anal fin. 23. Anal fin base length (ABL): Distance from the forward origin of the anal (A) to its backward edge (intersection point of the backward edge of the last ray, A’ with outline of the abdomen, the fin being extended). 24. Caudal peduncle length (CPL): Distance from the base of the second dorsal end to origin of the caudal fin. 25. Caudal peduncle depth (CPD): Depth of the caudal peduncle. 26. Pre-pelvic length (PRP): Distance from the tip of the snout to the anterior origin of the pelvic (intersection point of the forward edge of the first ray of the pelvic, with the contour of the abdomen, the fin being extended). 27. Pre-pectoral length (PRV): Distance from the tip of the snout to the margin of the insertion of pectoral fin. 28. Pre-anal distance (PRA): Distance from the tip of the snout to the forward origin of the anal (interior point of the forward edge of the first ray of the anal, A, with the outline of the abdomen, the fin being extended).

iv. Description Description of specimens: Detailed biological analysis of specimens have to be made and data to be recorded. Morphology: General morphology, appearance, body shape, depth contour and nature of fins. Colour: Fresh as well as preserved colour pattern, spots, markings, colour changes in the larvae and adult. Scales: Nature of scales and description. Reproductive system: Structure of reproductive organs of


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K. K. Joshi and K.M. Sreekumar female and male. Description of different parts, nature of gonads, stages of maturity, nature of egg. Digestive system: Nature, length of alimentary canal, structure of alimentary canal, if any modifications of stomach and intestine.

Suggested Reading Bloch, M.E., 1795. Naturgeschichte der auslandischen Fische, Berlin, 9: 397-432. Day, F.1889. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Fishes - V.I and V.II, Taylor and Francis, London.


Hubbs, C. L. and Lagler, K. F. 1941. Guide to the fishes of the great lakes and tributary waters. Bull. Cranbrook Inst. Sci., No. 18: 1-100, Figs. 1-118. Jones, S. and Kumaran, M. 1980. Fishes of the Laccadive Archipelago. Nature Conservation and Aquatic Sciences Services, Trivandrum, 760 pp. Lacepède, B., 1798-1803. Histoire naturelle des Poissons, 5 vol., Paris I: 1798, 8+cxlvii+532 pp., 25 pls., 1 tabl (inset); II: 1800, lxiv+632 pp., 20 pls.; III: 1801, 558 pp, 34 Munro, I.S.R., 1955. The marine and freshwater fishes of Ceylon, Canberra, 349 pp. Nelson, J. S. 2006. Fishes of the world. 4th edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.New York. 601 pp. Talwar, P. K and Kacker, 1984. Commercial sea fishes of India, Zoological Survey of India, 430 pp.


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Aspects of taxonomy and life history traits of engraulids in the context of biodiversity conservation and fisheries management Ganga, U Pelagic Fisheries Division, CMFRI, Kochi-18

Engraulids are a major small pelagic resource abundant in the tropical and temperate seas of the world. The prominent snout which is characteristic of this family carries a unique organ called the “rostral organ”. They are small, silvery coloured small pelagics with more than 16 genera and 139 species identified worldwide (Nelsen, 1984) of which 4 genera namely, Anchoa (35 species), Anchoviella (15 species), Stolephorus (19 species) and Thryssa (25 species) constitute the majority of species. They form a major fishery resource in the coastal fisheries of the Indian EEZ. In 2013 the dominant group among anchovies contributing to commercial fisheries were the whitebaits with an estimated 69500 t landed, followed by the other anchovies such as Thryssa (42000 t), Coilia (30767 t) and Setipinna (8507 t). Correct identification of fishes, their eggs and larvae are thus crucial in fisheries management.

at about mid-body, pectoral fins low on the sides, abdominal pelvic fins originating before or below the dorsal-fin base, a forked tail (except in rattail anchovy Coilia) and a wide silvery stripe along the mid-sides. The body has no lateral line and is covered in smooth, often weakly attached cycloid scales.

Classification Class: Actinopterygii Order Clupeiformes Suborder Clupeoidei Family: Engraulidae Diagnostic characters: A characteristic projecting upper jaw and a slender lower jaw extending well behind eye and giving it a “pig snout” appearance, a single short-based dorsal fin

Fig. 2. An enlarged view of typical head region of engraulids 5 genera of engraulids occur in the Indian seas which include the whitebaits (Encrasicholina, Stolephorus), and other anchovies (Setipinna, Thryssa and Coilia). Some of the differentiating characters among the genera are as follows

Encrasicholina: Needle like scutes in the pre-pelvic region only; isthmus not reaching hind border of gill membrane and urohyal exposed Stolephorus: Needle like scutes in the pre-pelvic region only; isthmus reaching hind border of gill membrane and urohyal not exposed

Fig. 1 A typical engraulid fish

Thryssa: one spine like predorsal scute; keeled scutes on abdomen and present from before pectoral fin base to anus; first pectoral fin ray normal and not filamentous; anal fin long


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Setipinna : one spine like pre dorsal scute; all scutes in abdominal region keeled, only the first pectoral fin ray filamentous; only 2nd supramaxilla present

Fig. 4. Some distinguishing caharacters of various engraulids in the Indian seas : whitebaits (genera Stolephorus and Encrasicholina); Thryssa, Setipinna and Coilia

Coilia: body tapering to a slender tail, very small caudal fin that is not forked with anal fin joined to caudal fin, dorsal fin far in in front of the body; Upper pectoral fin rays (4- 7) filamentous

Fig. 3: Distinguishing among the whitebait genera based on the urohyal exposure

Among white baits, the shape and length of the 2 supramaxilla, number of pre-pelvic scutes etc are the major distinguishing characters among species as illustrated in the figures below.

Fig. 5. Shape and length of maxilla in whitebaits used in species identification 16 February - 8 March 2015


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Aspects of taxonomy and life history traits of engraulids in the context of biodiversity conservation and fisheries management Among Thryssa species the distinction is usually made based on the combination of characters such as length of the maxilla (which may either reach the pre opercular border, upto gill opening or to the pectoral fin base and in some even to the pelvic fin base); those with or without first supramaxilla and the level of tip of snout with a line drawn through mid-eye. In most Thryssa species the first supramaxilla is minute or lost while the second supramaxilla is prominent.

Fig 7A. Thryssa species (from top to bottom): Thryssa malabarica, T.mystax, T.hamiltoniii

Fig. 8. Whitebaits S.commersonii, E. punctifer (= S.buccaneeri), Species of whitebaits occurring in the Indian seas include Encrasicholina devisi, E.heterolobus, E.punctifer (= Stolephorus buccaneeri), S.andhraensis, S.baganensis (= S.macrops), S. commersonii, S.indicus, S.insularis and S.waitei (= S.bataviensis). The Golden anchovy Coilia dussumieri is a major fishery resource on the northwest coast of India and to a lesser extent on the north east coast also. The Setipinnna species (S. taty and S. tenuifilis) are more common in the coastal seas and the Hoogly estuary of the northeast coast. The other anchovies such as Thryssa mystax, T. malabarica T. dussumieri and T. setirostris also are of fishery importance and have a more wide distribution along the Indian coast.

Fig.6 Identifying characters for Thryssa species

Exploring the phylogenetic relationships Grande and Nelson (1985) revised the family engraulidae dividing into two clades. The first clade family Coliidae comprises 6 indoPacific genera (Coilia, Lycothrissa, Papuengraulis, Setipinna,


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Thryssa and Thrissina (currently synonym of Thryssa) and the second clade comprising the Indo-Pacific marine genera (Encrasicholina and Stolephorus; worldwide temperate water genus Engraulis; the New World anchovies comprising genera Anchoa, Anchoviella, Anchovia, Cetengraulis, Jurengraulis, Lycengraulis and Pterengraulis. According to them, Stolephorus diverged first followed by Encrasicholina, new world anchovies and Engraulis.

The seasonal movement of whitebaits along the southwest and southeast coast of India is related to water currents with shoals moving southwards starting in April and culminating by June- July when they concentrate in huge dense shoals in the Gulf of Mannar region. After the monsoon season these shoals again disperse and migrate northwards towards north Kerala and Karnataka coasts. Current patterns play an important role in their distribution as noted by the presence of warm temperate water species like Engraulis capensis off Northern Madgascar and Seychelles and the “Lessespian migration” recorded for Stolephorus insularis in the Mediterranean (Rass, 1973; Fricke et al., 2012). Being small sized species with high turnover rates and distribution affected by environmental factors they are also considered as indicator species of climate change phenomenon which makes studying their distribution and abundance patterns on large scales both spatially and temporally, interesting.

Suggested reading Young et al., 1994. A revision of the family Engraulida (Pisces) from Taiwan. Zoological Studies 33(3): 217 – 227. Rass, T.S. 1973. Some features in the biogeography of the ichthyofauna of the Indian Ocean. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India Spl. Publn dedicated to Dr. N.K. Panikkar, p. 250 – 254. Fricke et al., 2012. First record of the Indian Ocean anchovy Stolephorus insularis Hardenberg 1933 (Clupeiformes Engraulidae) in the Mediterranean. Bioinvasion Reords 1 (4): 303 – 306. Lavoue et al., 2007. Phylogenetic relationships among anchovies, sardines, herrings and their relations (clupeiformes) inferred from mitogenomic sequences. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 43: 1096 – 1105.

Fig. . Phylogenetic relationships in Engraulidae



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Classification of Exploited Demersal Finfishes of India: Pigface breams, lizardfishes and eels T.M. Najmudeen and P.U. Zacharia Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Demersal fishes are those fishes which live and feed on or near the bottom (the demersal zone) of seas . They occupy the sea floors, which usually consist of mud, sand, gravel or rocks. In coastal waters they are found on or near the continental shelf, and in deep waters they are found on or near the continental slope or along the continental rise. In India, demersal finfishes contribute about 26% to the total marine fish landings of the country, which is dominated by perches, croakers, catfishes, silverbellies, elasmobranchs, lizardfishes, flat fishes, pomfrets etc., in order of abundance. Most of the demersal finfishes in India are exploited by mechanised trawlers. Taxonomic research on fishes in general and other taxa of the animal kingdom was conducted extensively in the earlier periods by various research and survey organisation of the country (James, 2010). The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), which is primarily concerned with research and development of marine organisms, from the production point of view, made several taxonomic contributions on marine invertebrates, fishes, reptiles and mammals, mostly in the 60s and 70s. However, the taxonomic research in general in the country appears neglected (James, 2010) and it is imperative to bring back the subject in order to conserve and rational utilisation of exploited marine fishery resource of the country. In the following sections, the classification of some of the demersal finfish resources such as pigface breams, lizardfishes and eels exploited along the coastal waters of India are described.

Pigface breams Pigface breams belong to the family Lethrinidae. They are tropical marine perciforms found entirely in the Indo-Pacific, except one species that occurs only in the eastern Atlantic. They belong to the suborder Percoidei, a diverse group containing many families whose relationships are poorly understood. Within this suborder, lethrinids are included under the superfamily Sparoidea which also contains the families Sparidae (porgies), Centracanthidae and Nemipteridae

(threadfin bream). Among percoids, sparoicis appear most closely related to the Lutjanoidea (includes the snappers or Lutjanidae and, fusiliers or Caesionidae) and the Haemuloidea (includes the grunts or Haemulidae and Inermiidae). There has been much confusion concerning the familial allocation of the genera and species amongst these groups. Lethrinids are mostly reef fishes but their preferred habitat is sandy or rubble substrate. The reefs which they frequent can be shallow, coralline reefs or deep, rocky reefs. One species frequents the outer edges of the continental shelf and is caught to depths of 180 m. Lethrinids can be solitary or schooling and do not appear to be territorial. They often form large aggregations while spawning Lethrinids are bottom-feeding, carnivorous, coastal fishes, ranging primarily on or near reefs. They generally possess large, strong jaws and food preference is correlated with the type of lateral jaw teeth and to a certain extent, the length and angle of the snout found in a particular species. For example, the humpnose big-eye bream, Monotaxis grandoculis, has large, well-developed molars, and a short, blunt snout. It consumes molluscs, sea urchins and other hard-shell invertebrates. At the other extreme, the longface emperor, Lethrinus olivaceus, has conical lateral teeth, and an elongate, gradually sloping snout. It feeds mainly on fishes and crustaceans. Between these extremes, species exhibit many intermediate lateral teeth types, from molar through rounded to conical, and snout shape also varies widely. Diet concommittantly varies between the extremes from primarily hard-shell invertebrates, to soft-shell invertebrates, to fishes, with combinations of these food items found in many species. There is also a great deal of selectivity for particular food items. The problems previously encountered in identification of lethrinids are primarily due to the fact that many of the characters traditionally used to differentiate fishes are


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Fig. 1. Lethrinus nebulosus, a commonly occurring species of pigface breams in India relatively constant among certain species of lethrinids. When they are live or still fresh, colour can be very helpful for species determination. Body colours and markings also add to the confusion because they can change substantially according to the time of day, the emotional state of the fish, geographic locality, and state of freshness. Despite these problems, previous researchers have contributed to our understanding of the systematics of lethrinids and have revealed a number of characters that help differentiate species. For example, Sato (1978) found that the pattern of dark pigment cells, or melanophores, on the membranes of the pelvic fin, help differentiate some species which were previously difficult to separate. Fig. 3. A provisional classification of the subfamilies and genera of the family Lethrinidae (source: ftp://ftp.fao.org)

Fig. 2. External morphology measurements of Lethrinids

General characteristics of lethrinidae • Perchlike fishes with a large head: lips often thick and Fleshy; maxilla concealed, without supplementary bone, mostly slipping below infraorbiital bones, but overlapping the premaxilla anteriorly; • A single, continuous dorsal fin with 10 spines and 9 or 10 branched (soft) rays, • Cheeks, upper surface of head and preorbital area scaleless in Lethrinus, but scales present on cheek in the other genera.



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Similar families existing in the area Lutjanidae (Lutianus) • cheek always scaled (naked in Lethrinus) • a preopercular notch and an interopercular knob often present; Haemulidae • scales always present between eye and • mouth (absent in that area in Lethrinidae); 2 or • more pores present on chin; Sparidae: • • • •

posterior tip of premaxilla overlapping maxilla at hind end of mouth (maxilla overlapping premaxilla in Lethrinidae); usually more than 10 dorsal fin spines

Profile of head in front of eye slightly convex or straight; pectoral fin with 15 soft rays; inner surface of pectoral fin base scaleless . yellow longitudinal stripes on body ------------- Gnathodentex aurolineatus

Key to the identification of major species of lethrinidae 1a. Cheek with 4 to 6 vertical rows of scales (Fig.1a); 10 soft rays in dorsal fin; 9 or 10 soft rays in anal fin 2a. 9 soft rays in anal fin Profile of head in front of eye strongly convex (Fig.2); pectoral fin with 14 soft rays, inner surface of pectoral fin base scaled. No longitudinal stripes on body --------- Monotaxis grandoculis

2b. 10 soft rays in anal fin 4a. Maxilla with a strong denticulated longitudinal ridge. caudal fin lobes rounded; body 2.2 times or less in standard length ............ Wattsia mossambica


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7a. Upper margin of eye almost on dorsal profile; interorbital space concave, flat or only slightly convex 8a. No red coloration to opercle or pectoral fin base 4b. Maxilla surface smooth; caudal fin lobes pointed; body not as deep, 2.3 to 2.8 times in standard length (adults) (Figs.7,8) 5a. Anal-fin base 2.1 to 2.5 times longer than longest soft anal-fin ray; no wavy blue lines on cheek, snout or opercle (Fig.7) ......................... Gymnocranius griseus

9a. Posterior nostrils much closer to anterior nostril than to anterior margins of eye (Fig.11) ... Lethrinus variegatus 9b. Posterior nostril about halfway between anterior nostril and anterior margin of eye (Fig.12) ....….. Lethrinus semicinctus 8b. Bright red coloration to opercle and/or pectoral fin base 10a. One or 2 red spots on pectoral fin base; opercular margin red (Fig.13) ...........…... Lethrinus xanthochilus

10b. No red spot on pectoral fin base; a conspicuous red spot on opercular edge (Fig.14) ....…... Lethrinus rubrioperculatus

1b. Cheek naked (Fig.9); 9 soft rays in dorsal fin; 8 soft rays in anal fin 6a. Snout and head elongate; body depth less than head length, inner surface of pectoral fin base scaleless, 16 February - 8 March 2015

Spotcheek emperor


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Classification of Exploited Demersal Finfishes of India: Pigface breams, lizardfishes and eels 7b. Upper margin of eye well separated from dorsal profile; interorbital space moderately to strongly convex 11a. No red coloration present; oblique bluish lines from eye to snout tip, and a few broken streaks connecting eyes on top of head ....…….. Lethrinus microdon (L elongatus)

Spangled emperor

Smalltooth emperor 11b. Red coloration present on lips, pectoral fin base or opercular edge 12a. A single, bright red blotch above pectoral fin base; opercular edge and pectoral fir, base also red; lips large arid bright red; profile of snout concave, snout bulbous ................ Lethrinus conchyliatus

Thumbprint emperor 14b. No obvious large dark blotch present on sides of body

Redaxil emperor

15a. Small orange spots on sides of head (Fig.22) .......... Lethrinus kallopterus (Lethrinus erythracanthus)

12b. No red coloration on and above pectoral firs base or opercular edge; a red line sometimes present above and below lips; often 2 or 3 blackish streaks radiating from eye; profile of snout straight.............. Lethrinus elongatus (L microdon) 6b. Snout not elongate; body depth greater than head length 13a. A characteristic series of bright blue lines radiating across cheek from eye; centres of scales with white spots; often longitudinal yellowish streaks on body (Fig.19) .. .. Lethrinus nebulosus

Orange-spotted emperor

13b. No blue radiating lines on head 14a. A persistent, oblong blotch present or, sides, usually encircled with a golden rim (Fig.20)

15b. No orange spots on head 18a. red spot on opercular margin and on pectoral fin base; no conspicuous yellow stripes on body (Fig. 25) ......... Lethrinus lentjan


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mahsenoides (L. lentjan) 20b. Less than 6 scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal fin spines; opercular margin not red 21a. Four scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal fir, spines (excluding the very small scales at base of dorsal fin) (Fig.29).......…………………... Lethrinus mahsena

17b. Snout length (excluding upper lip) equal to, or less than cheek depth (Fig.24b)

Sky emperor 21b. Five scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal fin spires (excluding the very small scales at base of dorsal fin) (Fig.30) ......................…….... Lethrinus crocineus

19a. Several prominent bright orange stripes present on body; opercular and preopercular margins bright red (Fig.27) ............................ Lethrinus ornatus

Yellowtail emperor

Lizardifshes Lizardfishes, belonging to the Family Synodontidae, is an important demersal fishery resource the world over. This resource is distributed in the Indo-West Pacific; Red Sea and further east to Southeast Asia and Australia, Persian Gulf, East Africa to Japan and the Great Barrier Reef. Lizardfishes are found in the sublittoral zones above 100 m depth inhabiting muddy bottom and reef areas.

Ornate emperor 19b. No bright orange stripes on body; no red colour on preopercle 20a. Six scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal fin spines (Fig.28) ........ Lethrinus 16 February - 8 March 2015

Studies on the systematics of lizardfishes dates back to early 20th century when Regan (1911) included them under the family Synodontidae of the order Iniomi. Later Berg (1940) revised the classification and included lizardfishes under the family Synodidae (Synodontidae, Sauridae) under the order Scopeliformes. Family Synodontidae includes Bombayduck (Harpadon spp.) and lizardfishes. Of these, lizardfishes are


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Classification of Exploited Demersal Finfishes of India: Pigface breams, lizardfishes and eels included under four genera namely Synodus Gronow, Saurida Cuv. & Val., Trachinocephalus Gill and Xystodus Ogilby. While Xystodus is known only from Australian waters, the other three genera occur in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean (Anderson et al., 1966).

Major characteristics Body elongate, usually cylindrical -with adipose fin. -Head lizard-like. -Mouth large and terminal, with rows of numerous small, slender teeth -Teeth also on palate and tongue, those on palate in 1 or 2 bands.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

S. tumbil ( Bloch 1795) S. undosquamis ( Richardson1848) S. micropectoralis Shindo &Yamada 1972 S. longimanus Norman, 1939 S. nebulosa Valenciennes in Cuv. & Val., 1849 S. isarankurai Shindo& Yamada, 1972 S. pseudotumbil Dutt & Vidyasagar, 1981.

Genus Synodus Gronow, 1763. Body more or less depressed, covered by cycloid scales. Head depressed, with a flat triangular snout. Eyes of moderate size, anterior with adipose eyelid. Teeth in 2 or 3 rows in the jaws, single band of teeth in the palate. Teeth present on the tongue. Dorsal nearly in the middle of the body, with an adipose fin, which is opposite the short anal. Anal fin base shorter than dorsal base. Ventral 8 rayed; the longer inner rays much longer than outer rays. Branchiostegal rays 12-16. The following four species were obtained under the genus Synodus from the west and east coasts of India. 1. Synodus indicus (Day 1873). 2. S. binotatus Schultz 1953. 3. S. jaculum Russell & Cressey, 1979 4. S.variegatus (Lacepede 1803).

Genus Trachinocephalus Gill, 1862

The systematic position of the Family Synodontidae (Berg, 1940): Phylum: Vertebrata Sub Phylum: Craniata Superclass: Gnathostomata Series: Pisces Class: Teleostomi Sub Class: Actinopterygii Order: Scopeliformes Family: Synodontidae Genus: Saurida Valenciennes, 1849 Body elongate, Snout obtusely pointed, short. Eyes with adipose lids. Head depressed. Cheeks and opercular bones scaled. Teeth in jaws in several rows. Teeth on palate in double bands on each side, vomerine teeth sometimes present, teeth present on tongue.13-16 branchiostegal rays, gill rakers rudimentary. Dorsal fin with 10-13 rays, adipose fin small above the anal; Anal with 9 - 13 rays its origin nearer to caudal base than to ventral base. Pectoral with 11-16 rays, pelvic 9 rayed, the inner not much longer than the outer. Caudal forked. The following species were recorded under the genus Saurida:

Body moderately compressed; snout short, eyes forward in the head, with rudimentary adipose eyelid. Snout obtuse and short. Mouth large, oblique with lower jaw slightly projecting. Teeth in 2-3 series on the jaws, a narrow band of 2 series of equal teeth on each side of the palate. Tongue toothed. Origin of dorsal nearer to snout than the small adipose fin, which is opposite to hinder half of anal. Pectoral reaching to about 10th scale of lateral line. Origin of ventral before the tip of pectoral and reaching beyond the base of dorsal fin. Anal fin base longer than dorsal fin base. Silvery yellow below, dark above with longitudinal stripes along the body. A black blotch at the upper end of the operculum. Genus Trachinocephalus is represented by a single species T. myops (Forster, 1801) which is distributed all along the Indian coast. Key to identification of major Genus 1 a. 9 pelvic fin rays, inner barely longer than outer; palatine teeth in 2 pairs of bands. - Saurida 1 b. 8 pelvic fin rays, inner much longer than outer palatine teeth in 1 pair of bands • 2 a. Eye opposite about midpoint of upper jaw; head depressed; anal fin base shorter than dorsal fin base Synodus • 2 b. Eye nearer to anterior end of upper jaw; head not depressed; anal fin base longer than dorsal fin base Trachinocephalus


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Saurida undosquamis 2 rows of teeth on anterior part of outer palatine tooth bands. Pectoral fins moderately long, reaching to level of pelvic fin base; 4 to 7 dark dots on upper edge of caudal fin;

Saurida micropectoralis 3 or more rows of teeth on anterior part of outer palatine tooth band. Pectoral fins short, their tips not reaching to level of pelvic fin origin; pelvic fin rays almost equal in length.



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Saurida tumbil 3 or more rows of teeth on anterior part of outer palatine tooth bands. Pectoral fins just reaching to level of pelvic fin base; pelvic fin rays almost equal in length.

teeth in a single band on each side. Inner pectoral fin rays about 3 times longer than outer ones; anal fin base distinctly longer than dorsal fin base.

Saurida isarankurai Lower jaw clearly projecting beyond tip of snout; also, lower caudal fin lobe smaller than upper.

Genus Synodus 8 pelvic fin rays, inner much longer than outer; palatine teeth in 1 pair of bands (source: ftp://ftp.fao.org)

Saurida gracilis Cross-bars or a series of dark patches present on all fins.

Saurida longimanus Very long pectoral fins (reaching far beyond level of first dorsal fin ray).

2 a. Eye opposite about midpoint of upper jaw (Fig. 5); head depressed; anal fin base shorter than dorsal fin base .................... Synodus

Synodus indicus Dermal flap on anterior nares long, triangular, often notched distally. Dorsal fin rays 11 to 13 (average 11.9); anal fin rays 8 to 11 (average 9.4); 2 small pigment spots at upper distal corner of operculum;

Synodus and Trachinocephalus species: inner pelvic fin rays much longer than outer ones (3 times longer; equal in Saurida). Trachinocephalus myops Eyes placed near to tip of snout (snout shorter than eye diameter); mouth large, with small, close-set teeth; palatine Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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T.M. Najmudeen and P.U. Zacharia the well-developed pectoral fins. These rather aggressive fish range from 60 to 250 cm (2.0 to 8.2 ft) in length.

Synodus englemani (S. variegatus) Anterior palatine teeth long and forming a discrete group; dermal lap on anterior nares short, tubular. Dorsal fin rays 12 or 13 (average 12.7); anal fin rays 8 to 10.

Members of the family Muraenesocidae are taxonomically nested within the monophyletic order Anguilliformes. This order comprises all “true eels” that share the synapomorphy of a particular larval form called a leptocephalus. Muraenesox eels of the Bombay-Saurashtra waters are known as “Wam” the most abundant and economically important being Muraenesox talabonoides (Bleeker), which occurs in both inshore and offshore catches landed at Sassoon Dock, Bombay. In India, the swim bladders of eels (Muraenesox talabonoides Bleeker), are of best quality and fetch very high market price owing to the huge export demand. Eel air bladder is mainly used for making isinglass. Silver conger eel Muraenesox cinereus is locally called as “Vilangu meen” and kadal bamboo and its air bladder is called as “netti”. M. cinereus is the only species of Muraenesocidae family, observed in the landings at Chennai Fisheries Harbour. M. cinereus are mainly landed by multiday trawlers. The species is available throughout the year. Along the southwest coast of India, both M. cinerius and M. bagio are landed in mechanised trawlers throughout the year.

Family Muraenesocidae (Pike-congers) Eel-like fishes, cylindrical in front, compressed towards tail. Large mouth with upper jaw extending well behind eye. Fangs (large canine teeth) on vomer (a median tooth-bearing bone on roof of mouth) and at front of lower jaw; tongue not free from floor of mouth. Gill openings large, separate and placed low on body. Pectoral fins present; dorsal and anal fins long, continuous with caudal fin; pelvic fins absent. Anus well behind pectoral fin and somewhat before midpoint of body. No scales. Colour: grey, yellow or white, sometimes almost black on back.

Eels

Key to Genera

The Muraenesocidae, or pike congers, are a small family of marine eels found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. [1] Some species are known to enter brackish water. Pike congers have cylindrical bodies, scaleless skin, narrow heads with large eyes, and strong teeth. Their dorsal fins start above

I a. Distinct bulge at bases of canine teeth on middle part of vomer ...................... Muraenesox


1 b. Canine teeth on vomer conical, or if flattened, then not bulging at bases ............. Congresox


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Congresox talabon (Cuvier, 1829) English name - Yellow pike-conger Distinctive characters: Eel-shaped fish without scales. Mouth large, upper jaw ending well behind eye. Outer tooth row in lower jaw leaning outward; middle canines on vomer (roof of mouth) conical (needle-like, not blade-shaped). Dorsal and anal fins joined to caudal fin; pectoral fins well developed, their length about 3 times in, length of head.

closer to eye than to anterior nostril; snout long; eye 3 times in length of snout. Mouth large, maxillary ending well behind eye; outer tooth row in lower jaw pointing straight upward; middle canines on vomer with distinct basal lobes, their bases sometimes in contact. Dorsal and anal fins joined to caudal fin; pectoral fins well developed; 35 to 38 pores in lateral line from head to above anus Colour: head and body greyish

Colour: head and body yellow.

Muraenesox cinereus (Forsskå1, 1775) English name - Daggertooth pike-Conger

Distinctive characters:

Congresox talabonoides (Bleeker, 1853) English name - Indian pike-conger Distinctive characters: Eel-shaped fish without scales. Outer tooth row in lower jaw leaning outward; middle canines on vomer conical (needlelike, not blade-shaped). Dorsal and anal fins joined to caudal fin; pectoral fins well developed, their length at least 4 times in length of head.

Eel-shaped fish without scales. Posterior nostril much nearer to eye than to anterior nostril. Snout short; eye 2.0 to 2.5 times in length of snout. Mouth large, upper jaw ending well behind eye. Outer tooth row in lower jaw pointing straight upward; middle canines on vomer (roof of mouth) with distinct basal lobes, their bases more or less in contact. Dorsal and anal fins joined to caudal fin; pectoral fins well developed; 39 to 47 pores in lateral line from head to above anus. Colour: head and body normally quite dark to grey/black.

Colour: head and body yellow. Size: Maximum: 200 cm; common: 150 cm.

Muraenesox bagio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) English name - Common pike-conger

Distinctive characters: Eel-shaped fish without scales. Posterior nostril only a little Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Biomimicry Vijayagopal P. Marine Biotechnology Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

This write up is an attempt to collate information on biodiversity and biotechnology interactions and inter relationships in general and examine the status of benefit sharing mechanisms in place when marine biodiversity is used in development of products and services. Additionally, the less known `biomimicry’ which draws inspiration from nature for development of products and services is also introduced with examples.

a value has to be fixed. An earliest extensively discussed example in this regard is the agreement between Merck and INbio of Costa Rica.

United Nations Conference on Environment Development (UNCED) also known as the Rio Summit in 1992 made biodiversity a very common word. This was followed by United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 again at Rio. Biodiversity depends on the stability of the biosphere which in turn stabilizes climate, water, soil, air and overall health of the biosphere.

The countries of the world are divided into four as given in the Table below

Biodiversity is the resource and strength of developing countries. Evidently, developing countries are located in the tropics and sub-tropics which are richer in biodiversity when compared with temperate countries. Conservation and sustainable use of the country’s biodiversity is central to all developmental planning in a country like ours because our mainstay is agriculture and animal husbandry is subsidiary to it. Aquatic resources mainly from the marine realm also exhibits such diversity that our country has five declared marine biosphere reserves (Gulf of Mannar, Sundarbans, Great Nicobar, North Andaman and Little Rann of Kuchchh) and another five have been listed as potential ones (Malvan, Gulf of Kahmbatt, Chilka, Lakshwadeep, Bhitar Kanika). The real value of biodiversity is in the information that is encoded in genes and molecules. But biodiversity is attached as a frill to the environment and forest agencies that have no exposure in product development from biodiversity. As mentioned, biodiversity being one of the assets of the developing countries, to extract anything from the biota

At this juncture Koshoos model (1994) of biodiversity and biotechnology interrelationship is noteworthy. The relationship between biodiversity and biotechnology conceptualized by him in 1994 is relevant even after 21 years.

Biodiversity poor, biotechnology poor

Middle east Asian countries like Saudi Arabia

Biodiversity poor biotechnology rich

Developed countries like USA, Japan, France, Germany and UK

Biodiversity rich, biotechnology poor

South America, Central Asia and Africa

Biodiversity rich, biotechnology rich

None

Flow of biodiversity is from south to north and flow of biotechnology is from north to south. It is evident that biodiversity flow is not equal to biotechnology flow because biotechnological developments are capital intensive which are faster in developed countries when compared to developing countries. Countries capable of entering the fourth group are India and China and countries in the northern hemisphere can never make it to this group because of lack of biodiversity. They may have ex situ conservation methods which cannot compensate the natural selection process taking place over a period of time in countries rich in biodiversity. Thus, Koshoo (1994) describes the `biobanks’ in developing nations as ‘green morgues’ because germplasm is only `preserved’ there instead of ‘conservation’ At that time itself, Koshoo (1994) said that biodiversity being 153

Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Biomimicry no economic gain or loss was recorded in a basic accounting network when biological resources were used. The natural resources were considered free. The first step towards natural resource control was taken at a summit in Managua in Nicaragua in 1992 where the presidents of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama signed a non-binding resolution that encouraged the passage of laws to regulate and restrict extraction of natural resources from their countries. The goal of the resolution was to prevent foreigners from invading their nation’s wild lands and extracting valuable natural resources without compensating the host nation. The Madagascar periwinkle from which the valuable anticancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine was the case in point. Over the past 20 years, World Resources Institute of Washington estimated that Costa Rica lost of 4 billion dollars as unrealized returns on natural resources. Fig. Koshoo’s model of biodiversity and biotechnology interrelationships one of the assets of the developing countries, gene and drug rush should not take place in a policy vacuum. Gene rich and technology poor countries should avoid gene imperialism. It is estimated that 5-30 million species exist and most of the biologists regard 10 million as a conservative estimate. Only 1.4 million of these species has been named by taxonomists. Tropical forests of Central and South America and South East Asia, contain 50 – 90 percent of all species. Unrealized returns from natural resources lead to market reforms in valuing biodiversity and sustaining them. Till then

Thus, harvesting of natural resources unsustainably continued unabated till Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened for signature in Rio in 1992 and entered in force from 1993. After that, as biotechnological tools and techniques lead to the development of living modified organisms (LMO) and international treaty governing movement of such organisms was governed by an international treaty called the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety in 2003. This was followed by Nagoya Protocol adopted in 2010 which said that access to genetic resources should be fair and equitable with sharing of benefits arising out of their utilization. Biotechnology is knowledge intensive and with good infrastructure can lead to value addition to the products from biodiversity.

Contract

Parties

Type and term

Scope

Benefits to the indigenous communities

InBio-Merck

INBio-National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica and Merck & Co. Ltd.

Renewable non-exclusive 2 year

Evaluation of limited of plant, insect and microbial samples from 11 conservation areas

1 Million USD Equipment for processing of samples Scientific training

Peruvian

ICGB, Bristol, Monsanto, Glaxo, Wellcome

Renewable 5 years

Collection of Peruvian medicinal plants

Lumpsum payment

Suriname Maroon tribes

ICGB, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Sate university; Conservation International; Bedrijf Geneesmiddelen Voorzeining Suriname; Missouri Botanical Gardens and BristolMyers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research institute

Renewable 5 years

Collection of botanical and ethnobotanical samples, inventory, extraction of compounds, screening of bioactivity and drug development

Technical capacity building to prepare the plant extracts. Laboratory equipment and the training to use the equipments.

Kerala India

TBGRI and Arya Vaidya Pharmacy

11 years

Plants with the help of Kani community

Lumpsum Royalty Training in local sample preparation and screening Protection of biodiversity

ICBG International Cooperative Biodiversity Group TBGRI Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute is now known as Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI)


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Vijayagopal P. The conference of parties in October 2010 in Nagoya’s Aichi Prefecture, Japan, adopted a revised and updated strategic plan for biodiversity which is known as Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Under Goal B, Target 6 says “By 2020, all fish, invertebrate stocks and plants are managed and harvested sustainably”. Some of the successful terrestrial bioprospecting contracts are worth looking at because they are the success indicators of the concept of access and benefit sharing arising out of natural resources and its rapid evolution.

Since territorial jurisdictions of marine ecosystems are complex they are regulated with several instruments shown below. Various legal instruments and organizations related to coastal and marine genetic resources regulation is summarized below. Marine bioprospecting contracts are different from other biopsopecting contracts because of the involvement of marine traditional knowledge, skilled sample collection and processing. Issues of ownerships beyond national

S. No.

Legal instrument/organization

Key features

1

Convention on Biological diversity (CBD)

Govern the different aspects of marine scientific research Share the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way

2

Bonn guidelines and Nagoya Protocol

Access to genetic resources Specialized access and benefit sharing regimes consistent with the objectives of CBD Meet the ethical concerns, competing requirements between feed of scientific research Exploitation of a resource and benefit to the source owner and society at large Use of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources within the scope

3

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)

Defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of world’s oceans Establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources

4

International Sea Bed Authority

Provides rules and provisions to regulate prospecting, exploration of marine minerals in the international seabed area

5

Global Ocean Commission

Recommend policies for governance in the high seas Recommend amendment of UNCLOS Enable governance at the regional level

6

European Science Foundation

Envisages to develop principles on the simplification and harmonization of regulations on access and fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from the exploitation of marine genetic resources

7

Valencia Declaration

Governance regime for regulation of activities in the marine areas

8

Europe Micro B3 (3 Bs are Microbial biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology)

Development standards for sampling marine microorganisms

jurisdictions are controversial. Marine bioprospecting is mainly for drug discovery and development which is a very long process. Ownership, monitoring and regulation are areas where clear processes have not been defined. Staggered payments in benefit sharing have been suggested because of the prolonged time involved in drug discovery. At present the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 enacted in line with the Convention of Biological Diversity says that foreign entities before undertaking any bioprospecting activity or transferring results of research related to the biodiversity should file applications for registration or grant of intellectual property rights and also need to seek permission from the Authority. Equitable benefit sharing is also decided by the Authority under Section 21 of the Act. The Act has empowered the State Biodiversity Boards under Section 7 of the Act to approve collection of biological resources. However, there are no specific or distinct provisions in the Biological Diversity Act, 16 February - 8 March 2015

2002 for regulation of marine bioprospecting. Indian contract Act 1872 is also prevailing, under Sections 10 and 11 say that any agreement to be a valid contract need to have clauses on consideration that can be either monetary or non-monetary or both. A specific example of marine bioprospecting contract is the Fiji contract between the University of South Pacific in Fiji Islands and SmithKline Beecham and later with an Institute, Glasgow Strathclyde Institute of Drug Research. The agreement offered advantages of conservation of biodiversity, upliftment of the community and rights to the community to intervene such as the community was given the right to reclaim the sample after one year. As there were no provisions to protect traditional knowledge the agreement failed to meet the first condition of the CBD which is prior consent of the community for commercialization of outcomes.

Biomimicry Drawing ideas from Mother Nature to create technologies and products mimicking nature is known as biomimicry. The


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Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Biomimicry term was coined by Janine Benyus in 1997. Her consulting firm Biomimicry 3.8 works with Nike, General Electric (GE) and Boeing to make smarter products and services. Constant researches by multidisciplinary teams have resulted in several new products and technologies out of which a few are described. UV-reflective material is incorporated in Ornilux glass used in bird safe windows. In high rise building birds get killed by flying into windows with ordinary glass because they cannot see them. Biomicicry solved the problem when they found that spider webs contain UV reflective material which can be seen by birds and not by humans and bugs. Blue prints of cat paws are used in Continental Tyres enabling them to stop fast. Biomimicry today has reached a stage where it can provide ecosystem services and set ecological performance standards because results of 3.8 billion years of research by nature are used or applied in biomimicry. For e.g., Carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater is used by corals which can be mimicked in the production of cement. One of the latest examples is the development of a synthetic tree by researchers at Cornell University where water distribution is designed using capillary action without pumps and energy. Sharkskin swimsuits used by swimmers in 2008 Olympics was made of a design mimicking the sharskins which are made of scales called dermal denticles which have grooves running down their length in alignment with water flow. These grooves disrupt formation of eddies or turbulent swirls

of water making water pass by faster; prevent growth of other organisms including bacteria. Even though swimsuits made of such material were banned in sports, such surfaces are used is ship hulls and hospitals. Termite den design was used by an architect called Mick Pearce to design the Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe studying the cooling chimneys and tunnels of termite dens. Supplemental air conditioning was reduced by 90% to heat and cool such a building. Lotusan is the brand name of a paint developed mimicking the properties of lotus leaf’s property to repel water and dust with 4 years of research by a German Company called Ipso. The micro rough surface the paint creates similar to the lotus leaf surface is hydrophobic. The same principle is applied to develop glass containers from which food products like ketchups and sauces can be poured out completely by General Electric. Velcro fasteners and straps are other widely known example of biomimicry. It was invented by a Swiss Engineer George de Mestral in 1941 after he removed some plant material adhering to his dog fur.

Suggested Reading Koshoo, T. N. 1994 India’s Biodiversity: Tasks Ahead. Current Science, 67:8, 25, 577-582 Blum, E. 1993. Making biodiversity profitable: A case study of the Merck/INBio agreement. Environment 35 (4): 17-20, 38-45. http://www.ciesin.org/ docs/002-270/002-270.html accessed on 16/02/2015 Bhatia, A. and Chugh, A. 2015. Role of marine bioprospecting contracts in developing access and benefit sharing mechanism for marine traditional knowledge holders in the pharmaceutical industry. Global Ecology and Conservation 3:176-187


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Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Organisms are characterized by unique biological attributes which enhance their fitness and survival to a particular environment. The driving force for enhanced survival and fitness is the genetic variation inherent in an individual as well as in a population. The information regarding genetic diversity and variation has wide application in research on evolution, conservation and management of natural populations. The advent of DNA cloning and sequencing methods have contributed immensely to the development of molecular taxonomy and population genetics over the last 2 decades. These modern methods have revolutionized the field of molecular taxonomy and population genetics with improved analytical power and precision. Molecular markers can be characterized as Type I and Type II markers; Type I markers are associated with genes of known function and type II markers are associated with genes of unknown function. Allozyme markers are type I markers as the proteins they encode are associated with some functions. Microsatellites and other neutral markers are type II markers unless they are associated with genes of some known function.

Allozyme Allozyme electrophoresis is a method which can identify genetic variation at the level of enzymes that are directly encoded by DNA. Protein variants called allozymes originates from allelic variants and they will differ slightly in electric charge. Allozymes are codominant markers having been expressed in a heterozygous individual in a Mendelian way. Thus allozyme analysis provides us with data on single locus genetic variation which can answer many questions about fish and fish populations. To detect allozyme variation, the first step is to extract allozymes from tissues using specific protocols. Then the variation is detected through electrophoresis in an acrylamide or cellulose acetate gel. Individuals that are homozygous show a single band whereas heterozygous individuals show two bands. Allozymes are one of the most

studied form of molecular variation due to their simplicity, low cost and the requirement of little specialized equipment. Any kind of soluble protein is suitable for allozyme analysis. A large number of loci can be screened at a time. The limitations of this technique include requirement of a large amount of tissue and consequently this method could not be applied when the organisms are small (for eg; larval forms). The tissue sampling method is invasive and so the fish needs to be sacrificed and the tissue needs to be stored cryogenically. A point mutation in a nucleotide sequence may not result in a change in amino acid at all and thus could not be detected by protein electrophoresis. In addition to that, a change in DNA that results in a change in amino acid will not result in the overall charge of the protein and therefore is not detected. In spite of their limitations, the use of allozyme analysis has been widespread in fisheries mainly in fish systematics, population structure, conservation genetics, mixed stock fishery analysis and forensic analysis.

Mitochondrial DNA markers Mitochondrial DNA is non- nuclear DNA in the cell having located in within organelles in the cytoplasm called mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited with a haploid genome. The entire genome undergoes transcription as one single unit. They are not subjected to recombination and thus they are homologous markers. They are selectively neutral occurring in multiple copies in each cell. Mitochondrial DNA is physically separate from the rest of cell’s DNA and so it is relatively easy to isolate from any tissue or blood sample. Due to the maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA, the effective population size is smaller than nuclear DNA and so mitochondrial DNA variation is more sensitive to population bottlenecks and hybridizations. The differences in the nucleotide sequence of DNA molecule in the mitochondria can be determined directly or indirectly by several methods. Many population genetic studies have employed RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis of mitochondrial DNA for understanding population 157

Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future genetic variation either by digesting the whole purified mtDNA with restriction endonucleases or by DNA sequencing of small segments of mtDNA molecule obtained by PCR amplification. These techniques with increased resolution and maximum information have made mtDNA analysis very popular. The newly emerged sequencing technologies have enabled direct sequencing of mitochondrial genes and several sets of universal primers have been developed from conserved sequence regions. Slow evolving gene regions are being used for inter species comparisons and fast evolving gene regions for population comparisons. The only non coding region of mtDNA is D-loop region and this region is fast evolving and mostly used for population comparisons. The cytochrome b and ND-1 and ND-5/6 gene regions are also being used widely. Mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase I gene has been identified as the universal barcode for species level identification due to its conserved nature across a wide range of taxa. DNA barcodes are segments of approximately 600 base pairs of the mitochondrial COI gene which is a fast, efficient and inexpensive technique helpful in cataloguing the biodiversity. During the last two decades, mitochondrial DNA genes have found widespread application fish taxonomy, biology and population genetics.

Arbitrary Nuclear DNA markers Arbitrary markers are used when we target a segment of DNA of unknown function. The widely used methods of amplifying unknown regions are RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) and AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) DNA. RAPD uses an arbitrary primer which can amplify anonymous loci. It is fast, cheap and shows very high amount of polymorphism and this marker does not require knowledge of the genetic makeup of the organism. The major drawback with RAPD markers is the lack of reproducibility and repeatability and the large number of products generated. RAPD is a dominant marker and so homozygous and heterozygous states cannot be differentiated and these patterns are sensitive to slight changes in amplification conditions. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers combine the benefits of both RFLP and RAPD. The total genomic DNA is digested using two restriction enzymes. Double–stranded nucleotide adapters are ligated to the ends of DNA fragments to serve as primer binding sites for PCR amplification. Primers complementary to the adapter and restriction site sequence, with additional nucleotides at the 3’-end, are used as selective agents to amplify a subset of ligated fragments. The presence of absence of DNA fragments are detected on polyacrylamide gels and thus polymorphisms are studied.

Specific Nuclear DNA markers Variable Number of Tandem Repeat is a segment of DNA that is repeated tens or even hundreds to thousands of times in nuclear genome of eukaryotes. They repeat in tandem; vary in number in different loci and differently in individuals. There

are two main classes of repetitive and highly polymorphic DNA; minisatellite DNA referring to genetic loci with repeats of length 9-65 bp and microsatellite DNA with repeats of 2-8 bp (1-6) long. Microsatellites are much more numerous in the genome of vertebrates than mini satellites. They are widely used in population genetics of fishes and aquatic invertebrates. Minisatellites can be classified into multilocus and single-locus minisatellites. Multilocus minisatellites are composed of tandem repeats of 9-65 base pair and have a total length ranging from 0.1 to 7kb. Minisatellite loci are used mainly in parentage analysis. They are less useful for population genetic analysis unless we use large sample sizes. The complexity of mutation processes undergone by minisatellite loci is also a limitation. Due to the difficulties in the interpretation of multilocus fingerprints, the research work were concentrated on single locus minisatellite probes and this procedure required reasonable quantities of high-quality DNA. These single locus minisatellite probes have been very useful and successful in detecting genetic variations within and between populations. It has also been used in fisheries for forensics, parentage, genetic identity, estimating mating success and confirming gynogenesis.

Microsatellites A microsatellite is a simple DNA sequence which is repeated several times across various points in the DNA of an organism. These repeats are highly variable and these loci can be used as markers. Microsatellite occur once in every 10 kbp while minisatellite loci occur once in every 1500 kbp in fishes and due this, microsatellites are more useful in genome mapping and population genetics studies. They are highly variable, non-coding and selectively neutral and the basic assumption while using microsatellite loci is that the predicted amount of sequence divergence between units of interest is directly related to length of time since separation. Microsatellites are codominant markers which are inherited in a Mendelian fashion and they are highly evolving with 10-3-10-4 mutation/generation. The high levels of polymorphism shown by microsatellites have made them one of the most popular genetic markers. Cross amplification with primers developed in closely related species is also possible which minimizes the cost associated with detecting microsatellite sequences in a different species. The analysis of microsatellite loci involves DNA extraction, amplification of the microsatellite loci using specific primers in a PCR machine and examination of the bands using poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The recent introduction of automated genotyping machines has made the analysis of size polymorphisms of microsatellite loci with automated genotyping using labeled primers. The use of large number of samples and loci is now possible due to automated genotyping which has increased precision and speed with microsatellite analysis. The constraints of using microsatellite markers are the presence of null alleles and presence of stutter bands. Null alleles are found when mutations occur at primer binding sites of microsatellite locus. The presence of null alleles reduce accuracy especially in parentage or


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Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan relatedness analysis and assignment tests and the best option is to discard loci showing null alleles. Stutter bands occur when a ladder of bands differing between 1-2 bp is seen and these occur due to slipped strands impairing during PCR or incomplete denaturation of amplification products. Tri-nucleotide and tetra nucleotide repeats usually do not show significant amounts of stuttering. Microsatellite markers are used in fisheries and aquaculture for phylogenetics and phylogeography, population genetic structure, biodiversity conservation, stocking impacts and hybridization. It is also being increasingly used for forensic identification of individuals, genome mapping and determination of kinship and behavioral patterns.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Single nucleotide polymorphisms arise due to single nucleotide substitutions (transitions/transversions) or single nucleotide insertions/deletions. These point mutations give rise to different alleles with alternative bases at a particular nucleotide position. SNP,s are the most abundant polymorphisms in the genome (coding and non-coding) of any organism. These single nucleotide variants can be detected using PCR, microchip arrays or fluorescence technology. They are considered as next generation markers in fisheries and can be employed for population genetics studies, genomics studies and for detection of diseases.

DNA microarrays or DNA chips DNA microarray consists of small glass microscope slides, silicon chip or nylon membranes with many immobilized DNA fragments arranged in a standard pattern. A DNA microarray can be utilized as a medium for matching a reporter probe of known sequence against the DNA isolated from the target sample which is of unknown origin. Species-specific DNA sequences could be incorporated to a DNA microarray and this could be used for identification purposes. DNA extracted from a target sample should be labeled with a specific fluorescent molecule and hybridized to the microarray DNA. When the hybridization is positive a fluorescent signal is detected with appropriate fluorescence scanning/imaging equipment.

Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) ESTs are single-pass sequences which were generated from random sequencing of cDNA clones. ESTs can be used to identify genes and analyze their expression by means of expression analysis. Fast and reliable analysis can be made for the genes expressed in particular tissue types under specific physiological conditions or developmental stages. Differentially expressed genes could be identified using cDNA microarrays in a systematic way. ESTs are most valuable for linkage mapping.

Applications of molecular markers in fisheries Inter specific and intra specific variations 16 February - 8 March 2015

Molecular genetic markers can be used as a supplementary marker system which will increase resolution in taxonomic research. The molecular evolution among taxa is highly variable and the extent of divergence in DNA or genes can be taken as the basis for differentiation among species. The morphological and ecological characters may diverge at a faster rate compared to genetic differentiation at neutral loci and so sometimes we may observe poor correlation between morphological traits and gene divergence. Thus molecular markers have to be interpreted critically among different sets of traits. Molecular markers are most useful when some species which occur in mixed catches is to be identified and where morphological identification is very difficult. Processed fish products (filleted, smoked or salted) and early life stages of fishes like planktonic eggs and larval forms cannot be identified using morphological characters and molecular markers can be employed in such instances. Endangered and threatened whales, sharks and dolphins which are dead and stranded can also be identified using these methods as in most cases morphological identification is not possible. Within a species, genetic differences are more than between populations and so identification is possible even when sample size is small (3-5). Molecular markers have also been used in sub-species identification. Some of the high evolving loci will show more divergence within species and so these loci can be used for finding out intra-specific variations.

Phylogenetic and Phylogeograhical studies Phylogenetic studies assess the historical processes which affect relationships and phylogeographic studies assess the geographical distributions. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies started with the introduction of mtDNA markers in population genetic analyses. The evolutionary history of groups of fishes could be reconstructed which will give vital information regarding historical demography. Information regarding conservation units and ecological patterns could also be derived using phylogenetic studies. Mitochondrial DNA analysis has been used widely as a powerful tool for intraspecific phylogenetic patterns inference in many animal species. The high levels of mutation rate, smaller levels of effective population size and predominantly maternal inheritance of mtDNA will provide greater power to identify population structure. The lack of recombination and low efficiency of repair mechanisms induces high rate of evolution in mtDNA which makes this molecule highly useful in phylogenetic analyses. MtDNA has been used to resolve relationships among species that had diverged as much as 8-10 million years.

Structure of populations: between and within populations Identification of stock structure is a very important issue in fisheries management and conservation programmes. Stocks are groups within species which are reproductively isolated with different physiological and behavioural


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Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future patterns. Morphological and meristic features have genetic and environmentally influenced components and so morphological and meristic data should be used in conjunction with genetic data. Thus when a combination of these methods is used, we get information regarding actual genetic differences and important environmental effects on phenotype. Microsatellite DNA is the most favored DNA marker for stock structure studies due to their high rate of evolution. The non-coding region of mtDNA (D-loop) has also been used for stock structure studies due to their high rate of evolution. Mixed fisheries are comprised of subunits of different populations, different life stages or individuals from different stocks. Data from microsatellite markers, allozymes or mitochondrial DNA markers is useful for identifying the origin of stock components from mixed stock fisheries.

Genetic tagging/marking There are instances when we need to mark individual fish for various purposes like tracking movement or migration, estimating population size or evaluating contributions of individual stock to mixed fishery. Physical tags are not heritable and so cannot be employed for generations. Genetic marking by finding a rare allele in an individual or populations and following them over generations will provide information regarding the contribution of hatchery programme on harvest, proportion of stocked individuals on growth of targeted population and identifying migrants from source populations.

Forensic investigation In samples where morphological identification is not possible like dead or stranded fishes, preserved or canned fish flesh and fish fillets, molecular markers could be employed for identification and certification. Forensics uses scientific methods to draw inferences about past events and it is being increasingly used in certification of fishery products and detection of illegal trading in fish and fisheries products. Deliberate or accidental release into natural waters also could be monitored using molecular tools.

and other unusual sources of DNA is now possible with several methods. These types of studies have improved our understanding regarding the evolutionary relationships among different taxa.

Applications in aquaculture Molecular markers have wide range of applications in aquaculture mainly; in genetic identification and discrimination of hatchery stocks, finding out inbreeding events, assignment of of progeny to parents using genetic tags, finding out quantitative trait loci, marker assisted selection for selective breeding trials and assessment of the effect of polyploidy induction and gynogenesis. Genetic variability can also be assessed between and within stocks using molecular markers. They are also useful in determining the contribution of possible parents in mass spawning events. Genome mapping and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL), (the locations of commercially important quantitative traits) is also possible. QTLs are important in breeding programmes and they are detected by analyzing phenotypes with linked marker maps and identification of markers related to QTLs can provide information on relatedness between strains and families and this knowledge is useful in marker-assisted programmes to improve production related traits. Disease diagnosis is another major area where the benefits of molecular markers can be successfully harnessed. PCR assays for different pathogens have become inexpensive, safe and user friendly in many diagnostic laboratories. Several PCR based disease diagnosis methods have been developed for pathogens like white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), channel catfish virus (CCV), infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), viral nervous necrosis virus (VNNV) and several other diseases. Genes that are resistant to pathogens like Major Histo Compatibility genes (MHC) can be identified and used for selection programmes to produce disease resistant strains of fin or shell fishes.

Conclusion

The most essential component of any ecological study is determining trophic relationships within an ecosystem and data on diet composition is very vital. Identifying the diet components of species level is very difficult as most the morphological features might get lost due to partial or complete digestion. In many cases solid remains do not exist inside the gut and this makes identification difficult. Molecular methods could be used for diet analysis studies as it is possible to extract DNA from partially digested samples.

Molecular markers find wide range of application fisheries and aquaculture and their application has revolutionized the field of fish genetics. The choice of a marker type should be made cautiously in each case so as to maximize the quality of output. No single molecular marker is superior to any other and a combination of markers is always suitable. Of late, markers developed and screened using next generation sequencing technologies are increasingly being used in fish genetics. There is an increasing global demand for aquaculture products and modern molecular methods and molecular genetics could play a major role in bringing out quality and sustainability to aquaculture.

Analysis of ancient DNA

Suggested reading

Retrieval of DNA sequence information from preserved samples in museums, fossil remains, archaeological finds

Okumus, I. and Ciftci, Y. 2003. Fish population genetics and molecular markers: II- Molecular markers and their applications in fisheries and aquaculture. Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3: 51-79.

Studying the trophic relationships


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Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan Chauhan, T and Rajiv. K. 2010. Molecular markers and their application is fisheries and aquaculture. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology 1: 281-291. Liu, Z.J. and Cordes, J.F. 2004. DNA marker technologies and their applications in aquaculture genetics. Aquaculture 1-37. Presti, R.L., Lisa,C. and Stasio, L.D. 2009. Molecular genetics in aquaculture. Italian Journal of Animal Science 8: 299-313. Teletchea, F. 2009. Molecular identification methods of fish species: reassessment and possible applications. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 19: 265293. Askari, G.H., Shabani, H. and Miandare, H.K. Application of molecular markers in fisheries and aquaculture. Scientific Journal of Animal Science, 2(4): 82-88. Hallerman, E.M. 2006. Use of molecular tools for research and improvement of aquaculture stocks. The Israeli Journal of Aquaculture – Bamidgeh, 58(4): 286-296. Davis, G.P. and Hetzel, D.J.S. 2000. Integrating molecular genetic technology with traditional approaches for genetic improvement in aquaculture species. Aquaculture Research, 31: 3-10.



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Integrative taxonomy – Methods and Applications Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Taxonomy is the discipline in biology aimed at characterizing and naming taxa and taxonomy plays a major role in conserving biodiversity. The central unit of taxonomy is species and generating biological information requires naming of species. Thousands of species are being named every year since the advent of Linnaean nomenclature in 1758. Alpha taxonomy relates to species level characterizations whereas beta taxonomy is related to higher level studies. The advent of new tools for species level identification of groups of organisms has contributed immensely to the rapid development of this branch of science. DNA sequencing technologies, access to museum collections, information about phyogenetics and phylogeography, advances in evolutionary studies and computer tomography have revolutionized conventional taxonomy in such a way that conventional taxonomy could be supplemented and complemented with information generated from all the above approaches. Species delimitation and a scientific consensus on naming could be achieved now by using a combination of different methods along with traditional taxonomy tools and this is the objective of integrative taxonomy. The term “integrative taxonomy” was coined by Dayrat, 2005 to describe a comprehensive approach to naming species.

used in species delimitation and all the methods need not be applied simultaneously. Information regarding evolutionary aspects of the species under consideration should be taken into account while selecting the methods. Integration can be attempted when morphological information is not sufficient for species delimitation or even when morphology is sufficient other methods can supplement the information. In addition to this, application of several methods provide insights into the processes that make them separate species like divergent selection on some traits, behavior and consequent adaptation. Thus integrative taxonomy improves rigour contributing to efficient biodiversity inventorization.

Methods for integration Integration of different approaches can be done in two ways (Padial et al. 2010); integration by congruence and integration by cumulation. In the method of integration by congruence, concordance between different sets of information is desired. Thus this method assumes that when different sets of characteristics show concordance, the evolutionary lineages are fully separated and can be classified as separate species.

Integrative taxonomy Evolutionary biological studies focus upon the divergence of lineages and the aim of a taxonomist is to identify the point along the continuum where species classifications are to be applied and reaching a consensus regarding this generates lot of conflicts among taxonomists. Population biological studies, sexual mating behavior, molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographical information and other evolutionary disciplines are recently being introduced for species delimitation and consequently integrative taxonomy has emerged. The most important and evolving fields are molecular phylogenetics and systematics and the previous decade has seen revolutionary changes in molecular systematic studies. Integrative methods are being increasingly Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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Sandhya Sukumaran and A. Gopalakrishnan The sets of characters to be considered depend on the knowledge of the investigator regarding the evolutionary trajectory of the species. Congruence approaches provide more confidence in taxonomic information and consequent taxonomic stability. The limitation with congruence approach is that it is more stringent and so the risk of underestimation of species numbers is more as in many cases divergence in all the characters is not necessary for species delineation. In the case of cichlid fishes, adaptive radiation is associated with strong divergent selection on morphological traits whereas these differences in morphological traits were not associated with strong reproductive isolation. Integration by cumulation is based on the principle that divergence in any one of the traits can be taken as evidence for existence of taxonomically distinct species groups. So in this method, evidence is accumulated from all the sources and the evolutionary characteristics and significance of different traits are studied and even if one single character is enough to explain the species level status it is considered. This has been the approach of conventional taxonomy.

Integrative taxonomy considers many traits for species delimitation and this process enhances the knowledge about the evolutionary processes driving their speciation. When a particular character has more importance in selection and consequent speciation, that character should be given more importance while taking decisions about their species status. Integrative taxonomy has a pluralistic approach to taxonomy and so it promotes deeper understanding of the species and populations in question. The following points should be considered while making taxonomic decisions; 1) When multiple disciplines are incorporated into taxonomic investigations, rigor associated with taxonomic investigations could be substantially improved. 2) Morphology should be the basic criteria in any taxonomic investigation and molecular genetic information should also be invariably used along with this. 3) When there is a mismatch with different sets of information, evolutionary traits of the species should be considered and importance should be given to the trait that is most significant from an evolutionary point of view. 4) Conventional taxonomists should be trained in using additional methods so as to improve accuracy and speed in decision making

Suggested Reading

The main disadvantage with integration by cumulation is that there is a risk of overestimation of species as divergence in a single character may not lead to reproductive isolation.


Dayrat, B. 2005. Towards integrative taxonomy. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 85: 407-415. Fujita, M.K., Leache, A.D., Burbrink, F.T., McGuire, J.A. and Moritz, C. 2012. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 27(2): 480-488. Padial, J.M., Miralles, A., De la Riva, I. and Vences, M. 2010. The integrative future of taxonomy. Frontiers in Zoology 7:16. Riedel, A., Sagata, K., Suhardjono, Y.R., Tanzler, R. and Balke, M. 2013. Integrative taxonomy on the fast track – towards more sustainability in biodiversity research. Frontiers in Zoology 10:15. Schlick-Steiner, B.C., Steiner, F.M., Seifert, B., Stauffer, C., Christian, E. and Crozier, R.H. 2010. Integrative Taxonomy: A Multisource Approach to Exploring Biodiversity. Annual Reviews in Entomology 55: 421-438. Will, K.W., Mishler, B.D. and Wheeler, Q.D. 2005. The perils of DNA barcoding and the need for integrative taxonomy. Systematic Biology 54(5): 844-851.


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Economic valuation of marine ecosystem services: Methodological issues and challenges Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M Socio Economic Evaluation and Technology Transfer Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

The environment and the economy The economy has a complex relationship with the environment. The environment not only provides the raw materials and energy for the production of goods and services that support people’s lifestyles, but also sustains damage through the activities of households and businesses. Environmental economics, being a sub-field of economics, is concerned with environmental issues. According to the quoting from the National Bureau of Economic Research Environmental Economics program, “Environmental Economics undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world. Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming’’. Environmental economics seeks to assess various losses due to the economic activities and to fix upon the most competent way to reduce them, as well as to compare the cost of environmental damage to the cost of mitigation. The processes by which the resources such as clean water, timber, habitat for fisheries, pollination of native and agricultural plants, etc produced by the environment is known as ‘’Ecosystem services’’. An ecosystem is a community of animals and plants interacting one another along with the physical and chemical components, such as soils, water, and nutrients that support organisms living within them. While it is often impossible to place an accurate monetary amount on ecosystem services, we can calculate some of the financial values. Many of these services are performed seemingly for “free,” yet are worth many trillions of dollars, for example: 80% of the world’s population relies upon natural medicinal products. Of the top 150 prescription drugs used in the U.S., 118 originate from natural sources: 74% from plants, 18% from fungi, 5% from bacteria, and 3% from one vertebrate (snake species). Nine of the top ten drugs originate from natural plant products. Hence, it is very important to be

aware of the relevance of ecosystem services in human life. The choices we make today in how we use ecosystem services will have enormous consequences on the future sustainability of earth’s ecosystems and the services they provide.

The marine ecosystem Marine and coastal wetlands encompass the enormous variety of marine and coastal species and open sea habitats and ecosystems, and the wealth of ecological processes that support all of these. Considering marine ecosystems, they are among the largest of Earth’s aquatic ecosystems including oceans, salt marsh and intertidal ecology, estuaries and lagoons, mangroves and coral reefs, the deep sea and the sea floor. Marine ecosystems are very important for the overall health of both marine and terrestrial environments. According to the World Resource Center, coastal habitats alone account for approximately 1/3 of all marine biological productivity, and estuarine ecosystems (i.e., salt marshes, sea grasses, mangrove forests) are among the most productive regions on the planet. In addition, other marine ecosystems such as coral reefs provide food and shelter to the highest levels of marine diversity in the world. Marine ecosystems usually have a large biodiversity and are therefore thought to have a good resistance against invasive species. Coastal zone has high biological potential as it serves as feeding, nursery and spawning grounds with rich biodiversity and as an intermediary biotope between marine and freshwater environments. The marine fauna of India is rich and varied. The coastline encompasses almost all types of intertidal habitat, from hyper saline and brackish lagoons, estuaries, and coastal marsh and mudflats, to sandy and rocky shores with every degree of exposure and widely varying profile. Tropical marine ecosystem of Indian coast includes lagoons, mangrove swamps, sandy and rocky shores and opens sea front.


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Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M

Marine ecosystem services Below given are the brief description of the different biomes of the coastal and marine ecosystem and their corresponding ecosystem services (Fig 1.)

a) Coastal systems and subtypes i. Estuaries, marshes, salt ponds, and lagoons Estuaries are defined as partially enclosed coastal body of water which is either permanently or periodically open to the sea and within which there is a measurable variation of salinity due to the mixture of sea water with freshwater derived from land drainage. Coastal marshes and lagoons are also included within the estuaries. Estuaries, marshes and lagoons play a key role in maintaining hydrological balance, filtering water of pollutants, and providing habitat for birds, fish, and mollusks, crustaceans, and other kinds of ecologically and commercially important organisms. The estuaries are important nursery areas for fisheries and other species and form one of the strongest linkages between coastal, marine, and freshwater systems and the ecosystem services they provide. The main threats facing estuarine systems include coastal development, pollution, changes to hydrology, as well as upstream threats. ii. Mangroves Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in intertidal zones and estuarine margins that have adapted to living in saline water, either continually or during high tides. Mangroves grow under various salinity levels ranging from fresh water to 2.5 times seawater strength (66 ppm). Mangroves are classified into three major zones based on dominant physical processes and geomorphological characters: tide dominated fringing mangroves, river-dominated riverine mangroves, and interior basin mangroves. Mangroves are also a vital source for carbon sequestration. The main ecosystem services provided by the mangroves include land stabilization, nutrient cycling, processing pollutants (including adsorption of heavy metals), supporting nursery habitats for marine organisms, and providing fuel wood, timber, fisheries resources, and serve as buffer zones from storms. The main threats facing mangrove forests include removal, aquaculture, forest use, and freshwater diversion. iii. Intertidal habitats, deltas, beaches, dunes Intertidal habitats provide ecosystem services such as food, shoreline stabilization, maintenance of biodiversity, and recreation. Mudflats are critical habitat for migrating shorebirds and many marine organisms, including commercially important species like the horseshoe crab and a variety of clam species. Coastal deltas are important microcosms where many dynamic processes and human activity converge. Beaches and sandy shores also provide ecological services and are being altered worldwide. Sandy shores have 16 February - 8 March 2015

undergone massive alterations due to coastal development, pollution, erosion, storms, alteration of freshwater hydrology, sand mining, groundwater use, and harvesting of organisms. Beaches provide feeding grounds for migratory birds, provide nesting habitat, deliver land-based nutrients to the near shore coastal system, and provide both food and recreational space to humans. Removal of beach wrack near urban centers and tourism resorts also alters habitat and services. iv. Coral reefs and atolls Reef formations occur as barrier reefs, atolls, fringing reefs, or patch reefs, or a combination of these formations mainly in relatively nutrient poor waters of the tropics, and are known to provide a variety of provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. Among the provisioning services is their contribution to fisheries products (e.g., nutrition and livelihoods to coastal communities) as well as to pharmaceutical compounds and bio-prospecting; they also provide regulating services such as the formation of beaches (important to tourism), and buffering of coastal area again the impact of waves and storm surges. As the most diverse ecosystems in the ocean, if not the planet, they act as absorbers of biological carbon, thereby coral reefs play an important regulatory role in nutrient and carbon cycling. However, the most well known services of this ecosystem are the cultural services with respect to tourism related activities. Although coral reefs are also a source of construction material for coastal communities, and of curios and ornamentals for the aquarium industry, these are not environmentally sustainable activities. Human induced stress on reefs, such as coastal construction, pollution, destructive land use practices, as well as warming seawater and climate change lead directly or indirectly to coral reef degradation and have placed coral reefs on an accelerated path to ecosystem collapse in many parts of the world. v. Seagrass beds or meadows Seagrass is a generic term for the flowering plants that usually colonize soft-bottom areas of the oceans from the tropics to the temperate zones, and tropical Seagrass beds can occur in association with coral reefs as well as in their absence. Seagrass provides a range of ecosystem services including habitat and food services for coral reef fish and invertebrates including species that are used in traditional medicine, seafood, fodder, agar, carageenan, paper, and flour, as well as stabilizing coastal sediments and shorelines, and filtering sediment from coastal waters that might otherwise smother coral reefs. Seagrass beds are threatened by human activities in coastal areas such as construction and dredging, anchoring, habitat conversion, pollution, and are also affected by climate change . vi. Kelp forests Kelp forests are temperate ecosystems that have a complex


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Economic Valuation of marine ecosystem services: methodological issues and challenges biological structure organized around large brown algae, supporting a high diversity of species interactions. Kelp forests provide provisioning and regulating services as they support invertebrate and finfish fisheries and are themselves harvested for food and additives; protection against wave and storm impacts; and are nursery habits for some species. Most of the kelp forests worldwide have been degraded and there is no kelp forest in its natural condition. One of the main threats to kelp forests is the removal of predators like sea otters; this causes the proliferation of sea urchins, which in turn graze on the kelp. vii. Other benthic communities: Rock and shell reefs, mud flats, coastal surmounts, and rises. Other rock communities provide a variety of ecosystem services: rock reefs provide rich nursery habitat for fisheries; mud flats are productive habitats that exhibit high species diversity; hard-bottom habitats below the photic zone are dominated by sponges, corals, bryozoans, and compound ascidians. Most of these temperate, non-reef-building corals are found in deeper waters beyond the coastal limit, although their ecosystem dynamics and the threats facing them are similar to many coastal systems. Human induced disturbances can cause major ecological damage and compromise biodiversity, regardless of whether these communities occur more inshore of offshore. Bottom trawling and other fishing methods that rake the benthos have destroyed many of these communities already. viii. Semi enclosed seas The semi enclosed seas are defined as a gulf, basin or sea surrounded by two or more states and connected to another sea or the ocean by a narrow outlet or consisting entirely or primarily of the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of two of more coastal states such as, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea, and Baltic Sea. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report notes the high productivity of these ecosystems and high species diversity and endemism. At the same time semi enclosed seas are adversely affected by pollution and the heavy extractive use of surrounding communities and countries.

b) Marine system The marine system is defined as the sea that is deeper than 50 m below sea level, and is the main source of fishing. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classifies the marine system into four biomes: the coastal boundary zone, tradewinds, westerlies, and polar. The coastal boundary zone that surrounds the continents is the most productive part of the world ocean, yielding about 90% of marine fisheries catches, while the other three biomes are less productive, and their deep waters are exploited mainly for their large pelagic fish. For purposes of classifying the valuation studies, those studies

that provide valuation for fisheries within an identified coastal zone ecosystem, have been classified as provisioning service of that ecosystem. While those valuation studies that refer to open seas fisheries were classified under general marine provisioning service. Ecosystem services may be divided into four categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services . Below is a brief description of each of these services: (a) Provisioning services are defined as those that result in products obtained from ecosystems (in some cases referred to as production services). These include: i. Food: Marine ecosystems provide ample provisioning services including fish from marine and capture fisheries, marine products, and aquaculture products. Both total and per capita fish consumption have grown over the past four decades leading to over fishing and over exploitation of marine fishery resources, which in turn reflected in increases in real prices of fish products. While traditional aquaculture is generally sustainable, an increasing share of aquaculture uses carnivorous species, and this puts increased pressure on other fisheries to provide fishmeal as feed and also exacerbates waste problems. Shrimp farming often results in severe damage to mangrove ecosystems, although some countries have taken steps to reduce these harmful impacts. ii. Fiber, timbres, and fuel: Even though marine ecosystems are not usually associated with fiber, timbres and fuel, nevertheless mangroves are an important source of these. Coastal communities rely on mangroves for mangroves for building, manufacturing, fuel, and other needs. iii. Medicines and other resources: A wide variety of species—microbial, plant, and animal— and their genes contribute to commercial products in such industries as pharmaceuticals, botanical medicines, crop protection, cosmetics, horticulture, agricultural seeds, environmental monitoring and a variety of manufacturing and construction sectors. Several marine ecosystems provide habitat or are direct resource for medicinal resources. For example, several species of fin fishes are used in Nigeria in traditional medicinal recipes, other species such as algae are researched for use in Alzheimer‘s disease. Shrimp and crabs are two important sources of chitin and chitosan (one of chitin deliverables) that has high value-added applications in medicine and cosmetics; coral (which has a similar chemical composition to human bone) is used as a bone supplement; sponges and tunicates have been used to cure certain forms of cancer , and omega 3 fatty acids, derived from fish oil, are widely used as nutritional supplements.

(b) Regulating services are defined as those that regulate ecosystem processes: i. Biological regulation: which includes regulating


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Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M interactions between different trophic levels thus preserving functional diversity and interactions. An important example are the urchin barrens which used to be kelp forests that have been reduced to mostly urchin species due to the over-fishing that reduces natural predators of urchins. Almost no kelp forest exists in its natural state today. ii. Freshwater storage and retention: storage and retention of water; provision of water for irrigation and for drinking. This ecosystem service is most relevant to freshwater estuaries and wetlands. iii. Hydrological balance: even though this mostly concerns groundwater recharge / discharge in terrestrial ecosystems, some features of marine ecosystem also exhibit this service. For example, the coral reef carst material acts as regulator of groundwater discharge and mineral leaching. iv. Atmospheric and climate regulation: marine ecosystems affect and are affected by atmospheric and climate conditions. For example, while marine plants fix atmospheric CO2, they return it via respiration; moreover, dead organisms, particles, and dissolved organic carbon form carbon sinks in the deep ocean, some of which remains sequestered in the sediment while the remaining is respired at depth and eventually recirculated to the surface (the biological pump). At present, several sources are proposing the restoration of mangroves as use for carbon sinks. Moreover, the reduction in number of ocean vertebrate species hinders the functioning of marine ecosystems and leads to significant reduction in the ocean‘s carbon sink ability. v. Human disease control: The marine ecosystems contribute to regulating conditions that affect public health. An example of such is the red tide phenomenon, which results from the proliferation of certain type of algae (K. brevis) which produce powerful toxins called brevetoxins that not only result in death of millions of fish and other marine species, but also could accumulate in tissue of shellfish, which, if ingested leads to severe gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms.

droughts through its storage capacity and surface resistance; coral reefs buffer waves and protect adjacent coastlines from storm damage. The services provided by this function relate to providing safety of human life and human constructions. viii. Erosion control: The soil retention function mainly depends on the structural aspects of ecosystems, especially vegetation cover and root system. Tree roots stabilize the soil and foliage intercepts rainfall thus preventing compaction and erosion of bare soil. Plants growing along shorelines and (submerged) vegetation in near-coastal areas contribute greatly to controlling erosion and facilitating sedimentation. The services provided by this function are very important to maintain agricultural productivity and prevent damage due to soil erosion (both from land slides and dust bowls).

(c) Cultural services are the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems Human cultures, knowledge systems, religions, social interactions, and amenity services have been influenced and shaped by the nature of ecosystems. At the same time, humankind has influenced and shaped its environment to enhance the availability of certain valued services. There are six main types of cultural and amenity services provided by ecosystems: cultural diversity and identity; cultural landscapes and heritage values; spiritual services; inspiration (such as for arts and folklore); aesthetics; and recreation and tourism, because global aggregated information on the condition of cultural services was limited (with the partial exception of recreational and tourism benefits). i. Cultural and amenity: communities impact their surrounding ecosystems, and at the same time are affected by the nature that surrounds them. Nature shapes the traditions and beliefs of the communities, and maintains the cultural value of these ecosystems in spite of advances in lifestyle. Marine ecosystems also stand out in the cultures of many people such as those of the aboriginal groups in Australia lived along the Great Barrier Reef region for over 40,000 years, which resulted in the reef permeating their culture and shaping many of their traditions such as traditional hunting.

vi. Waste processing: marine ecosystems vary in their ability to absorb wastes and to detoxify, process, and sequester them, depending on the type of wastes, concentration, loading rates, and type of ecosystem. An example of marine ecosystem waste processing is the mangroves‘ ability to adsorb heavy metals and other pollutants, thus reducing their concentrations in marine environment. In addition, the bioturbation activity of faunal organisms within the seabed can bury, sequester, and process waste material through assimilation and chemical alteration.

ii. Recreational: perhaps recreational value of ecosystem forms the vast share of valuation studies, which is not surprising given the growing magnitude of the tourism industry. According to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report nature travel increased at an estimated rate of 10–30% annually in the early 1990s, and in 1997 nature tourism accounted for approximately 20% of total international travel. A number of developing countries depend on tourism as the largest contributor to their economy.

vii. Flood/storm protection: This function relates to the ability of ecosystems to ameliorate natural hazards and disruptive natural events. For example, vegetative structure can alter potentially catastrophic effects of storms, floods and

iii. Aesthetics: Many people enjoy the scenery of natural areas and landscapes. This is clearly reflected in peoples’ preference to live and visit aesthetically pleasant environments. Aesthetic information has considerable economic importance, which is



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Economic Valuation of marine ecosystem services: methodological issues and challenges reflected in such sectors as the real estate where housing with ocean / sea view are usually considerably higher priced than similar housing in other areas. iv. Education and research: marine ecosystems provide numerous opportunities for education and research, through excursions, field studies, and reference areas for monitoring environmental change. (d) Supporting services are those services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services, but do not yield direct benefits to humans: i. Resilience and resistance (life support): it is the extent to which ecosystems can absorb recurrent natural and human perturbations and continue to regenerate without slowly degrading or unexpectedly flipping to alternate states. Healthier ecosystems are expected to have higher resilience than are ecosystems that are weakened by external factors such as overfishing, pollution, and other human pressures. ii. Biologically mediated habitat: is defined as habitat which is provided by living marine organisms. Examples of such habitat are coral reefs, seagrass beds, and kelp forests which provide a habitat for numerous other marine species the survival of which depends on the health of their habitat forming species.

iii. Nutrient cycling and fertility: Ecosystems regulate the flows and concentrations of nutrients through a number of complex processes that allow these elements to be extracted from their mineral sources (atmosphere, hydrosphere, or lithosphere) or recycled from dead organisms. This service is supported by a diversity of different species.

Valuation of ecosystem The Ecosystem services contribute to economic welfare in two ways – through contributions to the generation of income and wellbeing and through the prevention of damages that inflict costs on society. Both types of benefits should be accounted for in policy appraisal. With a broader focus on valuing the benefits provided by ecosystems, policy options that enhance the natural environment are also more likely to be considered that demonstrate that investing in natural capital can make economic sense. The popular way of valuing ecosystem services is an impact pathway approach, which is presented below (Figure 2.) In an impact pathway approach, the impacts on an ecosystem due to the change in policy are observed. Following this there may be changes in ecosystem services which impacts on human welfare and by observing this the overall economic value of changes in ecosystem can be done. In brief, the key steps involve; • Establishing the environmental baseline. • Identifying and providing qualitative assessment of the potential impacts of policy options on ecosystem services. • Quantifying the impacts of policy options on specific ecosystem services. • Assessing the effects on human welfare. • Valuing the changes in ecosystem services. All these steps ensure a more systematic approach to accounting for impacts on ecosystems. Even though, there is considerable complexity in understanding and assessing the causal links between a policy, its effects on ecosystems and related services and then valuing the effects in economic

Fig.1 Ecosystem Services. Source: unep.org

Fig.2 Impact pathway approach Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M

Fig.3 Total economic value framework terms. Integrated working with policy, science and economics disciplines will be essential in implementing this approach in practice.

b) Altruistic value: where individuals attach values to the availability of the ecosystem resource to others in the current generation.

A range of methodologies are available to value changes in ecosystem services which are considered in a Total Economic Value framework that takes into account both the use and non-use values. The total economic value framework (Figure 3.) is presented below;

c) Existence value: derived from the existence of an ecosystem resource, even though an individual has no actual or planned use of it.

The Total Economic Value (TEV) comprises use and non-use values. TEV refers to the total gain in wellbeing from a policy measured by the net sum of the willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to accept (WTA). The value that we are trying to capture for the purposes of appraisal is the total value of a marginal change in the underlying ecosystem services. Use value includes direct use, indirect use and option value. Direct use value is in which individuals make actual or planned use of an ecosystem service. This can be in the form of consumptive use which refers to the use of resources extracted from the ecosystem (e.g. food, timber) and non-consumptive use, which is the use of the services without extracting any elements from the ecosystem (e.g. recreation, landscape amenity). Indirect use value is in which individuals benefit from ecosystem services supported by a resource rather than directly using it. These ecosystem services are often not noticed by people until they are damaged or lost, yet they are very important. These services include key global life-support functions, such as the regulation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans, and climate regulation, water regulation, pollution filtering, waste decomposition and pollination. Option value is that in which people place on having the option to use a resource in the future even if they are not current users. Nonuse value (also known as passive use) is derived simply from the knowledge that the natural environment is maintained. There are three main components: a)Bequest value: where individuals attach value from the fact that the ecosystem resource will be passed on to future generations.


Economic valuation methods The type of valuation technique chosen will depend on the type of ecosystem service to be valued, as well as the quantity and quality of data available. Some valuation methods may be more suited to capturing the values of particular ecosystem services than others. The choice of valuation methods for different ecosystem services (Figure 4.) can be picturised as follows;

Fig 4. Economic valuation methods The details of the various economic valuation methods are as follows; 1. Market prices: This method is used for valuing items like timber, fish, genetic information etc which contributes to marketed products. The readily available market data can be pointed out as the benefit of this method. But the method is limited to those ecosystem services for which a market exists.


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Economic Valuation of marine ecosystem services: methodological issues and challenges 2. Cost-based approach: The usage of this method depends on the existence of relevant markets for the ecosystem service in question. The benefit of the method is the readily available market data whereas there is a possibility of the overestimation of the actual value too. 3. Production function approach: The environmental services that serve as input to market products are valued under these methods. For eg, effects of air or water quality on agricultural products. The easily available market data can be taken as a benefit. The intensive data and data changes in services and missing of the impact on production can be considered as the limitation of the approach. 4. Hedonic pricing: Ecosystem services that contribute to air quality, visual amenity, landscape, quiet i.e. attributes that can be appreciated by potential buyers can be valued under this method. It is based on market data, so relatively robust figures. Even though, the method is very data-intensive and is limited mainly to services related to property. 5. Travel cost: All ecosystem services that contribute to recreational activities are valued under this method. The method is based on observed behavior. The method is generally limited to recreational benefits. Difficulties in valuation arise when trips are made to multiple destinations. 6. Random utility: All ecosystem services that contribute to recreational activities are valued under this method. The method is based on observed behavior. The method is generally limited to use values. 7. Contingent valuation: All ecosystem services are valued by this method. The benefits of the approach are that it is able to capture use and non-use values. The limitation of the method is that there may be bias in responses. Moreover it is a resources-intensive method and also the market is of a hypothetical nature. 8. Choice modeling: All ecosystem services are valued by this method and it is able to capture use and non-use values. The limitation of the method is that there may be bias in responses. Moreover it is a resources-intensive method and also the market is of a hypothetical nature. The steps involved in an economic valuation are depicted in the flow chart below (Figure 5.)

Hypothetical case study : Mangrove ecosystem This study attempts at projecting the ecosystem value by employing economic tools. Since the mangroves offer multiple ecosystem services, it is impossible to evaluate all the services with one single tool. Thus identifying the appropriate tool for individual services is necessary. The major ecosystem

Fig.5 Economic valuation flowchart services include disaster risk reduction, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, livelihood sustenance and food security, and recreation. Of the very many unique features of the coastal ecosystem, the mangroves play a significant role. Mangroves are salttolerant plants of tropical and subtropical intertidal regions of the world. The specific regions where these plants occur are termed as ‘mangrove ecosystem’. These are highly productive but extremely sensitive and fragile. Besides mangroves, the ecosystem also harbours other plant and animal species. The distribution of mangrove ecosystem on Indian coastlines indicates that the Sundarban mangroves occupy very large area followed by Andaman-Nicobar Islands and Gulf of Kachh in Gujarat. Rest of the mangrove ecosystems is comparatively smaller. Over 1600 plant and 3700 animal species have been identified from these areas. Mangroves act as a barrier against cyclonic storms, protecting the land behind. They also act as a buffer against floods, preventing soil erosion. Mangroves trap fine sediments that are carried into the coastal zone by floodwaters, and there is a significant net export of nutrients from the mangroves into the coastal zone, which acts as a source of enrichment for the marine environment. Mangroves prevent inorganic nutrients being sunk in the sea through swift flowing terrestrial runoff and synthesise organic matter absorbing the inorganic nutrients. Hence various inorganic nutrients from the terrestrial runoff are recycled within the mangrove environment. They are breeding, feeding and nursery grounds for many estuarine and marine organisms. Hence, these areas are used for captive and culture fisheries. The ecosystem has a very large unexplored potential for natural products useful for medicinal purposes and also for salt production, apiculture, fuel and fodder, etc. Leaf litter production by mangrove plants contributes largely to the organic matter available to the ecosystem. Thus the terrestrial


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Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M and aquatic components of mangrove ecosystem contribute to each other enabling high productivity of the ecosystem. Due to their productive nature, they serve as nurseries for prawns, crabs, lobsters, and various fishes such as mullet. Mangroves also shelter a number of endangered animals such as crocodile, turtle and pelican. Mangroves offer a variety of commercial utilities in the form of wood for timber and fuel, fodder for cattle and with substances of commercial value such as lignin, tannin, etc. It is scenic and an excellent place for pleasure boating and thus contributes to the tourism industry.

Disaster risk reduction In order to evaluate the Disaster risk reduction service of mangroves such as flood control, storm buffering and sediment retention replacement coast method (RCM) is used. The replacement cost method uses the cost of replacing an ecosystem or its services as an estimate of the value of the ecosystem or its services. Studies show that where mangroves are intact they work as an effective buffer against tsunami and that 30 trees per 100m2 in a 100m wide belt may reduce tsunami flow rate by as much as 90% . To get a clearer picture of the study, a Model village with mangrove ecosystem is taken into consideration (Table 1). Say, the village has a population of 300 households, and a mangrove cover of 25 ha. Table 1: Disaster risk reduction potential of mangroves A.

Number of houses

300

B.

Average house price(US$)

8200

C.

Value houses (US$) (A*B)

24.6

D.

Likelihood of any severe weather event in coastline per year

10%

E.

Value shoreline protection (C*D in US$)

246 lakhs

F.

Mangroves in model village

25 ha

G.

Value shoreline protection( US$ / ha / year )

9.84 lakhs USD

Carbon sequestration Due to their high biomass density and productivity mangroves play a significant role in carbon sequestration. According to previous studies mangroves, including associated soil, could sequester approximately 22.8 million metric tons of carbon each year. Covering only 0.1 per cent of the earth’s continental surface, the forest would account for 11 per cent of the total input of terrestrial carbon into the ocean and 10 per cent of the terrestrial dissolved organic carbon exported to the ocean. To evaluate this service, replacement cost method is employed.

Biodiversity Mangroves in their undisturbed state are regarded as a refuge for rich biodiversity. Biodiversity value combines direct, indirect and non-use value and is a valuation of human preference rather than actual value (UNEP/GPA, 2003).This 16 February - 8 March 2015

services can be evaluated by benefit transfer method (BTM). The procedure estimates the value of an ecosystem service by transferring an existing valuation estimate from a similar ecosystem (TEEB, 2010). The following equation is used to evaluate the biodiversity value of mangroves. Value y = Value x (PPP GNPy /PPP GNPx) Ei Where PPP GNP =Purchasing power parity GNP per capita Ei = Elasticity of values with respect to real income (UNEP/ GPA (2003) assumed Ei =1.00) Ei = 1.00 implies a 1 per cent change in WTP relative to a 1 per cent change in real income.

Tourism/ recreation Tourism has always been a major source of income for any coastal population and since mangroves provide rich biodiversity and an impressive landscape, tourism could represent a reasonable part of the economic value of mangroves. The study recommends applying the Travel Costs Method (TCM) where primary data is available. The basic premise of the travel cost method is that the time and travel cost expenses that people incur to visit a site represent the “price” of access to the site. Thus, peoples’ willingness to pay to visit the site can be estimated based on the number of trips that they make at different travel costs. Step one is to define a set of zones surrounding the site, followed by collection of information on the number of visitors from each zone, and the number of visits made in the last year. The next step is to calculate the visitation rates per 1000 population in each zone and then calculate the average round-trip travel distance and travel time to the site for each zone. Consequently using regression analysis, derive the equation that relates visits per capita to travel costs, with the aid of demand function for visits to the site, using the results of the regression analysis. Finally estimate the total economic benefit of the site to visitors by calculating the consumer surplus, or the area under the demand curve.

Food security & Livelihood sustenance: The most valuable direct use of mangroves is as a breeding and nursery habitat for juvenile fish. To calculate the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for the marine fisheries industry the following formula is applied: Where: CAGR (t0,tn) = [V(tn)/V(t0)] (1/tn - t0) - 1 CAGR = Compounded annual growth rate t0= time 0 tn= time n V (t0) = Fish catch in time 0 V (tn) = Fish catch in time n


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Economic Valuation of marine ecosystem services: methodological issues and challenges Apart from fisheries, which also serves as a tool for food security, the other livelihood opportunities that the mangroves offer is firewood collection, apiculture and aquaculture which can be evaluated using Replacement cost method and market price.

The missing piece of the jigsaw: Social component

• Multidimensional involving all the economic sectors Stp – II • Describe the economics of the livelihoods in terms of subsistence production and cash income. • Quantitative estimates should be made of incomes and any common property resources. Step – III

Most of the ecosystems services and their impact assessment doesn’t take into consideration the Socioeconomic impact assessment which is very vital for the conservation as well as the livelihood of the primary stakeholders. Thereby its mandatory to incorporate the often forgotten social component of the multiple stakeholders involved in the system so as to achieve an unbaised representation of them in the proactive participation of any policy implemenation

The stepwise methodology: Socio economic assessment The social component needs to be included while policy formulation with the following dimensions. The step wise procedural format to assess the socio-economic impact is given below • Probability - How likely is the outcome • Primacy - Is the outcome a direct result of the development or is it an indirect are, part of the clean predictable events flow up from the developmental interventions. • Onset - what point will the outcome occur, immediately or later on? • Duration - Is this a temporary effect or permanent one? • Magnitude - How extension is the outcome? • Distribution - Who will be affected? • Scope - What will be the geographic limits?

Procedural frame work

• Estimate the environmental changes caused by the project on the livelihood • Quantitative estimate on the changing scenario on the stakeholders • Prepare an impact rating for all groups (perhaps on a numerical scale) Step – IV • Assess likely change in the general quality of life of men, women and children in the area affected by the project. • Indicators of quality of life • Human Development Index • Security of life and livelihood of different groups • Extent of social conflict • Health, nutrition case of communication and safety Step – V • Estimate the initial and recurrent costs of any environmental mitigation measures including compensation needed to offset effects the subject project (costs of reselling and retraining fisherman house or those whose land is acquired. Inorder to ascertain the socioeconomic impact on the different stakeholders different econometric models like Contingent valuation methods, hedonic models and travel cost method will be employed. The methods for social impact assessment will include:

• Profiling – Identifying existing condition, providing a base line • Projecting – Predicting likely changes and their effect (eg. By using results from similar areas, extrapolating of trends or creation of scenario • Assessing - Determining the importance of the effects and ways of avoiding or mitigating them • Evaluation - Considering the acceptability of the impact on the society, impediments and viable alternatives.

Steps in social impact assessment will include: Step – I • Identify the main group affected – both inside and outside – special attention to rural poor. • Number of households

• Historical - Collection and assessment of existing information (Census data, vital statistics, previous studies) • Survey methods - sample surveys, opinion leader or Delphi panel surveys • Unobtrusive techniques - monitoring media such as newspaper editorials or call radio shows, o b s e r v i n g behaviour in public places.

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) PRA is a process of gathering and analyzing from and about rural communities in a brief time period (weeks) in which, formal survey and totally non-structured interviewing are done. The PRA technique reveals information on values, opinions, objectives and local knowledge as well as “hard”


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Shyam S Salim, Nivedita Shridhar, Ramees Rahman .M data on social, economic, agricultural and ecological parameters. The noteworthy feature of PRA is that the quality depends largely on the teams, skill and judgment, for which the involvement of the people in the subject area is essential. The advantages of PRA are attributed due to its costeffectiveness in terms of money, time, materials and manpower. It is holistic in nature and will include the opinions and judgments of decision makers, researchers as well as stakeholders.

Methodological framework The below given methodological framework for the coastal ecosystem conservation and evaluation (Figure 6.)is meant to ensure that the stakeholders, ie Environment, resources and resource users have linkages made, with the inclusion of variables such as climate change , anthropogenic as well as natural systems in order to have deliverables in terms of valuation, management systems and communication tools.

Fig.6 Methodological framework for integrated coastal sustenance



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Climate change impacts : Implications on marine resources and resource users Shyam S Salim and Manjusha U Socio Economic Evaluation and Technology Transfer Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Climate change IPCC defines Climate change as “A change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/ or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use”. The warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level. The Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by 0.76° C since 1850. Most of the warming that has occurred over the last 50 years is very likely to have been caused by human activities. In its Fourth Assessment Report projects that, without further action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the global average surface temperature is likely to rise by a further 1.8-4.0°C this century, and by up to 6.4°C in the worst case scenario. Even the lower end of this range would take the temperature increase since pre-industrial times above 2°C – the threshold beyond which irreversible and possibly catastrophic changes become far more likely. The present paper elucidates the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems, fish and fisheries and suggests various vulnerability assessment methods and adaptation options to cope up with climate change.

Climate change and marine ecosystem Marine ecosystems are not in a steady state, but are affected by the environment, which varies on many spatial and temporal scales. Changes in temperature are related to alterations in oceanic circulation patterns that are affected by changes in the direction and speed of the winds that drive ocean currents and mix surface waters with deeper nutrient rich waters (Kennedy et al., 2002). These processes in turn

affect the distribution and abundance of plankton, which are food for small fish. Understanding the importance and the implication of the climate changes on coastal areas may be one of the major issues for this and next centuries. Climate changes may, indeed, impact the nearshore marine ecosystem, as coastal areas are very sensitive to the strength and the variability of the meteorological forcings. An increase of a few degrees in atmospheric temperature will not only raise the temperature of the oceans, but also cause major hydrologic changes affecting the physical and chemical properties of water. These will lead to fish, invertebrate, and plant species changes in marine and estuarine communities (McGinn, 2002). Fishes have evolved physiologically to live within a specific range of environmental variation, and existence outside of that range can be stressful or fatal (Barton et al., 2002). These ranges can coincide for fishes that evolved in similar habitats (Attrill, 2002). Estuarine and coastal regions are extremely productive because they receive inputs from several primary production sources and detrital food webs. Yet, these systems present the biota with a harsh environment, forcing organisms to evolve physiological or behavioral adaptations to cope with wide ranging physical and chemical variables (Horn et al., 1999). Temperature, along with other variables, causes active movement of mobile species to areas encompassing the preferred range of environmental variables, influencing migration patterns (Rose and Leggett, 1988; Murawski, 1993; Soto, 2002). The predicted increase in major climatic events, such as ENSO (Timmermann et al., 1999; IPCC, 2001), may have drastic effects on fish stocks, especially when combined with other factors, such as overfishing (Pauly and Christensen, 1995). It has been suggested that reduced survival, reduced growth


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Shyam S Salim and Manjusha U rate, and diversions of traditional migratory routes can all be caused by ENSO events, exacerbating the effects of intensive harvesting (Miller and Fluharty, 1992). The El Nino phenomenon generates substantial changes in oceanographic and meteorological conditions in the Pacific Ocean, with manifestations impacting the Peruvian coast (Zuta et al., 1976); this has mainly affected pelagic resources, producing alterations in their biological processes, behaviour, and gradual decrease in their population levels (Valdivia, 1976).

a)Sea level rise in the Indian seas: The IPCC (2007) has projected that the global annual seawater temperature and sea level would rise by 0.8 to 2.5° C and 8 to 25 cm, respectively by 2050. At present, 23% of the shoreline along the Indian mainland is affected by sea erosion (Sanil Kumar et al., 2006). The large inflow of freshwater into the seas around India due to rainfall over the ocean and runoff from rivers, forces large changes in sea level especially along the coasts of Bay of Bengal. During June-October, the inflow of freshwater from the Ganges and Brahmaputra into the northern Bay Bengal is about 7.2×1011m3 , the fourth largest discharge in the world (Shankar, 2000). Increase in sea level, in addition to causing threats to human lives, will pose problems on freshwater availability due to intrusion of seawater and salinisation of groundwater. This would also result in loss of agricultural land. A rise in sea level is likely to have significant impact on the agriculture performance in India. A one metre sea level rise is projected to displace approximately 7.1 million people in India and about 5,764 km2 of land area will be lost, along with 4,200 km of coastal roads (Ministry of Environment and Forests, 2004). Approximately 30% of India’s coastal zones will be subjected to inundation risk with sea level rise and intensified storm surges (Dasgupta et al., 2009). The sea level rise for Cochin (southwest coast) is estimated as 2 cm in the last one century The sea level would rise by 8 to 25 cm (Emery and Aubrey, 1989; Das and Radhakrishna, 1993). But the rate of increase is accelerating. It may rise at the rate of 5 mm per year in decades to come. This will accelerate erosion and increase the risk of flooding (Nicholls et al., 1999). However, the rate of increase is accelerating, and it is projected that it may rise at the rate of 5 mm per year in the coming decades. Considering this, it is possible that the sea level may rise by 25 to 30 cm in 50 years (Dinesh Kumar, 2000). An increase in mean sea level will affect waves, currents and bottom pressure in the near shore region. In general, an increase in mean water depth will be accompanied by an increase in mean wave height, resulting in a more severe wave attack on the coast and a greater wave induced littoral drift. The erosion due to sea level rise for Kerala is estimated as 7125 m3 per year, implying an erosion rate of -- 0.3 x 106 m3 per year, which could be attributed to the effects of wave attack. 16 February - 8 March 2015

Using the extreme conditions of wave height and sea level rise, future erosion potential is expected to increase by 15.3% by the year 2100 (Dinesh Kumar, 2000). According to Unnikrishnan and Shankar(2007)sea-level-rise estimates for the Indian coast are between 1.06–1.75 mm yr− 1, with a regional average of 1.29 mm yr− 1, when corrected for GIA using model data. These estimates are consistent with the 1–2 mm yr− 1 global sea-levelrise estimates reported by the IPCC. The study also showed a large trend of 5.74 mm/ year for the record at Diamond Harbour (Kolkata), which is attributed partly to the subsidence of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Model-based projections of global average sea level rise at the end of the 21st century (2090–2099) made for a number of climate scenarios indicate that the sea level may rise from a minimum of 0.18 m minimum to a maximum of 0.59 m. In the absence of availability of regional projections, global projections can be used as a first approximation of sealevel rise along the Indian coasts in the next few decades as well as towards the end of the 21st century. The east coast is considered more vulnerable due to its flat terrain and the numerous deltas. Shetye et al. 1990 analysed the vulnerability of regions surrounding Nagapattinam, Kochi and Paradip for a one metre rise in sea level. The estimate shows that the inundation area will be about 4.2 km2 for a 1.0 m rise in sea level in the region surrounding Nagapattinam. But for the same sea-level rise projections, about 169 km2 of the coastal region surrounding Kochi will be inundated and in the case of Paradip, 478 km2 may be inundated. Thus areas with large number of creeks and backwaters are likely to be at a higher risk of inundation. Dineshkumar,2001 studied on the variations in monthly mean sea level at Cochin, southwest coast of India, over a period of 50 years (1949-1998). Analysis showed that there are strong seasonal variations in the monthly mean sea level. Contrary to expectation, sea level values were found to be the lowest during the south west monsoon months, though this is the period of maximum discharge from rivers which debouch in the region. This is explained in relation to the geographic setting and associated upwelling in the region. It is also indicated that large fluctuations due to weather conditions do tend to balance through the years, and the periodic seasonal changes are mostly eliminated when annual averages are calculated. Sanil Kumar et al., 2011 studied the characteristics of tidal constituents along the near-shore waters of Karnataka, west coast of India. Analysis spectacles that astronomical tides are responsible for most of the observed sea level variability along the Karnataka coast. 97% of the variation in measured sea level at Honnavar and Malpe and 96% of the sea level variation at Kundapur was due to tide. The observed nontidal sea levels were related to local wind forcing. The study shows that when the wind from south was strong, a rise in sea


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Climate change impacts : Implications on marine resources and resource users level was observed and when the wind from the north was strong, a fall in sea level was observed. Correlation between alongshore component of wind and non-tidal sea level was 0.54 at Malpe and 0.48 at Honnavar. The non-tidal sea level variation was found to vary according to the significant wave height. High residuals of sea level were found during high waves. Amplification of shallow water constituents were relatively high compared to other constituents from south to north along the study area.

b) Sea Surface Temperature Prasanna Kumar et al (2009) examined the signature of global warming using various datasets for the Arabian Sea region and found that the disruption in the natural decadal cycle of SST after 1995 was a manifestation of regional climate-shift. They propose that upwelling driven cooling was maintained till 1995 despite oceanic thermal inertia and increasing CO2 concentrations but this system broke down after 1995 though it is not known yet how long this process will continue. Vivekanandan et al. (2009a) found warming of the sea surface along the entire Indian coast. The SST increased by 0.2°C along the northwest, southwest and northeast coasts and by 0.3°C along the southeast coast during the 45-year period from 1960 to 2005. The team has predicted that the annual average SST in the Indian seas would increase by 2.0°C to 3.5°C by 2099. Upwelling in the waters of the southwest coast of India is restricted to 5 to 15°N, and the variability in physical parameters is manifested in the chlorophyll intensity (Smitha et al., 2008). Remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean-colour images reveal eddies and fronts. These features frequently coincide with areas where fish species aggregate as a result of enhanced primary productivity and phytoplankton biomass, which in turn is linked with increased nutrient supply. Since, higher plant biomass is associated with zooplankton abundance, this could provide supplementary information on fish stock distribution from ocean-colour pigment fields.

Climate change and fisheries Climate change will affect individuals, populations and communities through the individuals’ physiological and behavioral responses to environmental changes (Boesch and Turner, 1984). Extremes in environmental factors, such as elevated water temperature, low dissolved oxygen or salinity, and pH, can have deleterious effects on fishes (Moyle and Cech, 2004). Suboptimal environmental conditions can decrease foraging, growth, and fecundity, alters metamorphosis, and affects endocrine homeostasis and migratory behavior (Barton and Barton, 1987; Donaldson, 1990; Portner et al., 2001). These organismal changes directly influence population and community structure by their associated effects on performance, patterns of resource use, and survival (Ruiz et al., 1993; Wainwright, 1994). Particularly in northern high latitudes, large annual fluctuations in water temperature and sea ice cover can

have dramatic effects on the distribution and abundance of fish populations (Murawski, 1993; Nye et al., 2009). Fish stocks may compensate for annual temperature variations by changing location to maintain a desired temperature range (e.g. Mountain and Murawski, 1992; Overholtz et al., 2011). Sixtyeight percent of the total production of fish, crustaceans, and molluscs come from capture fisheries most fishing depends on wild populations which may also be highly migratory (Allison et al, 2005). Fish populations have been adapting to oceanic phenomena over evolutionary time scales, so that their survival rate should be high during an ordinary period. The episodic changes in climate/environments, however, result in changes in a population’s survival, and in changes in productivity and species composition. Recruitment failure of fish populations caused by high mortality during the early life stages is detrimental in maintaining healthy stock conditions. Most hypotheses on recruitment processes are closely related to the plankton-based ecosystem, which largely depends upon oceanic variability (Cole and McGlade 1998). In order to delineate the effect of ecological interaction among fisheries resources, time-series data on production of fisheries resources and observation on the environment are required. The new paradigm of ecosystem response to environmental variability has become the main theme in marine ecology and fishery science. This type of research provides the understanding of cause and effect mechanisms, as well as prediction capabilities for fisheries recruitment related to climate changes. These in turn could eventually be used to establish appropriate fisheries resource management procedures (Kim et al. 2006; Kim and Lo, 2001). Climate change may have a wide range of possible effects on ocean currents and processes that can affect fish resources (Everett 1996). Ocean fronts and eddies, that are determined by large scale and mesoscale current patterns, are the habitat and migratory pathways of oceanic pelagic fishes (Parin 1968, Olson and Podesta 1987). Changes in the location and/or strength of these oceanic features may affect the abundance of these fishes. However, changes in availability to the local fishing fleet are more likely to occur than are large scale changes in abundance. Climate affects the distribution and abundance of species in ecosystems around the world. In the face of rising temperatures, the ocean may experience variations in circulation, water temperature, ice cover, and sea level (McCarthy et al., 2001). Climate-driven fluctuations in regional temperature can further affect growth, maturity, spawning time, egg viability, food availability, mortality, and spatial distribution of marine organisms (Ottersen et al., 2001; Perry et al., 2005; Nye et al., 2009). Also affected by climate change are the size and timing of plankton blooms, a major driver of marine ecosystem function with a direct impact on recruitment success and population sizes (Walther et al., 2002; Fischlin et al., 2007).


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Shyam S Salim and Manjusha U Kawasaki (1991) observed that three sardine populations in the Pacific Ocean and the European pilchard in the North Atlantic have undergone long-term coincident change in their abundance like the Pacific and Atlantic herrings with a phase different from that of the sardine populations. He also observed a high positive correlation between trends in abundance of the sardine populations and a secular change in anomaly of the global mean surface temperature. He concluded, “We are perhaps now standing at a turning point for the structural change in the pelagic fish community in the world ocean which may be caused by a global climatic change”. Marine pelagic systems are susceptible to climate change through extreme events and the contraction or expansion of oceanic zones. For example, sea temperature changes driven by variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) have been linked to fluctuations in cod (Gadus morhua) recruitment and habitat shifts off Labrador and Newfoundland (Rose et al., 2000). Fisheries form one of the means of sustenance for the coastal rural population in India [Thomson, 2009]. In India, about 12.5 lakh people are involved in active fishing in India while the postharvest sector including export and domestic marketing employs about 15 lakh and in tertiary sector there are around 2 lakh people. Among these, 71 percent of active fishers, 50 percent of secondary sector workers and 42 percent in the tertiary sector are inhabitants of coastalfishing villages. In the secondary sector, around 30 percent are women workers of which 81 percent are residents of fishing villages in the coastal belt (Sathiadas et al., 2009). The major share of fish landing in India comes from the west coast. The striking feature of the Malabar upwelling zone is the predominance of pelagic resources such as oilsardine (Sardinella longiceps) and Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), which support the western Indian Ocean’s largest coastal pelagic fishery (Vivekanandan et al., 2005). Though this upwelling is less in intensity when compared to the other upwelling regions of the Arabian Sea (like those at Somalia and Oman), it has profound impact on the coastal fisheries of India. While the west coast of India accounts for 70% fish yield of the total Arabian Sea production (Luis and Kawamura 2004), the south-west coast alone accounts for 53% (Vivekanandan et al., 2009a). Historically, the fishery for these small pelagics has shown wide fluctuations (Krishnakumar and Bhat, 2008). In the last 100 years, there have been several periods of relatively high abundance, and several major population crashes of oilsardine (Krishnakumar et al., 2008). Ocean colour patterns were useful in differentiating the relevance of food over other environmental factors like temperature in fish aggregation, offering better information regarding the location of Albacore tuna [Laurs et al., 1984]. 16 February - 8 March 2015

It was originally assumed that tuna prefers to reside within certain limited temperature ranges, which explains their tendency to aggregate at temperature fronts. In instances where colour and SST fronts were spatially separated, they found that tuna actually tend to aggregate on the clear side of a colour front. Ocean-colour pigments are relevant in detecting a bloom. Fragmented observations in the waters of the southwest coast of India hypothesized two seasonal blooms: (i) upwelling blooms in May-June coinciding with the arrival of pre-spawning adults and (ii) winter blooms in September-October coinciding with the main fishery for juveniles [Bensam, 1964]. For sardines, a planktivorous species, the amount of food ingested depends on chlorophyll concentration as well as copepods present in the ambient waters; better availability of food is expected in chlorophyllrich waters. In the present study, variability in chlorophyll along the waters of the southwest coast of India had been quantified from satellite data and related to annual variability in the sardine landings. The synoptic scale spatial and temporal changes in chlorophyll-a are useful in explaining the appearance and disappearance of sardine shoals along the coastal waters. Similar to SST, the capability of satellite remote sensing in providing global coverage snapshot has been an advantage to the measurement of Chl-a in the marine environment. In marine remote sensing, Chl-a has been used a proxy to the existence of phytoplankton. Butler et al. (1972) reported that the Chl-a above 0.2 mg/l indicate the presence of sufficient fish food to sustain a viable commercial fishery. In general term, chlorophyll-a can be described as a vital pigment for photosynthesis in phytoplankton. Many researchers have tried to predict the availability of small pelagics in general, and oilsardine in particular, from the relationship between catches and climatic as well as oceanographic features such as seawater temperature, salinity, rainfall, upwelling and chlorophyll concentration along the south-west coast of India (Banse, 1959; Longhurst and Wooster, 1990; Madhupratap et al., 1994; Yohannan and Abdulrahiman, 1998; Jayaprakash, 2002; Xu and Boyce, 2009). There are various physical (driven by winds, tides and currents) and biological processes controlling the fisheries in an ecosystem [Dickey, 1990]. Seasonally changing monsoon is the major physical forcing which controls the biological abundance and fisheries along the west coast of India. There are excellent reports from this region not only on the variability of monsoon winds but also on their oceanographic and biological consequences in relationship to fisheries [Longhurst andWooster, 1990]. However, these seasonal changes in monsoon, reflecting in the abundance on fish, were not examined as a trophic response to the reproductive cycle of fishes [Madhupratap et al., 1994]. This suspected trophic link for sardine fisheries forms part of the present study


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Climate change impacts : Implications on marine resources and resource users by exploring the remotely sensed chlorophyll as a putative trophic link to explain the survival of sardine larvae, their migration and aggregation pattern. The abundant Indian oil sardine along the west coast of India have strong interannual variability and their arrival and departure along the coastal waters coincides with the upwelling bloom [Grinson George et al., 2011]. Sardines perform a normal migration from offshore to coastal waters and vice-versa coinciding with the customary wind conditions [Hornell, 1910b]. A gradual increase in temperature within the range of 26 to 28°C is favourable for the inshore migration of the juveniles, and during March to May they disappear to deeper waters due to increasing temperature (above 29°C) [Chidambaram, 1950]. The specific gravity of water (above 1.023) also promotes the disappearance of the shoals during the above period. The shoreward migration of spawners during SW monsoon season and their outward migration to deeper waters during postmonsoon months is for feeding [Nair, 1959] on phytoplankton that blooms up during the onset of monsoon and continues till post monsoon [Hornell and Nayadu, 1924b; Hornell, 1910b; Chidambaram, 1950; Nair, 1953]. The longitudinal migration either way is an excursion from offshore to inshore waters and vice-versa due to availability of food and favourable hydrographic conditions [Devanesan, 1943b]. The shoals start disappearing from the northern region first, and then from the southern Malabar area. From April to September, the shoals of spawners and juveniles migrate from offshore to inshore all along the west coast following the onset of bloom [Raja, 1943]. This observation suggests a northward migration of sardines steadily during SW monsoon season and retrogression from north to south in the NE monsoon season [Hornell, 1910a; Chidambaram, 1950; Panikkar, 1952].Lack of continuous seasonal information to characterize synoptic scale variability in chlorophyll concentration of the region was an impediment to verifying the food availability between different years and to explain the interannual variability in sardine landings. Also, it was not feasible to study the spatial and temporal variations in chlorophyll concentration in these areas because of nonavailability of in situ data. With the advent of remote sensing, however, this was possible with ocean-colour data. Platt et al. [2003] applied remotely sensed ocean-colour data as direct evidence for a putative trophic link, and suggested it as an important link in future analysis of dwindling fish stocks. Time series of phytoplankton cycle derived from satellite data can be used to construct a variety of ecological indicators of the pelagic system useful in ecosystem-based management [Platt et al., 2009]. Murty and Edelman (1970) investigated the relationship between the intensity of the southwest monsoon and the oil sardine fishery. They contended that the field of pressure would reflect the monsoon intensity to the utmost degree of accuracy than the amount of rainfall. The pressure gradients at the surface during the monsoon, according to them are

better indicators of monsoon intensities for the different years. Their analysis also revealed that there was a critical value of monsoon intensity above which the catches improve with increasing monsoon activity. They also offered an explanation to this characteristic influence of the monsoon. Longhurst and Wooster (1990) gave a detailed account of oil sardine fishery and the literature related to the effect of fishery independent factors on the oil sardine catch variability. They observed that oil sardine landings data clearly indicated decadal trends. According to them the cyclic pattern of oil sardine probably reflected density dependence rather than response to fishing. While explaining the environmental variables which could have caused the variations in the oil sardine landings they have established a relationship of variations in the mean sea level with fluctuations in the abundance. According to them oil sardine fishery mainly comprised of 0-year class only. Thus fluctuations in the landings could be ascribed to recruitment variability. The success or failure of the recruitment in pelagic stock by and large is governed by the environmental factors, the air sea interactions and the ocean dynamics. They also have reported that the success in recruitment of oil sardine fishery is very much dependent on the intensity of upwelling (derived from sea level) along the south-west coast of India Kumaran et al. (1992) observed that even though the rainfall and oil sardine landings at Calicut during different seasons did not show any direct relationship, the oil sardine landings were better two or three months after fairly heavy rains. The analysis of oil sardine landings and rainfall data at Cochin showed that fairly good rain during the monsoon probably had some positive impact on the abundance of juvenile oil sardine during the succeeding post-monsoon months. They inferred that the reduced rainfall intensity might have an adverse impact on the shoal formation at the surface. Antony Raja (1969) had also studied the effect of monsoon on the spawning success and the fishery. Madhupratap et al. (1994) questioned the validity of the precision of the data of the earlier period and also the observed relationship. They also stressed the importance of impact of climatic and other ocean related parameters on the oil sardine stock.Murty (1965) envisaged the possibility of evolving a prediction system for forecasting the trend of pelagic fisheries of the west coast based on their relationship with the coastal current patterns. He also observed that changes in oil sardine landings seemed to be related to the long-term changes in the wind drifts. Manjusha et al (2013), studied the impact of the interannual changes of upwelling on the small pelagics of Kerala, the average chlorophyll a concentrations were compared with the fishery. The catch of small pelagics, especially that of the oilsardine in the Malabar upwelling zone off Kerala, India. The coastal upwelling index (CUI) during south-west monsoon increased by nearly 50% during the period 1998 to 2007. This substantial increase in coastal upwelling index elevated


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Shyam S Salim and Manjusha U chlorophyll a concentration during monsoon which resulted in an increase of over 200% in annual average chlorophyll a concentration. The increasing coastal upwelling index and chlorophyll a during monsoon sustained an increasing catch of oilsardine during postmonsoon season. The responses of lesser sardine and Indian mackerel, which are midlevel carnivores, were different. The population increases of the oil sardine appear to replace decreases in the lesser sardines and Indian mackerel during the postmonsoon season. Madhupratap et al (2001) addressed the seasonal and spatial variability of the processes controlling the physical, chemical and biological properties of the waters of the west coast of India for the year period 1992-1997, their influence on fish composition, changes in feeding habits between south and north, and speculated on the productivity and its relation to fisheries in the Arabian Sea was studied.A correlation between available environmental datasets (SST, sea bottom temperature, surface salinity, surface dissolved oxygen, bottom dissolved oxygen, pH, nutrients, chlorophyll, zooplankton, rainfall, multivariate El Nino Southern Oscillation index, coastal upwelling index, and derived SST) and sardine catch from the study area vividly segregate the significance of chlorophyll from other environmental factors in explaining the sardine catch from the Malabar upwelling area (Krishnakumar and Bhat, 2008). Studies on the impact of climate change on fisheries (fish species, stock distribution etc) have been carried out mainly by the CMFRI, Kochi. Investigations carried out by the CMFRI show that different Indian marine species will respond to climate change as follows: (i) Changes in species composition of phytoplankton may occur at higher temperature; (ii) Small pelagics may extend their boundaries; (iii) Some species may be found in deeper waters as well; and (iv) Phenological changes may occur. a) Indian mackerel is getting deeper: Besides exploring northern waters, the Indian mackerel R. kanagurta has been descending deeper as well during the last two decades (CMFRI, 2008). The fish normally occupies surface and subsurface waters. During 1985-89, only 2 percent of the mackerel catch was from bottom trawlers, the remainder was caught by pelagic gear such as drift gillnet. During 2003-2007, however, an estimated 15 percent of the mackerel has been caught by bottom trawlers along the Indian coast. It appears that with the warming of sub-surface waters, the mackerel has been extending deeper and downward as well. b) Small pelagics extend their boundaries: The oil sardine Sardinella longiceps and the Indian mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta accounted for 21 percent of the marine fish catch in 2006. These small pelagics, especially the oil sardine, have been known for restricted distribution – between latitude 8°N and 14°N and longitude 75°E and 77°E (Malabar upwelling zone along the southwest coast of India) where the annual average SST ranges from 27 16 February - 8 March 2015

to 29°C. Until 1985, almost the entire catch was from the Malabar upwelling zone, there was little or no catch from latitudes north of 14°N. During the last two decades, however, catches from latitude 14°N - 20°N are increasing. In 2006, catches in this area accounted for about 15 percent of the all-India oil sardine catch. The higher the SST, the better the oil sardine catch (Vivekanandan et al., 2009a). The surface waters of the Indian seas are warming by 0.04°C per decade. Since the waters in latitudes north of 14°N are warming, the oil sardine and Indian mackerel are moving to northern latitudes. It is seen that catches from the Malabar upwelling zone have not gone down. Inference: The sardines are extending northward, not shifting northward. The Indian mackerel is also found to be extending northward in a similar way. According to CMFRI, the catch of oil sardines along the coast of Tamil Nadu has gone up dramatically, with a record landing of 185 877 tonnes in 2006. The presence of the species in new areas is a bonus for coastal fishing communities. Assessing their socio-economic needs will greatly help in developing coping strategies for adaptation to climate impacts. WWF is currently documenting community perceptions and experiences in relation to the oil sardine fishery of the eastern coasts. c) Spawning: threadfin breams like it cool: Fish have strong temperature preferences so far as spawning goes. The timing of spawning, an annually occurring event, is an important indicator of climate change. Shifts in the spawning season of fish are now evident in the Indian seas. The threadfin breams Nemipterus japonicus and N. mesoprion are distributed along the entire Indian coast at depths ranging from 10 to 100 m. They are short-lived (longevity: about 3 years), fast growing, highly fecund and medium-sized fishes (maximum length: 35 cm). Data on the number of female spawners collected every month off Chennai from 1981 to 2004 indicated wide monthly fluctuations. However, a shift in the spawning season from warmer to relatively cooler months (from April- September to October-March) was discernible (Vivekanandan and Rajagopalan, 2009). These changes may have an impact on the nature and value of fisheries (Perry et al., 2005). If small-sized, low value fish species with rapid turnover of generations are able to cope up with changing climate, they may replace large-sized high value species, which are already declining due to fishing and other non-climatic factors (Vivekanandan et al., 2005). Such distributional changes might lead to novel mixes of organisms in a region, leaving species to adjust to new prey, predators, parasites, diseases and competitors (Kennedy et al., 2002), and result in considerable changes in ecosystem structure and function. d) Vulnerability of corals: In the Indian seas, coral reefs are found in the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kachchh, Palk Bay, Andaman Sea and Lakshadweep Sea. Indian coral reefs have experienced 29 widespread bleaching events since 1989 and intense bleaching occurred in 1998 and 2002


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Climate change impacts : Implications on marine resources and resource users when the SST was higher than the usual summer maxima. By using the relationship between past temperatures and bleaching events and the predicted SST for another 100 years, Vivekanandan et al. (2009b) projected the vulnerability of corals in the Indian Seas. They believe that the coral cover of reefs may soon start declining. The number of decadal low bleaching events will remain between 0 and 3 during 2000-2089, but the number of decadal catastrophic events will increase from 0 during 2000-2009 to 8 during 2080-2089. Given the implication that reefs will not be able to sustain catastrophic events more than three times a decade, reef building corals are likely to disappear as dominant organisms on coral reefs between 2020 and 2040. Reefs are likely to become remnant between 2030 and 2040 in the Lakshadweep sea and between 2050 and 2060 in other regions in the Indian seas. These projections take into consideration only the warming of seawater. Other factors such as increasing acidity of seawater are not considered. If acidification continues in future as it does now, all coral reefs would be dead within 50 years. Given their central importance in the marine ecosystem, the loss of coral reefs is likely to have several ramifications.

Climate change and fishers In general fisher communities are emotionally attached to their living environment as their livelihood is heavily dependent on sea .The impact of climate change in marine resource users includes, displacement of family members, food security issues, Migration of fisherfolk, fall in income level, seasonal employment, change in employment pattern, increased fishing cost, reduction of fishing days etc. a) Demography and Social standards: Displacement of family members increased over the years, the young generation has a tendency to move out of fishing, Food security issues increased rapidly in recent years. Disguised unemployment is rampant in all sectors since earnings from marine fisheries are not proportionate to the increase in fishers. This has instigated labour migration induced by the earning potential in the distant waters coupled with limited resources in their vicinity. b) Infrastructure sensitivity: Increased frequency and severity of storms or weather, and sea conditions are , unsuitable to fishing as well as damaging to communities on shore through flooding, erosion, and storm damage. There is proximity to hazard areas the fisher household are highly prone to disaster dwellings and the property loss increased over the years. c) Income Effect: The income levels of fishers decreased substantially over the years. The employment pattern has been mostly seasonal, and alternate avocation options are minimal, there is also economic loss due to loss in number of fishing days. Changed fishing ground caused increased cost of fishing and fish storage. The fuel cost, the cost of fishing gear and boat are increasing

significantly over the years.

Climate change and displacement

Fig1. Ecological, direct and socioeconomic impacts of climate change on fisheries The international community now increasingly recognizes that environmental degradation and climate change could potentially result in population displacement on a scale the world is presently ill-equipped to prevent or address in an effective manner. Gradual processes of degradation as well as extreme environmental events can cause migration. Environmental migrants are understood to be those individuals, communities and societies who choose, or are forced, to migrate as a result of damaging environmental and climatic factors. This broad and diverse group ranges from people forced to flee disasters such as flooding to impoverished farmers abandoning degraded land and migrating to urban centres in search of alternative livelihoods. Poverty, failing ecosystems, vulnerability to natural hazards and gradual climate-driven environmental changes are all linked to environmental migration. The degradation of ecosystems, and/or all evidence points towards climate- and environmentally induced migration becoming one of the major policy challenges of this century. Adequate planning for and management of this phenomenon will be critical for human security. Human security policy challenges demand for resources in excess of available supply, can lead to chronic poverty and hunger, high levels of communicable diseases, conflict and adaptation, or to coping strategies that include temporary or permanent migration. While natural hazards such as hurricanes and floods can affect entire nations or regions, the most dramatic impacts typically fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable (in terms of location and socio-economic status). In addition, when natural hazards abruptly destroy livelihoods, return, recovery and reintegration are not always possible (http:// www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR31/FMR31.pdf).


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Climate Change and Coastal Communities –Need for awareness Coasts are experiencing the adverse consequences of hazards related to climate and sea level, extreme events, such as storms, which impose substantial costs on coastal societies. The coastal regions around globe are more prone to the impacts of climate change than the inlands, fishing being one of the primary occupations of the coast, the fishermen community is the most vulnerable group to be affected by the Climate change. Adaptation for the coasts of developing countries will be more challenging than for coasts of developed countries, due to constraints on adaptive capacity. Climate change has the potential to affect all natural systems thereby becoming a threat to human development and survival socially, politically and economically. Beyond basic findings about levels of concern, awareness and belief in human impact on the climate, some recent studies have attempted to delve deeper into public attitudes about climate change. Furthermore, awareness on climate change is a prerequisite to kick start any adaption and mitigation plans and programs in any community. In addition, it is quiet relevant to take advantage of the key informants within the community to disseminate the need for long term and short term adaptation and mitigation options to combat the climate change impacts and thereby making the community more resilient to climate change issues.

Community change

Perception

on

climate

A study was carried out assess the level of awareness of vulnerable fishing communities of Ernakulam district of Kerala, about climate change and to identify the level of adaptation and mitigation strategies available and adopted by them. This was done by carrying out Vulnerability assessments- by employing vulnerability indices and preparing awareness schedules. Across the villages it was found that 98% of the respondents have heard about climate change at a time or the other but however it was found that awareness about climate change was less than 40 percent. There is discrepancy between hearing and awareness about climate change stems from the fact that hearing means it is only superficial knowledge about climate change. The major sources of information about hearing climate change could be different media, friends, relatives etc but awareness involve an in depth understanding about climate change which indicate that the people know the causes , impacts, consequences, the society need and commitment towards its preparedness, adaptation measures etc

72 percent of the respondents strongly believed that climate change is due to the aftermath of industrialization which can be attributed to urbanization, habitat destruction, pollution and transportation, which they held as equally important sources of causes of climate change. Respondents’ perception on the major impact of climate change on resources including catch reduction, increased efforts in fishing, migration of fishes, varied catch composition, shift in spawning seasons, temporal shift in the species availability, loss in craft and gear, occurrence of invasive species, alterations in fishing seasons, depletion of farm and inventories, nonavailability of regular species etc. In the context of the study, resources indicate the fisheries sector and allied activities and the inventories involved. Climate change in every fisherman has a feeling that the fish catch has abridged. Fisher households are dependent on coastal and marine goods and services to a great extent, which serve as an important indicator as to how sensitive they could be in relation to climate events. There is a close association between climate change issues affecting the fishery resources and resource users. Respondents’ perception on major impacts of climate change on resource users include displacement of family members, increase in food security issues, migration of people, substantial reduction in income, seasonality in employment, shift in employment pattern, increased cost of fishing, reduction in fishing days, shift in agriculture crops. The knowledge on climate change among the respondents of both these villages was very shallow and pertained to short term happenings. Awareness on climate change is a

Fig2. Perception of climate change impact on resources

The perception of the visible features consequent to climate change is the extent of their agreement to the variables such as Sea level rise, Temperature increase, Change in wind pattern, Extreme weather events, Sea water intrusion, Water scarcity, Property loss, Erratic weather, Diseases etc affected them. Fig3. Perception of climate change on resource users 16 February - 8 March 2015


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Climate change impacts : Implications on marine resources and resource users prerequisite to initiate steps in combating negative impacts of climate change. Though changing climatic condition is a global concern, the possible mitigation options for improving adaptive capacity needs to be local. An integrated approach comprises of actions for addressing long term and short term concerns of the community, through grass root level actions which would have to be initiated in materializing local solutions to compact the cumulative impact of climate change.

Vulnerabilty assessment , Adpations and Mitigations Shyam et al., 2014 constructed the vulnerability indices using parameter, attribute, resilient indicator and score (PARS) methodology, a conceptual framework developed for assessing the climate change vulnerability of coastal livelihoods.

Vulnerability model In general the fisher folk of Kerala are emotionally involved in their livelihood activities pertinent to their homestead habitat and are sensitive to the changes in their surroundings. Due

Fig4. Parameter and attributes used in PARS methodology frame work (Shyam et al, 2014) to the lack of awareness about the big picture – The climate change, the fisherfolk are naïve in context to the source of the problems including temperature rise, extreme weather events, reduction in fish catch over years, change in fish composition over years and sea level rise. The process of providing right

and comprehensive knowledge on climate change is the need of the hour; this can be achieved through a bottom up approach involving the primary stakeholders along with the community which will eventually position them to adequate climate change adaptation and mitigation by augmenting their traditional knowledge (Shyam S Salim et al, 2014).

Adaptation Options for adaptation are limited, but do exist. The impact of climate change depends on the magnitude of change, and on the sensitivity of particular species or ecosystems (Brander, 2008). • Adapt the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF):Fish populations are facing the familiar problems of overfishing, pollution and habitat degradation. Reducing fishing mortality in the majority of fisheries, which are currently fully exploited or overexploited, is the principal means of reducing the impacts of climate change (Brander, 2007). Reduction of fishing effort (i) maximizes sustainable yields, (ii) helps adaptation of fish stocks and marine ecosystems to climate impacts, and (iii) reduces greenhouse gas emission by fishing boats. Some of the most effective actions which we can take to tackle climate impacts are to deal with the old familiar problems such as overfishing (Brander, 2008), and adapt the CCRF and Integrated Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management (FAO, 2007). • Increase awareness on the impacts of climate change: Being a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India has submitted the first National Communication to the UNFCCC in 2004. The second National Communication is under preparation for submission in 2011. National climate change response strategies are under preparation. A specific policy document on the implications of climate change for fisheries needs to be developed for India. This document should take into account all relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions including education, training and public awareness related to climate change. Effort is also required to raise awareness of the impact, vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation related to climate change among all stakeholders. • Strategies for evolving adaptive mechanisms: In the context of climate change, the primary challenge to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors will be to ensure food supply, enhance nutritional security, improve livelihoods and economic output and ensure ecosystem safety. These objectives call for identifying and addressing the concerns arising out of climate change and evolving adaptive mechanisms and implementing action across all stakeholders at national, regional and international levels (Allision et al., 2004; Handisyde et al., 2005; World Fish Center, 2007; FAO, 2008). • Ecosystem restoration: A study on the potential impact of climate change on mangroves in India pointed out


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Shyam S Salim and Manjusha U hta the large extent of inter-tidal mudflats (about 23,620 km2) in the country may provide a scope of adjustment and adaptation in some areas, mostly in the semi-arid region as in Gujarat. It is expected that the diversity in mangroves may improve at higher latitudes like the Gulf of Kachchh; latitudinal range extension may occur at the expense of salt marsh communities; adaptation and survival chance of mangroves in deltaic region like Sundarbans will be higher than mangroves on Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Singh, 2003). • Strategies to promote sustainability and improve supplies should be in place before the threat of climate change assumes greater proportion. While the fisheries sector may strive to mitigate climate change by reducing CO2 emissions, especially by fishing boats, it could reduce impact by following effective adaptation measures. There should be fiscal incentives for reducing the sector’s carbon footprint, and for following other mitigation and adaptation options.

I)Climate change research - A GULLS initiative

The coastal vulnerability assessment in GULLS project underlines, a demarcation between fishery hotspots (based on fish abundance, phenology, distribution, range shifts, recruitment success etc.) and social hotspots (determining vulnerability, displacement, marginalization of traditional community) would be a novel idea to have representation of diverse factors in the project. Consistent with the objectives of GULLS, the activities will be aiming at assessing the current status of the fishery resources and ecosystem services and would attempt at predicting the future impacts of climate change on these resources and services apart from identification of key vulnerable marine species to climate change and assessing the community vulnerability. The review done in addition to the discussions with the Belmont team resulted in boiling down the hotpsot region to (South West and South East Region of India).The South East India encompassing Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin districts of Tamil Nadu could be one of the Hotspot and the other be South West India(coastal districts of Kerala including Ernakulum, Alappuzha, Kollam and Trivandrum) with fisheries abundance and distribution shifts.

The CMFRI research project on “Global understanding and learning for local solutions: Reducing vulnerability of marinedependent coastal communities” (GULLS) under the theme on Coastal Vulnerability was sanctioned under an MoU of Belmont Forum and G8 Research Councils International Opportunities Fund. Focus areas of GULLS project include Southern Africa, Southern Australia, Western Australia, Mozambique channel, Southern India and Brazil . The GULLS project will address the Belmont Challenge priorities in the area of coastal vulnerability – specifically the challenges that arise in food security and sustaining coastal livelihoods as a result of global warming and increasing human coastal populations. The project will contribute to improving community adaptation efforts by characterizing, assessing and predicting the future of coastal-marine food resources and identification of suitable adaptation options. Rationale for selection of the focus area includes Impacts are likely to be observed early, Incentives to initiate adaptive strategies will be strong, Models developed for prediction can be validated early, Adaptation options can be developed, implemented and tested allowing for challenges to be met efficiently and effectively.

Identification of climate change hot spots Since hot spots in climate change parlance has not been identified yet in Indian context, it is high time to define and identify climate change hot spots in India to initiate comprehensive planning for adaptation and conservation measures. In this context Climate change Hot spots –can be defined as the ‘‘live labs’ where the manifestation of the climate change impacts are observed “first ”. The identification of the climate change hot spots will help policy makers in priority setting and in planning adaptation and conservation measures 16 February - 8 March 2015

Fig.5. Hemisphere hotspots ocean regions experiencing fast warming and those with heightened social tensions as a result of change.

Vulnerbility Assessment(Modified form IPCC climate change vulnerability frame work) Vulnerability of coastal regions will be characterized using a linked socio-economic and ecological vulnerability model .The project will be in operation in the different hotspots and will lead to build regional skill-sets that can reduce coastal vulnerability by evaluating and characterizing likely impacts, create predictive systems that will inform decision makers about the expected consequences of coastal changes; deliver alternative options in terms of adaptation and transformation within coastal communities; and to define the long-term implications of selecting a particular option in terms of


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Fig 6 . Conceptual Frame work of GULLS Fisheries Climate Change economic, social and environmental outcomes.

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Conservation of turtles

V.K. Venkataramani Former Dean and Director of Research and Extension (Fisheries) Directorate of Research and Extension (Fisheries), TANUVAS Fisheries College and Research Institute Campus, Thoothukudi - 628 008.

INTRODUCTION The loss of species, the degradation of ecological process and the contamination of the web of life are working in concert to diminish human and environmental health on this planet. India is still home to some of the most beautiful creatures in the world. There are 400 wild life sanctuaries and 80 national marine parks in India, which gives shelter to the wide range of wild and endangered wild animals. Because of overexploitation and habitat degradation, marine vertebrates lost their habitat and reached at risk of becoming extinct. Climate change is expected to have a number of impacts on biological communities including range of extinctions and contractions .There is growing evidence that the ecological integrity of marine ecosystem is under increasing threat. Coastal zones throughout the world face enormous human developmental and urbanization pressures. Increased frequency and intensity of harmful algal blooms, overfishing, accumulation of chemical pollutants in the food chain are the major factors for the loss of aquatic life. The destruction of coral reef beds, sea grass beds due to eutrophication, pollution/algal blooms, marine fauna, particularly reef fishes, turtles are affected to the most. A system to monitor and assess marine health threats linked to conservation and management policy is urgently needed. IUCN REDLIST OF THREATENED SPECIES The IUCN REDLIST of threatened species includes the following categories for the species that have extinct or under threat. Extinct: The last remaining member of the species has died, or is presumed beyond reasonable doubt to have died. Extinct in the wild: Captive individuals survive but there is no free living natural Population Critically endangered: Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future

Endangered: Faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future. Vulnerable: Faces a high risk of extinction in the medium term. Near threatened: May be considered threatened in near future.

Wildlife protection Act of 1972 The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 refers to sweeping package of legislation enacted in 1972 by the Government of India. Before 1972, India only had five designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established schedules of protected plant and animal species; hunting or harvesting these species was largely outlawed. The Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants; and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental to. It extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It has 6 schedules which give varying degrees of protection. Schedule 1 and part of 2 of II of schedule II provide absolute protection- offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties. Species listed in Schedule III and Schedule IV are also protected, but the penalties are much lower. Schedule V includes the animals which may be hunted. The plants in the Schedule VI are prohibited from cultivation and planting. The hunting to the Enforcement authorities has the power to compound offences under this Schedule. Government of India enacted a comprehensive legislation Wildlife Protections Act of 1972 with the objective of effectively controlling poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and its derivatives. This has been amended in January 2003 and punishment and penalty for offences under the Act have been made more stringent.

Marine turtles Marine turtles are also called as fossil turtles. Turtles are air breathing reptiles lived in the oceans for over two hundred million years. They have streamlined bodies with 187

Conservation of turtles large flippers and are well adapted to marine environment. The turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and nesting sites. Although they spent most of their lives in the oceans, adult females must return to beaches on land to lay their eggs. They often migrate long distances between foraging grounds and nesting beaches. Of the seven species of the turtles reported in world waters, five species of turtles are reported in Indian seas. They are Chelonia mydas (Green sea turtle), Lepidochelys olivacea (Olive Ridley), Caretta caretta (Loggerhead turtle), Eretmochelys imbricata (Hawksbill turtle) and Dermochelys coriacea (Latherback turtle). Sea turtles are found near the continental shelves. They spent three to five years in pelagic zone. Some of the species, such as Green sea turtles, Loggerhead turtles always seen in floating in seaweed beds. Once it reaches adult size they move to the shore. They take decades to reach sexual maturity. Some of the species even migrate to several thousand kilometres for breeding. Leatherback turtle reach a depth of 40000 feet or more The shell of turtles has keratin, Mg, and rich in vitamin D, Collagen and Calcium. They are considered one of the best in Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM). Turtle soup is highly recommended by Chinese as best possible medicine to revive failing kidneys. It is said the Turtle soup increases longevity, reduce heart palpitation and help to avoid insomnia and cures wounds. It is believed the blood of turtles cures piles and its meat cures chronic cough and fever. The sea turtles come to the shore for laying eggs, mostly during night. They dig pits of 50 to 80 cm. lay 80 to 200 eggs and close the pits. The number of eggs lying will vary depending on species. Hawksbill lay about 250 eggs. After mating, the adult female return to land at night. They use the sand and camouflaging the nest with grass. The whole process takes about 60 minutes. Using lighter sands maintains higher temperature which decreases incubation time and result in more female hatchlings. Only one in thousand makes to adulthood crossing many hurdles. Young ones instinctively head towards the sea. Sea turtles feed on wide range of animals and plants. They are mostly omnivorous in their adult life, however the Green sea turtle which is herbivorous, changing from a carnivorous diet when young, feeds mostly on algae and sea grass material as adults. The Loggerhead feed on the wide variety of prey than any other sea turtle. Sometimes they are also cannibalistic feeding the hatchling turtles of its own species. The Olive Ridley is predominantly carnivorous, particularly in its juvenile stage. Hawksbill turtles feed on sponges. Crabs and molluscs form favourite food for Loggerhead turtles. Leatherback turtle dive to deep sea to feed on jelly fishes. Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles mate during day time. Apart from the other usual threats, mating in the day time, for this species it becomes yet

another threat, as eggs are easily taken by predators and also by humans for consumption. Olive Ridley, is the most common and well known “arribadas” or annual mass nesting along Indian coast. India has three nesting beaches along the Odisha coast, located in the north east coast of India. They are Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and Rushikulya. On an average about one lack Olive Ridleys congregates along the Odisha coast for mass nesting. The coasts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are the migratory pathways for Olive Ridley for approaching mass nesting beaches in Odisha. Tamil Nadu coast is the second dense ground for this species next to Odisha. The coastal stretch between Chennai and Nagapattinam and Tuticorin to Kanayakumari are the turtle nesting ground for this species. Sea turtles also lay eggs along the coasts of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands 4 species of sea turtles are distributed. In Lakshadweep area Hawksbill and Olive Ridley lay eggs. Green turtles and hawksbill turtle population are represented in good numbers along the Indian coasts.

Threats to marine turtles • The major threats to the survival of the marine turtles are from natural predators like shark, pollution and their illegal hunting. Marine turtles are caught worldwide for the food industry. In many parts of the world, marine turtles are considered as a fine dining for their flesh. In many coastal communities marine turtles are considered as best source of protein. Not only in food industry, marine turtles also killed for their skin of the flippers. Their skin is used for preparing shoes and leather goods. Even in some parts of the world, they are also hunted for their shells which are used as combs, brushes and also as a decorative item. • Incidental catch is the main threat to sea turtles. The turtles caught accidentally in fishing nets die due to suffocation. Gill nets and trawl nets are the main responsible nets for turtle mortality. The fishing activities near the offshore waters where the turtles congregate for matting, results in death of many turtles and affect the nesting activity as well. • Exploitation of turtles for meat and carapace and poaching of eggs for consumption by human is another threat to the sea turtles. • Important turtle habitats like coral reefs, sea grass beds, mangrove forests and nesting beaches has changes drastically due to which they are under serious threat. • Beach development: Sea turtles prefer open sandy beaches for nesting activity. Exotic plantations like Casuarina affect the topography of the nesting beach. Excessive shade due to plantations has a marked effect on sex ratio in turtles. Construction on the shore and the subsequent developments hinders the nesting activity very much. Artificial illumination in the beaches deters the nesting females from coming to the shore. There is


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V.K. Venkataramani also a possibility that the turtles after nesting may get attracted towards this artificial illumination. Also, artificial illuminations affect the orientation of the hatchlings towards the sea. Instead, they may move towards the landward side and die off. The measures to arrest erosion by deploying artificial structures also have an impact on the nesting beaches. • Pollution is also a threat to sea turtles. Much debris like plastic bags, bottles etc were found in the stomach of sea turtles. They ingest .the plastic items as if as a food, which lead to the death of the animal. The pollution may also lead to diseases like tumors in turtles. • Coastal tourism development is also another threat to the nesting beaches. • Predation by wild pigs, Jackals, feral dogs is a major problem for the eggs and hatchlings.

Strategy to conserve sea turtles All species of sea turtles are endangered. The Leatherback, Kemp’s Ridley, and Hawksbill turtles are listed as critically endangered. The Olive Ridley, Loggerhead, and Green sea turtles are considered endangered. Leatherback, Kemp’s Ridley and Hawksbill turtles suffered severe population declines and have been listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened animals. All the species are also listed in Appendix I of Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In India, all the five species of sea turtles are protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. • Sea turtles deserve to be protected and conserved by all means. • Framing of legislations alone is not sufficient to protect these unique species. • Integrated effort with the involvement of the local populace is very much necessary. • The nature of the nesting beaches have to be preserved as such.


• The mechanized fishing activity in the near shore waters of the nesting area has to be avoided. • To avoid the incidental catch, it is necessary to install Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) in trawl nets. • Awareness programmes are necessary to appraise the local people the facts on sea turtles, their importance and the need to conserve their resources. • In-depth research on various aspects of sea turtle has to be encouraged in order to understand them more preciously. • The sea turtle foraging grounds have to be protected and conserved. • The sea turtle nesting and foraging areas can be declared as reserves. • Integrated protective measures involving government departments, research institutes, NGOs, and local people is the need of the hour to conserve the sea turtles. • Periodic public meetings, seminars and different types of contests to student community could be undertaken to emphasize the significance of turtles. • Exhibitions may be arranged by Governments, Fisheries institutions and N.G.O’s in which the usefulness and significance of the turtles. • Though sea turtle is worshipped as the incarnation of the Hindu god in Andhra Pradesh, there exist a few mythological beliefs that turtles will bring bad luck.

Conclusion India has been endowed with a vast genetic biodiversity and many of the species are becoming endangered. For conservation of turtles it is imperative, that proper legislation, setting up a “National Marine Environment Protection and Conservation Authority” can give more legislative power to protect, conserve the marine ecosystem is highly essential. The mass awareness programmes with public participation will also help in conserving this precious group.


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Marine microbial diversity

K. S. Sobhana Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Microbes were the only form of life for the first 2-3 billion years of planetary and biological evolution. Life most likely began in the oceans and marine microorganisms are the closest living descendants of the original forms of life. Early marine microorganisms also helped create the conditions under which subsequent life developed. More than two billion years ago, the generation of oxygen by photosynthetic marine microorganisms helped shape the chemical environment in which plants, animals, and all other life forms have evolved. Macroscopic life and planetary habitability completely depend upon the transformations mediated by complex microbial communities. These microscopic factories both aerobic and anaerobic are the essential catalysts for all of the chemical reactions within the biogeochemical cycles. Their unique metabolisms allow marine microbes to carry out many steps of the biogeochemical cycles that other organisms are unable to complete. The smooth functioning of these cycles is necessary for life to continue on earth. Microbial life in the sea is extremely diverse, including members of all three domains of life (archaea, bacteria and eukarya) as well as viruses (most authorities do not consider viruses as living organisms). The members of these groups or taxa are distinct in terms of their morphology, physiology and phylogeny and fall into both prokaryotic and eukaryotic domains. Considering the adaptability of microorganisms to grow and survive under varied physico-chemical conditions and their contribution in maintaining the balance in ecosystems, it is pertinent to catalogue their diversity as it exists. The inability to visualize them with the naked eye precludes effective classification. The diversity of microbial communities varies within habitats as much as between habitats. Marine microbial habitats can be classified based on i) presence of other organisms (Symbiotic, Free living and Biofilm); ii) proximity to ocean surface or sediments (Euphotic: 0-150 m; Mesopelagic: 150 – 1000 m; Bathopelagic : >1000m; Benthos : sediments)

and also based on iii) concentration of nutrients and required growth substances (Oligotrophic, Mesotrophic, Eutrophic). However, interfaces tend to be hotspots of diversity and biological activity. Marine microbial habitats at interfaces include the air-water, water-sediment, water-ice, and host macroorganism-water interfaces. The sub-millimeter scale of physical and chemical variability in these habitats poses a serious challenge to studying interface habitats in detail. The fact that variations can even occur within a few millimetres, suggests that microbial diversity encompasses more than the documented evidence available. Hence, biogeography is gaining importance as a field of study from microbial diversity point of interest. Due to the innately small size of the microorganisms, environmental complexity plays a major role in determining diversity. Spatial heterogeneity is likely to lead to the formation of many niches within a habitat. Recent tools like metagenomics aid in biogeography studies by providing information on nucleic acid sequence data, thereby directly identifying microorganisms. Therefore the phylogenetic information can be used to compare microbial diversity profile across habitats. Generally, diversity within a particular location and in a community is called alpha diversity. Beta diversity measures the community composition between two or more locations while gamma diversity applies to a region, across continents and biomes and is larger in size than that used for measuring alpha diversity. Although microbial diversity is one of the difficult areas of marine biodiversity research, estimation of microbial diversity is required for understanding the biogeography, community assembly and ecological processes. The number of species has been a traditional measure of biodiversity in ecology and conservation, but the biodiversity of an area is much more than the ‘species richness’. Diversity prediction can be made using statistical approaches that estimate species number from relatively small sample sizes. Hughes et al. (2001) noted that both rarefaction and


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K. S. Sobhana richness estimators which have been applied to microbial datasets, highlighted the utility of nonparametric estimators in predicting and comparing bacterial species number. Rarefaction and richness estimators rely on a species or operational taxonomic unit (OTU) definition. The limitations of this method are that OTUs are counted equivalently despite the fact that some may be highly divergent and phylogenetically unique, whereas others may be closely related and phylogenetically redundant. Recently, statistical analyses borrowed from population genetics and systematics have been employed and reviewed for use with microbial datasets to estimate species richness and phylogenetic diversity which do not rely on estimation of the frequency of different sequences (Martin, 2001). Reciprocal of Simpson’s index (1/D), F-statistics (FST) and phylogenetic grouping of taxa (P tests) may be used as a measure of diversity, which has been widely used for ecological studies (Stach et al., 2003). These combined uses of species richness and diversity estimates provide information that enables deeper understanding of marine microbial diversity. During the past two decades, molecular studies using the gene sequences that encode the small subunit rRNA (SSU rDNA) have revealed a wealth of new marine microorganisms that belong to the three domains of life viz., bacteria, archaea and the eukarya. The feeling among marine microbiologists is that of living through an age of discovery with no end in sight. However, most of this new diversity has not yet been described because pure cultures of the organisms behind the sequences are necessary to define a species. Recent studies of microbial diversity have produced spectacular discoveries of previously unknown microorganisms, many of which have major impacts on oceanic processes. Very large populations of picoplankton including diatoms, dinoflagellates, picoflagellates and cyanobacteria are the primary catalysts in carbon fixation, which orchestrate the cycling of nitrogen and form the base of the traditional marine food web. Heterotrophic SAR11 represents the dominant clade in communities of oceansurface bacterioplankton while nonphotosynthetic protists of unknown diversity control the size of picoplankton populations and regulate the supply of nutrients into the ocean’s food webs. Communities of Bacteria, Archaea, and Protists account for greater than 90% of oceanic biomass and 98% of primary production. Archaea includes unusual microorganisms which grow under extreme environments and differs from bacteria due to lack of peptidoglycan. Both these domains collectively play a significant role in the marine environment. Modern technologies (molecular techniques and automated fluorescence cell sorting) have demonstrated the great abundance and diversity of microbial life forms in the oceans, and DNA sequencing of environmental genomes (metagenomics) provides evidence of hitherto unrecognized physiological categories among the planktonic microbes. 16 February - 8 March 2015

Since 99% of the microbial population is considered to be uncultivable, metagenomics assumes importance. Molecular techniques have identified SAR11 as a dominant clade in communities of ocean-surface bacterioplankton. Bacteria in the SAR11 clade (Pelagibacteraceae) make up roughly one in three cells at the ocean’s surface. Overall, SAR11 bacteria are estimated to make up between a quarter and a half of all prokaryotic cells in the ocean. SAR11 bacteria are classified as alphaproteobacteria, and include the highly abundant marine species Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique. Sequence information (eg. 16S rRNA sequences, genome sequences, metagenomes) as well as rRNA targeted probes (eg. Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization – FISH, which allows a visual inspection of phylogenetic groups of cells in a natural sample) have helped to discover many new groups of bacteria. Marine microbial genomics ranging from the study of the genomes of model organisms to the wealth of meta-omics approaches (e.g. metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics) has proven to be very successful to target the second basic ecological question on the role of microbes in the marine environment. Advanced technologies, developed in the recent past, promise to revolutionise the way that we characterize, identify, and study microbial communities. The most advanced tools that microbial ecologists can use for the study of microbial communities include innovative microbial ecological DNA microarrays such as PhyloChip and GeoChip that have been developed for investigating the composition and function of microbial communities. Single Cell Genomics approach, which can be used for obtaining genomes from uncultured phyla, enables the amplification and sequencing of DNA from single cells obtained directly from environmental samples and is promising to revolutionise microbiology.

Microbial taxonomy Currently, a polyphasic approach is used to define a microbial species using phenotypic and genotypic properties. Whenever a new taxon is proposed, it is essential that the organism be isolated in pure culture and its characteristic features be tested under standard conditions. All the strains within a species must show similar phenotypes. A designated type strain of a species constitutes the reference specimen for that species. If the 16S rDNA sequences of organisms are ≤ 98.5% identical, they are members of different species. Uncultured microbes cannot be assigned to a definite species since their phenotype is not known; however, they can be assigned a ‘Candidatus’ designation provided their 16S rRNA sequence subscribes to the principles of identity with known species. A concept applying to a taxon lower than that of the strain is the ecotype – those microorganisms that occupy an ecological niche and are adapted to the conditions of that niche

Numerical Taxonomy In numerical taxonomy many (50 to 200) biochemical, morphological, and cultural characteristics, as well as susceptibilities to antibiotics and inorganic compounds, are


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Marine microbial diversity used to determine the degree of similarity between organisms. The coefficient of similarity or percentage of similarity between strains (where strain indicates a single isolate from a specimen) is then calculated. A dendrogram or a similarity matrix is constructed that joins individual strains into groups and places one group with other groups on the basis of their percentage of similarity. While 16S rDNA sequences have attracted attention in recent times as sole means of bringing out the uniqueness of a species; numerical taxonomy (based on phenotypic traits of a large number of species) compares favourably with that of genotypic data and, indeed, is in alignment with the modern taxonomy

Polyphasic taxonomy In polyphasic approach of microbial taxonomy, phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic information are described as accurately as possible. The phenotypic information comes from the colony characteristics, cell type, cell wall-type, pigmentation patterns, proteins and other chemotaxonomic markers while genotypic features are derived from the nucleic acids (DNA/RNA). Phylogenetic information is obtained from studying sequence similarities of the 16S rRNA or 23S rRNA genes in case of bacteria and 18S rRNA in case of fungi. Many types of molecules are used for delineating and describing a taxon; some are mandatory (16S rRNA genes, phenotypes, chemotaxonomy) while others are optional (amino-acid sequencing of certain protein products, DNA-DNA hybridization), unless required for appropriate description. DNA barcoding approach is gaining popularity for assessing microbial diversity. Though only limited datasets (especially for eukaryotic microbes) are currently available, the scenario is improving due to faster and cheaper sequencing methods.

Marine microbes under the three domains of life Bacteria Bacteria (Domain Bacteria) appear to have branched out very early on the tree of life and are genetically distinct from archaea (Domain Archaea) and eukaryotes (Domain Eukarya). Bacteria are abundant in all parts of the ocean and are vital to life on earth because they ensure the recycling of essential nutrients in oceanic food webs. Although bacteria have such a key role in sustaining basic functions in the marine environment, very little is known about their biology since only a small fraction (average 1%) can be cultured under laboratory conditions. This is even more evident when considering that >80% of all bacterial isolates from marine environment belong to four bacterial phyla: the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Bacteria constitute a major part of the organic matter that feeds countless bottom-dwelling animals. Organic particles sinking in the water column are composed mostly of

bacteria. Bacteria feed primarily on dead organic material. Some bacteria, however, are photosynthetic (cyanobacteria). Because of their size, cyanobacteria are believed to be the most abundant photosynthetic organisms in the ocean. In addition to being free-living, some bacteria have evolved to live in close association with other marine organisms. Many of the organelles found in eukaryotic organisms evolved from symbiotic bacteria. Examples of symbiotic bacteria include those involved in the digestion of wood by shipworms, those responsible for bioluminescence and those found in association with mussels, clams and tubeworms that live around hydrothermal vents. Most organic matter in oceans is decomposed by bacteria. Nutritional types • Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria (blue-green bacteria): Photosynthetic bacteria which are found in environments high in dissolved oxygen, and produce free oxygen, store excess photosynthetic products as cyanophycean starch and oils. primary photosynthetic pigments in cyanobacteria are chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b , accessory pigments include carotenoids and phycobilins. • Other photosynthetic bacteria : Anaerobic green and purple sulfur and non-sulfur bacteria do not produce oxygen and the primary photosynthetic pigments are bacteriochlorophylls. Sulfur bacteria are obligate anaerobes (tolerating no oxygen) while non-sulfur bacteria are facultative anaerobes (respiring in low oxygen or in the dark and photosynthesizing anaerobically in the presence of light). • Chemosynthetic bacteria : Use energy derived from chemical reactions that involve substances such as ammonium ion, sulfides and elemental sulfur, nitrites, hydrogen, and ferrous ion. Chemosynthesis is less efficient than photosynthesis, so rates of cell growth and division are slower. Found around hydrothermal vents and some shallower habitats where needed materials are available in abundance. • Heterotrophic bacteria: Decomposers that obtain energy and materials from organic matter in their surroundings and return many chemicals to the marine environment through respiration and fermentation. Heterotrophic bacteria populate the surface of organic particles suspended in the water by secreting mucilage (glue-like substance) Nitrogen fixation and nitrification • Nitrogen fixation: Process that converts molecular nitrogen dissolved in seawater to ammonium ion, a major process that adds new usable nitrogen to the sea. Only some cyanobacteria and a few archaeons with nitrogenase (enzyme) are capable of fixing nitrogen. • Nitrification: Process of bacterial conversion of ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2) and nitrate (NO3-) ions. Bacterial nitrification converts ammonium into a form of nitrogen usable by other primary producers (autotrophs)


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Archaea Archaea (Domain Archaea) are among the simplest, most primitive forms of life. Oldest fossils ever found (3.8 billion years old) appear similar to archaea. Archaea are prokaryotes, unicellular organisms that lack a nucleus and other membranebound organelles. These organisms are thought to have had an important role in the early evolution of life. Archaea were discovered first in extreme environments on land (hot sulfur springs, saline lakes, and highly acidic or alkaline environments) and were hence called as “Extremophiles”. Archaea were subsequently found in extreme marine environments, such as in very deep water, where they survive at pressures of 300-800 atmospheres. Some archaea live at the high temperatures of hydrothermal vents, and cannot grow in temperatures under 70-80°C (158-176°F); One hydrothermal vent archaeum can live at 121°C (250°F), the highest of any known organism. Nutritional types Archaea includes photosynthesisers, chemosynthesisers and heterotrophs. most are methanogens, anaerobic organisms that metabolise organic matter for energy, producing methane as a waste product. Halobacteria (photosynthetic), thrive at high salinities, trap light using bacteriorhodopsins (purple proteins).

Microbial Eukaryotes While all prokaryotes (domains Archaea and Bacteria) are unicellular, eukaryotes include both uni-cellular and multi-cellular organisms. Marie microbial eukayotes belong to Kingdoms Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. Most microbial marine eukaryotes belong to the Kingdom Protista - can be autotrophic or heterotrophic, unicellular or multicellular comprising algae, diatoms, dinoflagellates, zooxanthellae, coccolithophorids, foraminiferans, radiolarians, ciliates and marine fungi.

Viruses Although they may not technically constitute a living organism, viruses are a critical component of the marine food web. Viruses are particles made up of nucleic acid (RNA or DNA) protected by a protein coat. They are parasites that reproduce and develop only with the aid of a living cell. Organisms are defined by their capacity of independent cell division and therefore possess the full machinery for the duplication of DNA and for the binary division of the cell. Viruses, in contrast, require a living organism in order to duplicate their genetic material and to synthesize the virus particle. They do not, therefore, belong to any of the three domains of life. Nevertheless, viruses are of prime importance for generating and maintaining diversity amongst living organisms in all three domains of life through the mediation of horizontal gene transfer. They are also critical for the functioning and balance of the microbial food web and biogeochemical cycles by facilitating the production of nutrients for growth and maintaining high diversity, all by preventing the dominance of the most successful microorganisms. They parasitize bacteria 16 February - 8 March 2015

and plankton releasing organic matter into the ocean. Viruses may be responsible for half of the bacterial mortality in aquatic ecosystems and substantial amounts in phytoplankton. The amount of viruses in a given environment is directly related to the abundance of the microbial life, which they invade.

Factors that impact marine microbial diversity Nearly every measurable physical, chemical, and biotic variable in the marine environment has been found to alter microbial diversity. The major variables affecting the marine microbial diversity include, turbulance, light, temperature, nutreints, salinity, pH, UV and solar influx, surfaces and interfaces, redox potencial, metals as well as presence of macroorganisms such as invertebates and macroalgae. For the most part, the extent to which each of these influences actually operates in the environment and the contexts in which they are important remain to be determined. Climate change, which will be felt by marine microbial communities as changes in ocean temperatures, will undoubtedly alter the diversity of communities in unforeseen ways. Climate change should be considered a major top-down controller of microbial communities. Pollution, including nitrogen inputs due to anthropogenic activities, also impact marine microbial diversity. Anthropogenic nitrogen inputs to the oceans now comprise about half the total nitrogen inputs to the oceans, a circumstance that has resulted in vast dead zones in coastal areas and an increased incidence of harmful algal blooms.

Marine microbes and bioactive compounds The marine environment is emerging as a ‘gold mine’ for novel bioactive compounds. Marine derived natural products present an enormous range of novel chemical structures and provide an interesting and challenging blueprint for creating new entities via synthetic chemistry. Marine invertebrates and plants, in particular, represent an environment rich in microorganisms that produce compounds with bioactive properties including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer, antifouling and antibiofilm activities. However, only 1% of these microorganisms can be isolated using traditional culture techniques, which has been a major bottleneck when mining the marine environment for novel bioactive molecules. Marine microorganisms have immense potential for providing services and products for human society which is not exploited to any significant extent. There is a world of microorganisms in the marine environment to discover, understand and put to good use.

Suggested reading Hughes, J. B., Hellmann, J. J., Ricketts, T. H. and Bohannan, J. M. 2001. Counting the uncountable: statistical approaches to estimating microbial diversity. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 67: 4399–4406. Martin, A. P. 2002. Phylogenetic approaches for describing and comparing the diversity of microbial communities. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 68 :3673–


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Marine microbial diversity 3682. Stach, J. E. M., Maldonado, L. A., Masson, D. G., Ward, A. C., Goodfellow, M. and Bull, A. T. 2003. Statistical approaches for estimating actinobacterial diversity in marine sediments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 69: 6189–6200. Pedros-Alio, C. 2006 Marine microbial diversity: can it be determined? Trends in Microbiology, 14(6): 257–263. Fierer, N. 2008. Microbial biogeography: patterns in microbial diversity across space and time. In: Zengler K. (Ed.). Accessing uncultivated microorganisms:

from the environment to organisms and genomes and back. ASM Press, Washington DC, p. 95-115. Koeppel, A., Perry, E.B., Sikorski, J., Krizanc, D., Warner, A., Ward, D.M. 2008. Identifying the fundamental units of bacterial diversity: a paradigm shift to incorporate ecology into bacterial systematics. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA, 105(7): 2504–2509. Zinger, L., Gobet, A. and Pommier, T. 2012. Two decades of describing the unseen majority of aquatic microbial diversity. Molecular Ecology, 21(8): 1878–1896.


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Development of marine fish cell lines and stem cell lines: applications in mariculture and marine biodiversity K. S. Sobhana Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

In vitro transformed/continuous marine fish cell lines are important for virology, gene expression studies, cytogenetics, as in vitro models in toxicology, transgenics, in many other basic studies and in biodiversity conservation. In vitro cell culture systems/cell lines derived from marine fish are necessary for isolation and characterisation of viruses and studies on diversity of viruses in marine environment. The main impetus for the development of many of the continuous fish cell lines was to provide the means for isolating and identifying viruses that are the causative agents of epizootics of commercially important species. Unlike other microorganisms, which can be readily grown in artificial nutrient medium, viruses are obligatory intracellular pathogens and their isolation and propagation are totally dependent on the availability of a live host, such as permissive cell cultures. In addition, most viruses are host-specific and tissue-specific, and they can only be isolated and propagated using cell lines established from tissues of the same/related host species. An appropriate cell line is the most important laboratory tool to grow, isolate, characterise, and identify pathogenic fish viruses. With few exceptions, fish viruses can be replicated only in fish cell cultures. Cell cultures may be derived from primary explants or dispersed cell suspensions. Because cell proliferation is often found in such cultures, the propagation of cell lines becomes feasible. A monolayer or cell suspension with a significant growth fraction may be dispersed by enzymatic treatment or simple dilution and reseeded, or subcultured, into fresh vessels. This constitutes a passage, and the daughter cultures so formed are the beginning of a cell line. The formation of a cell line from a primary culture implies (1) an increase in the total number of cells over several generations and (2) the ultimate predominance of cells or cell lineages with the capacity for high growth, resulting in (3) a degree of uniformity in the cell population. The line may be characterized, and the characteristics will apply for most of its finite life span. The derivation of continuous (or ‘‘established,’’ as they

were once known) cell lines usually implies a phenotypic change, or transformation. The alteration in a culture that gives rise to a continuous cell line is commonly called In vitro transformation and may occur spontaneously or be chemically or virally induced. Continuous cell lines are usually aneuploid and often have a chromosome number between the diploid and tetraploid values. There is also considerable variation in chromosome number and constitution among cells in the population (heteroploidy). It is not clear whether the cells that give rise to continuous lines are present at explantation in very small numbers or arise later as a result of the transformation of one or more cells. Cell lines or cell strains may be propagated as an adherent monolayer or in suspension. Monolayer culture signifies that, given the opportunity, the cells will attach to the substrate and that normally the cells will be propagated in this mode. Monolayer culture is the mode of culture common to most normal cells, with the exception of hematopoietic cells. Anchorage dependence (i.e., attachment to and usually, some degree of spreading onto the substrate) is a prerequisite for cell proliferation in monolayer culture. Suspension cultures are derived from cells that can survive and proliferate without attachment (anchorage independent); this ability is restricted to hematopoietic cells, transformed cell lines, and cells from malignant tumors. It can be shown, however, that a small proportion of cells that are capable of proliferation in suspension exists in many normal tissues. The identity of these cells remains unclear, but a relationship to the stem cell or uncommitted precursor cell compartment has been postulated. This concept implies that some cultured cells represent precursor pools within the tissue of origin. Cultured cell lines are more representative of precursor cell compartments in vivo than of fully differentiated cells, as, normally, most differentiated cells do not divide. Most of the established fish cell lines were derived from cold water fish, such as salmonids, channel cat fish and 195

Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future common carp. However, many new continuous cell cultures are constantly being developed as a result of intensive efforts in several parts of the world, to provide cell cultures from local species utilised in aquaculture. The present knowledge on various aspects of fish viral diseases has come mainly from temperate countries from fishes like salmon, trout and channel cat fish. The rapid expansion of aquaculture and associated viral diseases in North America, Europe and Japan led to the subsequent development of several fish cell lines for health management purposes. RTG-2 cell line of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri, gonad origin initiated in 1960 was the first permanent fish cell line to be developed (Wolf and Quimby, 1962). Clem et al. (1961) initiated trypsinised bluestriped grunt Haemulon flavolineatum fin cultures which provided GF-1 cells, the first line of marine fish origin. Several cell cultures and cell lines from a variety of fishes have been developed since the first cell line from rainbow trout. Teleost cells are the 2nd most numerous among the animal cell lines which have been developed, mammalian cells being the most numerous. A comprehensive list of most fish cell lines developed before 1980 has been published (Wolf and Ahne, 1982). In addition, several comprehensive reviews of maintenance and application of cell cultures all from temperate fishes are available.

Examples of widely used fish cell cultures Cell line

Fish and tissue of origin

RTG - 2

Rainbow trout gonad

CHSE-214

Chinook salmon embryo

BF-2

Bluegill fry - caudal peduncle

FHM

Flathead minnow - caudal peduncle

BB

Brown bullhaead - caudal peduncle

CAR

Gold fish fin

EPC

Common carp - Epithelioma papulosum cyprini

E11

Snakehead fin

SSN-1

Snakehead fin

SBK-2

Seabass kidney

Although a large number of fish cell lines have been established for isolating and identifying fish viruses (Fryer and Lannan, 1994), relatively few marine fish cell lines are available (Chi et al., 1999). Recent interest in marine fish cytogenetics, immunology and pathology, together with other in vitro applications, has given rise to the need for improved methods for the isolation, handling and culture of cells from marine fish. The limited numbers of reports on viruses from marine fish compared with those from freshwater fish are due to the shortage of fish cell lines derived from marine fish. The

research on marine fish cell lines has progressed rapidly in recent years and several cell lines from tissues of commercially important marine fish have been described. Three continuous cell lines have been established from gonads of Japanese striped knife jaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus (JSKG cell line), embryos of hybrid of kelp (Epinephelus moara) and red spotted grouper E. akaara (KRE cell line) and skin of greater amberjack Seriola dumerili (PAS cell line) (Fernandez et al., 1993). A continuous cell line (SAF-1) was developed from fin tissues of an adult gilt head sea bream, Sparus aurata (Bejar et al., 1997). The GF-1 cell line derived from the fin tissue of the grouper, Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton) (Chi et al., 1999) can effectively proliferate fish nodavirus and is a promising tool for studying fish nodavirus. Two iridovirus-susceptible cell lines were established and characterised from kidney and liver tissues of the grouper, Epinephelus awoara. These cell lines have been designated GK and GL, respectively (Lai et al., 2000). A tropical marine fish cell line (SF) was established from fry of Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer (Chang et al., 2001). Kang et al. (2003) established and characterised two cell lines, FFN cells from the fin tissue and FSP from the spleen tissue of the flounder, Paralychthys olivaceus. Both the cell lines were found susceptible to a wide range of fish viruses such as IPNV, marine birna virus, chum salmon virus, IHNV, SVCV and hirame rhabdovirus. Four tropical marine fish cell lines were established from the eye, fin, heart, and swim bladder of the grouper, Epinephelus awoara by Lai et al. (2003). A continuous cell line, TEC (turbot embryonic cell line), was established from embryos at the gastrula stage of a cultured marine fish, turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) (Chen et al., 2005). Qin et al. (2006) described the development and characterisation of a tropical marine fish cell line (GS), derived from the spleen of orange spotted grouper, Epinephelus coioides. It is suggested that the GS cell line has good potential as a diagnostic tool for isolation and propagation of iridovirus and nodavirus. When the GS cells were transfected with pEGFP vector DNA, significant fluorescent signals were observed suggesting that the GS cell line can be used as a useful tool for transgenic and genetic manipulation studies. Fish tissue culture work is relatively new in India. Sathe et al. (1995) established a cell line (MG-3) from gills of mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala and characterised it with respect to isoenzyme pattern and chromosome number. Moreover, electron microscopic studies were also carried out which revealed the cellular structure and also secretory nature of the cultured cells. Sathe et al. (1997) have also developed a cell line from gill of rohu, Labeo rohita. Primary cultures were developed from the kidney of freshwater fish, Heteropneustes fossilis, by employing certain modifications in conventional procedures and a number of clones of cells have been developed (Singh et al., 1995). Lakra and Bhonde (1996) were successful in developing primary cultures from the caudal fin of rohu, Labeo rohita. Primary cultures from various tissues of


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Indian major carps (Rao et al., 1997), caudal fin of Tor putitora (Prasanna et al., 2000), and ovary of Clarias gariepinus (Kumar et al., 2001) have also been reported. Unfortunately, none of these cell lines/cell cultures were maintained for longterm applications (Kumar et al., 2001). Kumar et al. (2001) developed a cell culture system from the ovarian tissue of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. The cell culture could be passaged 15 times after which they ceased to multiply and consequently perished. Lakra et al. (2005) assessed the potential of six tissues of Labeo rohita viz. kidney, liver, heart, gill, caudal fin and swim bladder for attachment, cell growth and proliferation by explant culture and trypsinisation methods. Lakra et al. (2006) reported the development of a diploid cell line (TP-1) for the first time from fry of golden mahseer, Tor putitora. Sahul Hameed et al. (2006) established and characterised India’s first marine fish cell line (SISK) from kidney of sea bass, Lates calcarifer. The cell line was found to be susceptible to two marine fish viruses. Parameswaran et al. (2006), described the establishment of an embryonic cell line from Asian sea bass (SISE) derived from blastula-stage embryos of L. calcarifer. Parameswaran et al. (2006) also described the development and characterisation of a marine fish cell line (SISS), derived from the spleen of sea bass. Two cell culture systems namely epithelioid cells of Lates (LCE) and fibroblastic cells of Lates (LCF) have been developed from fry and fingerlings of L. calcarifer (Lakra et al., 2006).

Fish embryonic stem cell lines Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated cells derived from early developing embryos of animals, characterised by their capacity for self renewal and pluripotency. These cells retain their pluripotency after long-term cultivation in vitro and can be induced to differentiate into a variety of cell types. When introduced into host embryo, the ES cells can participate in normal development and contribute to several tissues of the host, including cells of the germ line. These characteristics make ES cells ideal experimental systems for in vitro studies of embryonic cell development and differentiation and as vector for the efficient transfer of foreign DNA into the germ line of an organism. In addition, ES cells provide an attractive strategy for the preservation of biodiversity (Hong et al., 1996). These cells have the potential to produce any type of cell of the body and can be propagated in unlimited quantities, which led to the importance of human ES cells (hESCs) in regenerative medicine and treatment of a variety of diseases. ES cells provide unique tool for cell-mediated gene transfer and targeted gene mutations due to the possibility of In vitro selection of desired genotypes. Though the ES cell approach has up to now been limited to mice, there is an increasing interest to develop this technology in both model and commercial fish species, with so far promising results in the medaka (Oryzias latipes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio). Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ES) provide an efficient 16 February - 8 March 2015

K. S. Sobhana approach for genome manipulation with many applications in marine biotechnology and developmental studies. The methods of derivation, characterization and behaviour of fish ES cells in In vitro culture are known only for a very limited species of fish world over. Chen et al. (2003) developed a pluripotent cell line, LJES1 from blastula stage embryos of the sea perch, Lateolabrax japonicus. Other than the report on attempts for derivation of ES cells from Lates calcarifer, Labeo rohita and Catla catla (Parameswaran et al., 2007; Dash et al., 2008; 2010) there is no published report available on development of ES cell lines from marine fish in India.

Cryo-preservation of fish cell lines Cell culture systems are biological entities with specific physiological needs, much like any other laboratory animals. They require ongoing care, adequate nutrition, a proper environment and regular check ups. Every cell line cultured must also be backed up by cells in frozen storage. Therefore cryopreservation of fish cell lines is very important. Optimal freezing of cells for maximum viable recovery on thawing depends on minimizing intracellular ice crystal formation and reducing cryogenic damage from foci of high concentration solutes formed when intracellular water freezes. This is achieved by (1) slow freezing, (ii) by using a hydrophilic cryoprotectant to sequester water, (iii) by storing the cells at the lowest possible temperature and (iv) by thawing rapidly to minimize ice crystal growth and generation of solute gradients formed as the residual intracellular ice melts. Freezing in liquid nitrogen or in ultra cold freezers is the method of choice for storage of fish cell lines. The cell suspension is frozen in the presence of a cryoprotectant such as glycerol or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Of these two, DMSO appears to be the more effective, possibly because it penetrates the cell better than glycerol. Concentrations between 5% and 15% have been used, but 7.5% or 10% is more ideal. The medium used for freezing fish cell lines generally contains 10% or more serum and either of the two cryoprotectants - glycerol or dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) added to a final concentration of around 10%.

Suggested reading Bejar, J., Borrego, J.J. and Alvarez, M.C. 1997. A continuous cell line from the cultured marine fish gilt-head seabream (Sparus aurata L). Aquaculture, 150: 143 -153. Bols, N. C., Barlian, A., Chirino-Trejo, M., Caldwell, S. J., Goegan, P. and Lee, L. E. J. 1994. Development of a cell line from primary cultures of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), gills. J. Fish. Dis., 17: 601-611. Chang, S. F., Ngoh, G. H., Kueh, L. F.S., Qin, Q.W., Chen, C.L., Lam, T.J. and Sin, Y.M. 2001. Development of a tropical marine fish cell line from Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) for virus isolation. Aquaculture, 192: 133 - 145. Chen, S. L., Sha, Z. X. and Ye, H. Q. 2003. Establishment of a pluripotent embryonic cell line from sea perch blastula embryo. Aquaculture, 218: 141-151. Chi, S. C., Hu, W. W. and Lo, B. J. 1999. Establishment and characterisation of a continuous cell line GF-1 derived from grouper, Epinephelus coiodes (Hamilton): a cell line susceptible to grouper nervous necrosis virus GNNV. J. Fish Dis., 22: 173 -182. Fryer, J. L. and Lannan, C. N. 1994. Three decades of fish cell culture: A current listing of cell lines derived from fishes. J. Tissue Cult. Methods, 16: 87 - 94. Kumar, G. S., Singh, I. B. S., Philip, R. 2001. Development of a cell culture system from the ovarian tissue of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Aquaculture, 194: 51-62.


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Molecular taxonomy – Applications, Limitations and future Lakra, W. S. and Bhonde, R. R. 1996. Development of primary cell culture from the caudal fin of an Indian major carp, Labeo rohita (Hamilton). Asian Fish. Sci., 9: 149-152. Lakra, W. S., Sivakumar, N., Goswami, M. and Bhonde, R. R. 2006 a. Development of two cell culture systems from Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer (Bloch). Aquacul. Res.., 37: 18 -24. Lannan. C. N., Winton, J. R. and Fryer, J. L. 1984. Fish cell lines: establishment and characterisation. In vitro, 20 (9): 671-676. Parameswaran, V., Shukla, R., Bhonde, R. R. and Sahul Hameed., A. S. 2006. Splenic cell line from sea bass, Lates calcarifer: Establishment and characteriaation. Aquaculture, 261: 43 -53. Parameswaran, V., Shukla, R., Bhonde, R. R., and Sahul Hameed. A. S. 2006. Establishment of embryonic cell line from sea bass (Lates calcarifer)

Sahul Hameed, A. S., Parameswaran, V., Shukla, R., Singh, I.S.B, Thirunavukkarasu, A. R. and Bhonde, R. R. 2006. Establishment and characterisation of India’s first marine fish cell line (SISK) from the kidney of sea bass (Lates calcarifer). Aquaculture, 257: 92-103. Sathe, P. S., Muraya, D. T., Basu, A., Gogate, S. S. and Banerjee, K. 1995. Establishment and characterisation of a new fish cell line, MG-3, from gills of Mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala. Indian J. Exp. Biol., 33: 589-594. Wolf, K. and Ahne, W., 1982. In: Advances in cell culture, Academic Press, New York, P. 305-328. Wolf, K. and Quimby, M. C. 1962. Established eurythermic line of fish cells In vitro. Science, 135: 1065-1066.


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29

Marine Protected Areas

P Laxmilatha, T S Sruthy and M S Varsha Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

India has a coastline of 8,118 km, with an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million sq km and a continental shelf area of 372,424 km², spread across 9 maritime States and seven Union Territories, including the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep. India represents 2.5 percent of the world’s landmass and supports a population of over one billion people. India is also one of 17 mega-biodiverse countries in the world, with 7.8% of the recorded species of the world, including 45,500 recorded species of plants and 91,000 recorded species of animals. The marine ecosystem is extremely diverse, attributed to the geomorphologic and climatic variations along the coast. The coastal and marine habitat includes near shore, gulf waters, creeks, tidal flats, mud flats, coastal dunes, mangroves, marshes, wetlands, seaweed and sea grass beds, deltaic plains, estuaries, lagoons and coral reefs.

Why Marine Protected Area (MPA)? Marine protected areas are essential to safeguard biodiversity and to sustain vibrant seas and can increase biomass and biodiversity in tropical and temperate ecosystems, as well as serve as insurance policies against the impacts of fishing and other destructive activities. If managed properly, they are an effective way of protecting marine ecosystems along with their cultural and historical heritage for us and future generations. They are important areas of conservation of marine biodiversity and maintain productivity of oceans and also the site-scale units and are therefore highly relevant for mitigating and avoiding the risks of loss of marine biodiversity. All MPAs are designated for the purpose of conservation of

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Marine Protected Areas biodiversity or cultural heritage. The designation of MPAs and MPA networks is driven by a range of international, regional, and national obligations and initiatives. Types of MPAs vary widely across regions but names for these MPA types (e.g. marine reserve, strict marine protected area) are not consistent between regions. MPA types can be used to describe the specific habitats they aim to protect. More commonly, however, MPA types vary according to the protection being granted (e.g. no-access zones, no-take or no-impact zones). Although the legal designation of specific MPAs is done by national governments, communities may establish sites under their management, often termed Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs), but these sites are not always officially recognized by their own national governments. An effective MPA system is needed to ensure that the oceans recuperate, continue to store carbon dioxide, that fish stocks recover and that coastlines are protected from harsh climatic conditions. It is no longer a technical question but a matter of survival for the planet and humankind. MPAs provide a range of benefits for fisheries, local economies and the marine environment including: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems; arresting and possibly reversing the global and local decline in fish populations and productivity by protecting critical breeding, nursery and feeding habits; raising the profile of an area for marine tourism and broadening local economic options; providing opportunities for education, training, heritage and culture; and providing broad benefits as sites for reference in long term research. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognized as a critical management tool to protect, maintain, and restore natural and cultural resources in coastal and marine waters. A network of marine protected areas, elimination of destructive fishing practices, and the implementation of ecosystem-based management could help meet the global goal of maintaining or restoring fisheries stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield.

What is Protected Area (PA)?

A global definition specifically for MPAs - as distinct from the general definition of a protected area - was first adopted by the IUCN in 1999. The definition was revised in 2012 and the distinction between a marine and terrestrial protected area was removed, aligning the definition of MPAs with the definition of a ‘protected area’ as “a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the longterm conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values”. It includes marine parks, nature reserves and locally managed marine areas that protect reefs, sea grass beds, shipwrecks, archaeological sites, tidal lagoons, mudflats, salt marshes, mangroves, rock platforms, underwater areas on the coast and the seabed in deep water. To be included within the World Database on Protected Areas, MPAs must be sites, located in the marine environment, that meet the most recent IUCN protected area definition Marine Protected Areas cover many different types of protection. Some are “no-take zones or protected zones” that are essential to enable fish stocks to recover while others allow multiple use of their resources. Fish refugia which can be defined as areas managed to control fishing gear types and to protect vulnerable life history stages in order to improve fisheries sustainability. Recent years have also seen the introduction and growing use of the term ‘Marine Managed Area’ (MMA). ‘MMA’ is more inclusive than either ‘Fish Refugia’ or ‘MPA’, as it includes areas set aside for both conservation and sustainable use/fisheries purposes. Marine Protected Areas cover many different types of protection. Some are “no-take zones or protected zones” that are essential to enable fish stocks to recover while others allow multiple use of their resources. MPAs protect key ecosystems such as coral reefs. Not only do they act as safe breeding grounds for fish, they also generate tourism, which in turn brings jobs. Creating more Community Managed MPAs would enhance the flow of benefits to local people.

A protected area is a tool to manage natural resources for biodiversity conservation, for the well-being of people dependent on these resources. They are widely regarded as one of the most successful measures implemented for the conservation of biodiversity by drawing upon traditional and community-based approaches, governance regimes, scientific and traditional knowledge and contemporary practices of governments and conservation agencies (IUCN).

Climate change is posing a major threat to humankind as well as biodiversity. More than 90% of the world’s carbon dioxide is stored in the oceans, and they remove 30% of the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere. MPAs, which often encompass ‘barrier or bioshield’ ecosystems such as coral reefs or mangroves, can also reduce the impact of damage from natural disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes. Waves are slowed by the reefs while mangroves are effective windbreaks that reduce soil erosion.

What is Marine Protected Area (MPA)?

Criteria for selecting MPAs

One of the most effective means for protecting marine and coastal biodiversity is through the establishment and proper management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Marine Protected Area is an umbrella term to describe a wide range of protected areas for marine conservation around the world.

Biogeographic criteria: Presence of rare biogeographic qualities or representative of a biogeographic “type” or types Existence of unique or unusual geological features


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P Laxmilatha, T S Sruthy and M S Varsha

Ecological criteria • • • • • •

Ecological processes or life-support systems (e.g. as a source for larvae for downstream areas) Integrity, or the degree to which the area, either alone or in association with other protected areas, encompasses a complete ecosystem The variety of habitats Presence of habitat for rare or endangered species Presence of nursery or juvenile areas Presence of feeding, breeding or rest areas


• •

Existence of rare or unique habitat for any species Degree of genetic diversity within species

Naturalness •

Extent to which the area has been protected from, or has not been subject to, human-induced change

Economic importance •

Existing or potential economic contribution due to protection (e.g. protection of an area for recreation,


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Marine Protected Areas subsistence, use by traditional inhabitants, appreciation by tourists and others, or as a refuge nursery area or source of economically important species) Social importance • Existing or potential value to local, national or international communities because of its heritage, historical, cultural, traditional, aesthetic, educational or recreational qualities Scientific importance •

Value for research and monitoring

International or national significance • Existence of any national or international designation , Potential for listing on a national or international system • Practicality or feasibility • Degree of insulation from external destructive influences • Social and political acceptability, degree of community support • Accessibility for education, tourism, recreation • Compatibility with existing uses, particularly by locals

Distribution of MPAs in India The coastal environment plays a vital role in India’s economy by virtue of the resources, productive habitats, and rich biodiversity. India’s coastline supports almost 30% of its human population. Coastal fisheries are immensely important, both economically and in terms of environmental health. India continues to be the 7th largest fishing nation in the world. Coastal vegetation habitats, such as mangrove forests, serve as buffers to protect the shore line from wind generated storms and support coastal ecology. It is an important part of a local ecosystem as it strongly modulates land-ocean interactions and the mixture of fresh water and salt water in estuaries provides many nutrients for marine life. Salt marshes and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals, and insects crucial to the food chain. The coastal beaches prevent salt water intrusion into the ground water. Coastal beaches if properly maintained not only offer a rich and important natural environment but also promote sustainable economic development such as ports and tourism which generates significant source of foreign exchange. In India, PAs that fall-in whole or in part-within swath of 500 m from the high tide line and to marine environment are included in the Marine Protected Area Network. There are a total of 128 marine Protected Areas in India.Out of these, there are four Marine National Parks, sixty-seven Marine Sanctuaries, National Parks and Wild Life Sanctuaries, three Marine Biosphere Reserves, three Ramsar Coastal Wetlands, one Tiger Reserve (Sunderbans), one National Mangrove Genetic Resource Centre and Gene Centre and the Coral Reefs of Lakshadweep (seventeen), thirty two Mangrove Notifies Forests. Four national parks (having area130 km2) and 16 wild life sanctuaries (185 km2) have been identified

for conservation measures. Apart from this, 17 parks and 28 wild life sanctuaries have been proposed/ existing on the island territories of India. It is necessary to monitor these areas to assess impact of conservation measures, status of habitats within the protected areas, impact of development on the quality and quantity of the resources, etc. No such database exists for the Indian Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s). The repetitive nature of satellite data helps in monitoring vital ecosystem areas as well as in assessing the impact of conservation measures. Taking the global coverage, as of 2010, there are approximately 6800 MPAs. The New Caledonia MPA, created in 2014, is currently the largest protected area in the world at 1,300,000 km2. The Andaman and Nicobar groups of islands located in the southeast of the Bay of Bengal consist of 350 islands. The deeply indented coastline results in innumerable creeks, bays and estuaries and facilitates the development of mangroves. There are 60 species of mangroves making it the second most diversely rich area in the Indian sub-continent. Coral reefs are the important habitats housing diverse marine fauna, particularly in the western side of the Andaman Islands. The Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat has an assemblage of ecologically sensitive ecosystems, viz. Coral reefs, mangroves, sea grasses, algae/seaweeds, etc. it is the largest inlet of the Arabian Sea, about 60 km wide at its widest and 170 km long. The Malvan Marine Sanctuary, Sindhudurg, forms a part of the Western Ghats is considered as one of the biologically rich regions along the Maharashtra coast. Sindhudurg is a low fortified island on the coastal reef, which is joined to the mainland by a reef. At Ratnagiri and Malvan, sandy beaches are interspersed with rock formation extending over a considerable distance into the sea and forming small bays. During low tide, the exposed area of the bay has large rock pools with rocks partially exposed and the corals are generally seen attached to the rocks. These corals are legally protected under the Malvan Marine Sanctuary. This Sanctuary, together with some adjoining areas also harbours mangrove vegetation. The Gulf of Mannar, Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu lying in the south of the Palk bay harbors 21 islands. The Gulf has a number of offshore platform reefs, patch reefs and coral pinnacles, which lie from south of the Pamban Pass to northeast of Tuticorin. The region is significant both ecologically and economically. Coral reefs comprise of 94 coral species under 37 genera, 10 species of sea grasses and high density of macro-algal species. Ninety species of sponges, 119 species of annelid fauna, 450 species of molluscs, and 22 species of bivalves have been reported from this region by earlier workers. This region harbors mangrove ecosystems. The region was declared as Marine National Park in 1980


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P Laxmilatha, T S Sruthy and M S Varsha comprising an area of 6.23 sq. km and was given the status of Biosphere Reserve in 1989 covering an area of 10,500 sq. km. Bhitarkanika is a unique habitat of mangrove forests located in Kendrapara district of Orissa. In 1975, Bhitarkanika was declared a Sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and was declared the National Park in 1988. It comprises of Bhitarkanika, Kalibhanjadian and Gahirmatha mangrove areas and is fed by the Dharma River, the Maipura River and the Bhitarkanika River. It is the home to diverse flora and fauna intricately linked with each other. The floral diversity includes a total of more than 300 plant species with both mangrove and non-mangrove species belonging to 80 families. The diverse habitat ranging from mangrove forests to agricultural fields, rivers, streams, fresh water ponds, tidal rivers, creeks, estuaries, mudflats, fresh water and brackish water wetlands, riverine islands, off-shore islands, muddy and sandy coastlines

etc. provides home to a varied and large number of animal species including the longest estuarine crocodile of the world, partial albino reptilian species, salt water crocodiles, three species of Indian monitor lizards, the python and various migratory birds. Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve, West Bengal along with three other wildlife sanctuaries covers a total area of 1,73,645 sq km of coastal wetlands. Sundarbans biosphere reserve is a majestic natural region in the world which covers 102 swampy island, mangroves, estuaries, backwaters and waterways. The tidal swamps and the mangrove vegetation are responsible for the dynamic ecosystem with vigorous nutrient recyclingboth terrestrial and aquatic.

Marine Protected Areas In India S.no.

Name of MPA

State

Category

Area sq km

Year of establishment

1

Kadalundi Vallikkunnu Com R

Kerala

Community Reserve

1.5

2007

2

Marine (Gulf of Kachchh)

Gujarat

National Park

162.89

1995

3

Bhitarkanika

Odisha

National Park

145

1998

4

Gulf of Mannar Marine

Tamil Nadu

National Park

6.23

1980



203

Marine Protected Areas 5

Sundarbans

West Bengal

National Park

1330.1

1984

6

Coringa

Andhra Pradesh

Sanctuary

235.7

1978

7

Krishna

Andhra Pradesh

Sanctuary

194.81

1989

8

Pulicat Lake

Andhra Pradesh

Sanctuary

500

1980

9

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Sanctuary

92.16

2000

10

Fudam

Daman & Diu

Sanctuary

2.18

1991

11

Chorao Island

Goa

Sanctuary

1.78

1988

12

Khijadia

Gujarat

Sanctuary

6.05

1981

13

Marine (Gulf of Kachchh)

Gujarat

Sanctuary

295.03

1980

14

Malvan Marine

Maharashtra

Sanctuary

29.12

1987

15

Bhitarkanika

Odisha

Sanctuary

672

1975

16

Chilka (Nalaban)

Odisha

Sanctuary

15.53

1987

17

Gahirmatha

Odisha

Sanctuary

1435

1997

18

Balukhand Konark

Odisha

Sanctuary

71.72

1984

19

Point Calimere

Tamil Nadu

Sanctuary

172.6

1967

20

Pulicat Lake

Tamil Nadu

Sanctuary

153.67

1980

21

West Sundarbans

West Bengal

Sanctuary

556.45

2013

22

Haliday Island

West Bengal

Sanctuary

5.95

1976

23

Sajnakhali

West Bengal

Sanctuary

2091.12

1976

24

Lothian Island

West Bengal

Sanctuary

38

1976 Total area: 8214.59 sq. km

Marine Protected Areas In Islands Of India S. No

Name of MPA

State

Category

Area

Sq km

Year of establishment

1 2

Campbell

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

426.23

1992

Galathea

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

110

1992

3

Mahatma Gandhi Marine

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

281.5

1983

4

Middle Button Island

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

0.44

1987

5

Mount Harriett

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

46.62

1987

6

North Button Island

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

0.44

1987

7

Rani Jhansi

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

256.14

1996

8

Saddle Peak

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

32.54

1987

9

South Button Island

Andaman & Nicobar

National Park

0.03

1987

10

Arial Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.05

1977

11

Bamboo Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.05

1977

12

Barren Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

11.99

1977

13

Battimalv Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

5.03

1977

14

Belle Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.08

1977

15

Bennett Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

3.46

1977

16

Bingham Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.08

1977

17

Blister Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.26

1977

18

Bluff Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.14

1977


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P Laxmilatha, T S Sruthy and M S Varsha 19

Bondoville Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

2.55

1977

20

Brush Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.23

1977

21

Buchanan Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

9.33

1977

22

Chanel Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.13

1977

23

Cinque Islands

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

9.51

1977

24

Clyde Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.54

1977

25

Cone Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.65

1977

26

Curlew (B.P.) Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.16

1977

27

Curlew Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.03

1977

28

Defence Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

10.49

1977

29

Dot Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.13

1977

30

Dottrell Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.13

1977

31

Duncan Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.73

1977

32

East Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

6.11

1977

33

East Of Inglis Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

3.55

1977

34

Egg Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.05

1977

35

Elat Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

9.36

1977

36

Entrance Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.96

1977

37

Gander Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.05

1977

38

Girjan Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.16

1977

39

Goose Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.01

1977

40

Hump Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.47

1977

41

Interview Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

133.87

1977

42

James Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

2.1

1977

43

Jungle Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.52

1977

44

Kyd Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

8

1977

45

Landfall Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

29.48

1977

46

Latouche Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.96

1977

47

Lohabarrack

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

22.21

1977

48

Mangrove Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.39

1977

49

Mask Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.78

1977

50

Mayo Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.1

1977

51

Megapode Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.12

1977

52

Montogemery Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.21

1977

53

Narcondam Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

6.81

1977

54

North Brother Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.75

1977

55

North Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.49

1977

56

North Reef Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

3.48

1977

57

Oliver Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.16

1977

58

Orchid Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.1

1977

59

Ox Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.13

1977

60

Oyster Island-I

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.08

1977

61

Oyster Island-II

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.21

1977

62

Paget Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

7.36

1977

63

Parkinson Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.34

1977



205

Marine Protected Areas 64

Passage Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.62

1977

65

Patric Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.13

1977

66

Peacock Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.62

1977

67

Pitman Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.37

1977

68

Point Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

3.07

1977

69

Potanma Islands

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.16

1977

70

Ranger Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

4.26

1977

71

Reef Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.74

1977

72

Roper Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.46

1977

73

Ross Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.01

1977

74

Rowe Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.01

1977

75

Sandy Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.58

1977

76

Sea Serpent Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.78

1977

77

Shark Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.6

1977

78

Shearme Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

7.85

1977

79

Sir Hugh Rose Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.06

1977

80

Sisters Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.36

1977

81

Snake Island-I

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.73

1977

82

Snake Island-II

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.03

1977

83

South Brother Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.24

1977

84

South Reef Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.17

1977

85

South Sentinel Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.61

1977

86

Spike Island-I

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.42

1977

87

Spike Island-II

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

11.7

1977

88

Stoat Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.44

1977

89

Surat Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.31

1977

90

Swamp Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

4.09

1977

91

Table (Delgarno) Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

2.29

1977

92

Table (Excelsior) Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.69

1977

93

Talabaicha Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

3.21

1977

94

Temple Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

1.04

1977

95

Tillongchang Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

36.43

1977

96

Tree Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.03

1977

97

Trilby Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.96

1977

98

Tuft Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.29

1977

99

Turtle Islands

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.39

1977

100

Kwangtung Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.57

1987

101

West Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

6.4

1977

102

Wharf Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.11

1977

103

White Cliff Island

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

0.47

1977

104

Galathea Bay

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

11.44

1997

105

Cuthbert Bay

Andaman & Nicobar

Sanctuary

5.82

1997

106

Pitti

Lakshadweep

Sanctuary

0.01

2002 Total area: 1569.63 sq km


206

30

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) P Laxmilatha Marine Biodiversity Division, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Oceans cover 70% of our planet and represent over 95% of the biosphere. Marine and coastal habitats include coral reefs, mangrove forests, sea grass beds, estuaries, hydrothermal vents, seamounts and soft sediments on the ocean floor deep below the surface. Apart from source of food, the ocean is one of the largest natural reservoirs of carbon. It stores about over 15 times more CO2 than the terrestrial biosphere and soils, and plays a significant role in climate moderation. Deep-seabed habitats host between 500,000 and 10 million species. Deep-sea life is essential to life on Earth because of its crucial role in global biogeochemical cycles, including nutrient regeneration and oxygen. Oceans are seriously underprotected, with only about 0.8% of the oceans and 6% of territorial seas being in protected areas. About 80% of world fish stocks, for which assessment information is available, are fully exploited or overexploited and thus require effective and precautionary management

What is Vulnerability? Vulnerability is related to the likelihood that a population, community, or habitat will experience substantial alteration from short-term or chronic disturbance, and the likelihood that it would recover and in what time-frame. These are, in turn, related to the characteristics of the ecosystems themselves, especially biological and structural aspects (FAO 2009). Due to increasing worldwide concern about the significant impacts of bottom fishing on fragile habitats, slow-growing and long-lived species that are vulnerable to overexploitation, UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2006 establishing conditions for bottom fishing to take place in the high seas. In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 61/105 called upon Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs including NAFO) to adopt conservation measures to protect Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) from significant adverse impacts (SAIs) of bottom fishing activities or to cease bottom fishing activities

in areas where VMEs are likely to occur. To assist RFMO/As and States, the International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in the High Seas (the FAO Deep-sea Guidelines; FAO, 2008) were developed to provide guidance on the long-term conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources in the high seas. The implementation of these measures by RFMOs was reviewed by the General Assembly in 2011, and as a result, UNGA Resolution 66/68 (2011) highlighted that despite the progress made, the urgent actions called for by the previous resolutions have not been fully implemented in all cases.

UNGA Resolution 66/68 called for: (a) Strengthening procedures both for carrying out assessments to take into account individual, collective and cumulative impacts, and for making the assessments publicly available, recognizing that doing so can support transparency and capacity-building globally; (b) The establishment and improvement of procedures to ensure that assessments are updated when new conditions or information so require; (c) The establishment and improvement of procedures for evaluating, reviewing and revising, on a regular basis, assessments based on best available science and management measures; and (d) The establishment of mechanisms to promote and enhance compliance with applicable measures related to the protection of VMEs. The implementation of the VME provisions of these three UNGA resolutions will be reviewed in 2015. FAO has developed a full programme to support the implementation of the FAO Deep-sea Guidelines consistent 207

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) with the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). This includes a VME database that will raise awareness on VMEs to fishery policy-makers, managers and scientists, conservationists, the fishing industry, and the public at large. At the same time, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), principally through Conference of the Parties (COP) decision IX/205 adopted in 2008, has also embarked upon regional workshops to facilitate the description of ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs) in the oceans. These scientific criteria help define important ocean areas. COP at its 11th meeting in Hyderabad, India, described areas that meet the EBSA criteria in the western south Pacific region, the wider Caribbean, western mid-Atlantic region, and areas that could meet the criteria in the Mediterranean region (COP Decision XI/17)6.

What is a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME)? The FAO Guidelines adopted a list of criteria for the identification of VMEs: 1. Uniqueness or rarity due to the species, communities or habitats they contain; 2. Functional significance of the habitat necessary for the survival, function, spawning/reproduction or recovery of fish stocks, particular life history stages (e.g. nursery grounds or rearing areas), or of rare, threatened or

endangered marine species; 3. Fragility; 4. Life-history traits of component species that make recovery difficult; or 5. Structural complexity

Management of VMEs • High resolution bathymetric data and VME-predicting models can produce maps that could provide information for management and planning. • Areas with significant concentrations of VMEs, areas of patchy VMEs and areas without VMEs could then be indicated as well as areas that are suitable or unsuitable (unsafe to deploy gear) for fishing. • Identification of areas suitable for fishing and those areas where VMEs are determined present could reduce reliance on reactive mitigation measures to prevent significant impact on VMEs. • A move-on rule is based on the premise that a fishing vessel will move a minimum distance from a location where species indicating the presence of a VME are captured by the gear. RFMOs have set threshold weights or volumes that are considered (by the respective RFMO science processes and participants) to constitute “evidence of a VME” for such cases, as well as distances vessels must move upon an encounter. For example, in the NAFO area, if a vessel brings on board more than 60 kg of live corals or 800 kg of sponges, it must move a minimum of 2 nautical miles from the fished area


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P Laxmilatha



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Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs)

What are deep sea corals? Deep sea corals are large accumulations of stony corals forming a complex three dimensional skeletal framework. They occur in waters between 200m and 1,500m deep

often on continental slopes, submarine plateaus, ridges and seamounts. Coral frameworks contain many sub habitats occupied by other species of marine animal. Deep sea coral reefs can be very large and spectacular, the biggest is over 40km long and 2 -3km wide.

Why are deep sea corals important? Deep water coral reefs host communities of associated animals

that are distinct from the surrounding deep sea and which have a high species diversity and sometimes a high level of endemism. Deep water reefs host the early life stages of many deep sea animals including juvenile fish of commercial value Some species of commercially valuable deep sea fish, such

as redfish, are associated with deep sea coral reefs as adults. The main threat to deep sea coral reefs is trawling by modern fishing vessels. Direct evidence of destruction of deep sea coral reefs includes submersible observations of complete removal of the coral framework in some areas, trawl scars running into reefs and high by catches of deep sea corals in the nets of deep sea trawlers Deep sea coral reefs are

Hydrothermal Vent Community


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P Laxmilatha vulnerable to fishing because they are very fragile and easily broken. Deep sea corals grow slowly; mature deep sea coral reefs take many thousands of years to accumulate. Recovery from trawling impacts is likely to be slow and where corals are completely destroyed and habitats altered by trawling, recovery are unlikely. Destruction of deep sea coral reefs also mean the destruction of the associated animal communities and in some cases essential habitat for commercially valuable species.

DEEP SEA HYDROTHERMAL VENTS In 1977, scientists exploring the Galápagos Rift along the mid-ocean ridge in the eastern Pacific noticed a series of temperature spikes in their data. They wondered how deepocean temperatures could change so drastically—from near freezing to 400 °C (750 °F)—in such a short distance. The scientists had made a fascinating discovery—deep-sea hydrothermal vents. They also realized that an entirely unique ecosystem, including hundreds of new species, existed around the vents. Despite the extreme temperatures and pressures, toxic minerals, and lack of sunlight that characterized the deep-sea vent ecosystem, the species living there were


thriving. Scientists later realized that bacteria were converting the toxic vent minerals into usable forms of energy through a process called chemosynthesis, providing food for other vent organisms. The ability of vent organisms to survive and thrive in such extreme pressures and temperatures and in the presence of toxic mineral plumes is fascinating. The conversion of mineralrich hydrothermal fluid into energy is a key aspect of these unique ecosystems. Through the process of chemosynthesis, bacteria provide energy and nutrients to vent species without the need for sunlight. Cold seeps are areas similar to hydrothermal vents. Though the cold seep waters are about the same temperature as the surrounding waters, they are called cold seeps in contrast to the extremely hot fluids from hydrothermal vents. The cold seeps support organisms similar to the hydrothermal vents though the exact make-up of the biological community surrounding them depends on the chemicals, such as hydrogen sulfide, methane, iron, manganese and silica, found in the cold-seep fluid.


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Ecological challenges of Island Biodiversity Grinson George FRA Division,, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682 018

Introduction Imagine people with same brain, same thinking, same analytical ability, same appearance, and same disease resistance. There can be a total collapse of the system if there is no diversity existing among the community. The community will be subjected to extreme events such as mass extinction and collapse even with a small disease challenge. If a similar scenario in agro biodiversity the agricultural system may break and collapse completely with no scope for advancement, any identity and uniqueness. Hence, diversity is a must for stability, sustainability and further improvement. Major role of Biodiversity can be listed as follows: Ecological Role: All species provide at least one function in an ecosystem. Each function is an integral part of regulating the species balance, species diversity and species health.

Fig. 1 : Species richness in different environments

Economic Role: Food (Crops, fishes); Goods (timber, paper, medicines); Recreation (Wildlife tourism, trekking, bird watching) and related activities where a commercial interest is active. Scientific Role: -Useful genes for transgenesis; Study of evolution and related aspects The ocean constitutes 99% of all habitable space (biosphere) on our planet (Fig.1). Is it really the case that terrestrial biodiversity exceeds that of the sea so considerably? An investigation into the publications pertaining to ocean/ marine biodiversity indicates a different picture. There are very few observations and records pertaining to marine biodiversity which is published in par with the terrestrial counterpart. In this chapter there is a description on the ecological challenges faced by the island biodiversity with special emphasis to Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI). The Andaman and Nicobar islands comes under the humid tropics with an average rainfall of about 3000mm. Out of the total

Fig. 2: Articles published on biodiversity since 1988 (‘Biodiversity’ and ‘marine’ used as keyword in web science) geographical area of 8249 km2only 6%, i.e. 50,000 ha at present is under agriculture.

Flora of Andaman & Nicobar Island 2426 species of angiosperms, 8 species of gymnosperm, 300 species of medicinal plants,130 species of orchids and 150 species of fruits and vegetables around 10 species of oil


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V.K. Venkataramani yielding plants and 34 species of mangroves

are found in waters with salinity ranging between 2-30‰.

Fauna of the Islands

Impact of Tsunami on mangroves

215 species of butterflies, 68 species of birds,1434 species of fishes,300 species of corals and 120 species of sponges

o The mangrove stands of Andaman were surveyed posttsunami and the extent of damage with respect to different species were studied.

Agricultural Biodiversity

Factors contributed damage to the mangroves was:

A continuum from cultivated biodiversity to wild biodiversity

o

1. Cultivated or ‘planned’ biodiversity: -Crops, Livestock, Fisheries 2. Associated biodiversity: -Supports agricultural production through nutrient cycling, soil formation, pest control, pollination, etc. (eg: Microbes, Butterflies) 3. Additional or other biodiversity: -Occurs within the agricultural ecosystem (eg: Rodents, Frogs, and Snakes) 4. Wild biodiversity: -Outside agricultural ecosystems: wild plants

o o o

90% of world food supply comes from 20 species of plants and 14 species of domesticated animals. But there is a need to conserve the genetic resources as they are key for crop improvement and selection studies. Algae Resources in ANI- 313 freshwater algal species belonging to 15 families; 57 marine algal species belonging to 18 families; 39 species have been found to be endemic.

Mangroves of ANI: Biodiversity and Distribution Andaman and Nicobar Islands - endowed with about one fifth of the country’s extensive and diverse mangroves. Next only to Sundarbans and Gujarat in the floristic diversity. Mangrove cover-968 sq.km; 17% of the total mangrove area in India. 34 true mangrove species belonging to 15 genera, 10 orders and 12 families have been documented - 25 fully described. Associates : 44 fully described with their vegetative states

Sonneratia ovata - New record for India: - Sonneratia ovata was observed in less saline and muddy soils on the terrestrial margin of Radhanagar Beach, Havelock. It can be recognized by broadly ovate leaves and warty calyx that envelops the berry. Ecology of Andaman mangroves:- Hydrographical parameters of the mangrove ecosystems across ANI have been studied. Mangrove forest with total diurnal inundation are dominated by Rhizophora and Avicennia spp. Sites that are not completely inundated comprises of Excoecaria agallocha and Acanthus spp. Cynometra iripa and Heritiera littoralis are found along the terrestrial margins above the high tide mark. Areas with more than 30‰ Salinity are dominated by Rhizophora spp followed by Avicennia spp. Sonneratia spp 16th February – 8th March 2015

o

Physical damage due to the pounding waves- Rhizophora spp, Ceriops tagal, Brueguira spp. Silt deposition on the leaves - Acanthus spp. Physiological stress due to sudden increase in salinity. Permanent submergence of roots in subducted areas of South Andaman. Permanent exposure of roots due to upheaval of lands in North Andaman

Further reading: Dam Roy S. and P. Krishnan (2005) Mangrove stands of Andaman vis-à-vis Tsunami. Current Science 89(11): 1800-1804.

Impact of anthropogenic activities in mangrove sites Physico-chemical and bio-chemical characteristics of the surface and sub-surface soils of mangrove ecosystem were studied to see the soil pH and electrical conductivity which varied minimally between the disturbed and undisturbed sites. Bio-chemical parameters- Marked variations were considerably lower at the disturbed sites due to significant reductions in organic matter/ substrate levels. Microbial biomass carbon was 426 ± 50.46 µg g-1 and 397 ± 53.4 µg g-1 at undisturbed sites while it was 285 ± 35.81 µg g-1 and 257.6 ± 35.91 µg g-1 in surface and subsurface soil respectively indicating significant reduction. Further reading: Ghoshal Chaudhuri S., R. Dinesh, T. E. Sheeja, R. Raja, V. Jeykumar and R. C. Srivastava (2009). Physicochemical, biochemical and microbial characteristics of soils of mangroves of the Andamans: a post-tsunami analysis. Current Science 97(1): 98-102.

Economic valuation of Island Mangrove Ecosystem Total economic value of mangrove for the A&N islands was worked out using product and market value approach.It was estimated to be over Rs. 12,000 crores, which translates to about 2 lakh worth tangible and intangible benefits to every stakeholder of the islands on an average. Corals of A&N Islands: Biodiversity, Extent and Distribution Coral reef area in A&N islands: 1021.5 sq.km (2004-07).

Coral Reef Biodiversity of North Bay About 62 species of corals falling under 26 genera are


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Classical methods in fish taxonomy Distribution of families’ genera species of Scleractinian corals in India

Families

Gulf of Kachchh

Laksha dweep

Palk Bay- Gulf of Mannar

ANI

Total

8

12

13

15

15

Genera

20

34

27

57*

60

Species

36

91

82

>300

208

observed in North Bay alone. The other reef associates include the sponges, sea anemone, echinoderms, mollusks, tunicates etc. Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth but are subjected to disturbances like tropical storms, rise in temperature, microbial diseases and crown-of-thorn starfish blooms. In the Indian Ocean, the coral reefs around the Andaman Islands suffered bleaching events during 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2010. Surveys conducted in the coral reef regions of the Andaman Island revealed that 37 82% of the corals were extensively bleached during April and May 2010 at various sites. As the SST has direct correlation with the intensity of cyclones, there is greater likelihood of frequent and more intense cyclones in the region in the near future. There is evidence of a 5-10% increase in intensity (wind speed) would contribute to enhanced storm surges and coastal flooding.

Fishes Elasmobranch fishery in ANI Major gears deployed are hand-line & long-line. Hand-liners are deployed from motorized boats with a fishing duration of 7-9 days and longliners have multiday fishing with duration of 20-30 days. The major groups are in the table below: Family

No. of Species

Carcharhinidae

20

Sphyrnidae

05

Alopiidae

01

Squalidae

01

Pristidae

03

Rhinobatidae

04

Dasyatidae

10

Rajidae

01

Myliobatidae

05

Coral reef ecosystem is very delicate and fragile. In the recent years there is a surge in the trade of ornamental fishes. Indiscriminate harvesting of ornamental fishes not only endangers the survival of these species but also the reef ecosystem as a whole as ornamental fishes are important partners of the self-sustained reef ecosystem. Therefore, a better understanding and rigorous approach to develop a breeding protocol is imperative not only for sustaining the industry but also as a matter of conservation of these fishes. Fishes-food fishes Family-Clupeidae-26 spp, Hemirhamphide-14 spp, Serranidae-58 spp, Lutjanidae-43 spp, Nemipteridae-22 spp, Carangidae-46 spp, Scombridae-18 spp, Xiphilidae-1spp, Istiophoridae-4 spp, Sphyraenidae-9 spp. The oceanic location of ANI makes them ideal for the development of oceanic fisheries. The oceanic tuna resources, especially around the Bay islands are least exploited since, India does not possess the required expertise in oceanic tuna fishery. The exploratory surveys conducted by the Government of India vessels have provided ample evidence regarding the richness of tuna resources in the area. Estimated potential of tunas in the seas around the ANI is 32000 tonnes in the coastal region and 94000 tonnes in the oceanic region. The possible catch in the oceanic region by along lining in 5000 tonnes and by surface netting is 121 000 tonnes. The introduction of pole and line fishery has limitation as knowledge of the availability of suitable baitfishes is limited. The strategy should be to develop deep water pole and lining in which fishing will be made for 4-5 days using large mechanized boats with facilities for holding bait fishes alive for such duration. For assessing the actual potential for pole and line fishing, external expertise will be necessary from regions such as the Lakhsadweep or Maldives, where pole and line fishing has been specialized over the years. Finally, the fishery development action plan should reckon with the preservation of the pristine condition of the islands to ensure the promotion of high-class tourism which is the other sector holding the key to the economic development of the islands.

Ornamental fishes: The following are the major groups of fishes as listed based on field observations: Family:Pomacentride-77 spp;Labridae-64 spp, cobiidae-111 spp,Blenniidae-57 spp, Apogonidae-46 spp, Chaetodontidae-41 spp, Cirrhitidae-5 spp, pomacanthidae-20 spp, Scaridae -25 spp, Balistidae-19 spp, Ostracidae -5 spp.


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VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF BIODIVERSITY – CASE STUDIES FROM AN ECOSYSTEM PERSPECTIVE Grinson George FRA Division, CMFRI, Kochi

Assessing the vulnerability of biodiversity can be done on an ecosystem perspective with the help of various vulnerability assessment tools. These tools vary from numerical models, satellite remote sensing data, insitu observations and related mechanisms. A description of vulnerability assessments for marine resources carried out in Indian context is explained in this chapter. Suggested readings are also indicated.

1. IDENTIFYING VULNERABLE FISH HABITATS USING NUMERICAL MODELS The Cushing’s triangle on fish migration (Fig.1) explains various life cycle activities from recruitment to fishing as governed by physical oceanographic processes. The role of currents in a closed area such as Gulf of Kachchh (GoK) and geological structures such as mounts in an open area such as Mangalore coast is explored to see the role of fish aggregation creating fishing and nursery grounds. Numerical and particle transport models was used for generating hydrodynamics and further for identifying areas of fish aggregation. Validations of the models were done with insitu observations. Likelihood retention areas of larval aggregations indicated formation of nursery grounds. A case study is described in section 2 of this chapter. Oceanographic processes such as fronts, eddies, meanders, rings and primary productivity linked to them are keys to identification of Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ). Altimeter satellite remote sensing data could identify mesoscale features (Eddies). Such data products can supplement the SST-Ocean color based PFZ and provide information in cloudy conditions too. Productive habitats and their vulnerability can also be assessed using the satellite data based oceanographic processes.

2. ROLE OF HYDRODYNAMICS IN ASSESSING FISHING GROUNDS Knowledge of local hydrodynamics is a pre-requisite to modelling coastal processes,given that physical drivers such

Fig.1 Triangle of fish migration as tides and currents control them (Fig. 2). There is a major role of diffusion and related physical processes in dispersal and recruitment of marine populations (Okubo, 1994). Tidal flows can move larvae passively in peak tidal velocities (Levin, 1990; Gross et al.1992). Physical processes influence the distribution of larval fish on a variety of scales, ranging from few meters to thousands of kilometers (Bruce et al. 2001; Hare et al. 2002). The basic idea in fish larval transport studies is to characterise the passive movement of larvae during the planktonic larval duration (PLD) phase of the species studied(Fig.2). During the pelagic larval phase, the larvae may be dispersed or retained in passive response to physical forcing (Cowen and Sponaugle, 2009).It is a phase that larvae are considered as ”poorswimmers” (Leis et al. 2006)because the hydrodynamic (HD) forcing on them exceeds their swimming ability. Biological processes such as fish larval transport can be modelled based on a clear understanding of the physics of a water body. There are few larval transport studies in the coastal waters in particular regions (Moser and Smith, 1993; Oliver and Shelton, 1993; Grothues and Cowen, 1999; Hare et al. 2001). A study combining observational data 215

Vulnerability assessment of biodiversity – case studies from an ecosystem perspective

Biology and hydrodynamic data

Egg data collection

Recruitment

Numerical simulation and validation HD/PT

Fish stock

Predation/fishing loss

Areas of likelihood of retention

Fig.2 Role of hydrodynamics in assessing fishing grounds with a two-dimensional numerical model product has been carried out to determinethe fate of fish eggs released in a semi enclosed basin (Grinson et al. 2011). Fish eggs were treated as passive particles in the model, and were released from probablespawning sites identified duringexploratory surveys(Fig.3). Numerical modelling of fish egg dispersion at the Patos Lagoon estuary in Brazil was carried out by Martins et al. (2007). There are various HD models to provide the spatial and temporal current patterns. Digitized bathymetry maps are used for defining the study domain. Inputs such as tide and wind are given inthe model as the major physical forcings driving the current.Simulation will produce the HD variables

as output at every grid point for the time interval required. The currents generated in these models can be validated using observed data at certain grid points to ascertain the model accuracy. Areas with retention of larvae above 30% were demarcated as nursery areas. Model simulation of eggs from different spawning sites showed varying dispersal patterns. About 80% of the particles were retained in the basin for allthe three seasons studied (Fig. 4). There are various HD models to provide the spatial and temporal current patterns. Digitized bathymetry maps are used for defining the study domain. Inputs such as tide and wind are given inthe model as the major physical forcings driving the current.Simulation will produce the HD variables

Fig.3 Identification of spawning site Summer School on Recent Advances in Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management

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Grinson George Fast currents generated by eddies, tidal and ocean currents and gyres, quite close to coral islands are considered as physical factors that induce local water movements, flush toxins and remove thermal stratification in coral reef locations and hence are assumed as high reliability factors of resistance to coral bleaching (West and Salm 2003). Physical damage to the coral reef structures due to eddies is not yet documented. The EKE computed for the present eddy shows high kinetic energy in the area of Ritchie’s Archipelago. Although eddies with high kinetic energy alone Fig.4 Larval dispersal pattern as output at every grid point for the time interval required. The currents generated in these models can be validated using observed data at certain grid points to ascertain the model accuracy. This HD input, along with the physical forcings, is applied to larval transport models to deduce the dispersion pattern of larvae

3. VULNERABILITY DUE TO EXTREME EVENTS The reefs in some islands of Andaman and Nicobar suffered severe damage following a tropical Storm in the Bay of Bengal off Myanmar coast during 13–17 March 2011. Surveys were conducted at eight sites in Andaman, of which five were located in the Ritchie’s Archipelago where maximum wind speeds of 11 ms-1 was observed; and three around Port Blair which lay on the leeward side of the storm and had not experienced wind speeds of more than 9 ms-1. Corals in the shallow inshore reefs were broken and dislodged by the thrust of the waves. Significant damage in the deeper regions and offshore reefs were caused by the settlement of debris and sand brought down from the shallower regions. The fragile branching corals (Acropora sp.) were reduced to rubbles and the larger boulder corals (Porites sp.) were toppled over or scarred by falling debris (Fig. 5). The reefs on the windward side and directly in the path of the storm winds were the worst affected. The investigation exposes the vulnerability of the reefs in Andaman to the oceanographic features which generally remain unnoticed unless the damage is caused to the coastal habitats.

Fig.5 Damages to reef after cyclone in South Button 16 February - 8 March 2015

Mesoscale eddies are quite common in the seas surrounding the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, however their presence in such close proximity to the coast as observed in this event has not yet been recorded. Eddies occurring in coral reef areas are known to cause thermal stress related bleaching due to the upwelling associated with the eddy circulation (Jokiel and Coles 1990). Models evaluating the hydrographic effects of eddy on island waters (Farmer and Berg 1989) have explained the dispersal of larvae due to high-velocity shear currents generated by the approaching eddy. Cross-frontal advection has been documented for cold core and warm core eddies (Wroblewski and Cheney 1984). Fast currents generated by eddies, tidal and ocean currents and gyres, quite close to coral islands are considered as physical factors that induce local water movements, flush toxins and remove thermal stratification in coral reef locations and hence are assumed as high reliability factors of resistance to coral bleaching (West and Salm 2003). Physical damage to the coral reef structures due to eddies is not yet documented.

Conclusion Vulnerability assessment is crucial in biodiversity studies. The present chapter is illustrating various vulnerability assessment techniques with the help of case studies. Instead of analyzing species independently, it is important to visualize the vulnerability from an ecosystem perspective. Independent data sets on biodiversity are important but collective analysis will provide a better picture.

Suggested reading Bruce BD, Evans K, Sutton CA, Young JW, Furlani DM (2001) Influence of mesoscale oceanographic processes on larval distribution and stock structure in jackass morwong Nemadactylus macropterus: Cheilodactylidae. ICES J Mar Sci 58:1072–1080 Cowen RK, Sponaugle S (2009) larval dispersal and marine population connectivity. Ann Rev Mar Sci 1:443–466 Farmer,M.W.,&Berg,C.J.,Jr(1989) CirculationaroundIslands, Gene Flow and Fisheries Management. In 39 Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (pp. 318–330). South Carolina, USA: Charleston Grinson G, Vethamony P, Sudheesh K, Babu MT (2011) Fish larval transport in a macro-tidal regime: Gulf of Kachchh, west coast of India. Fish Res 110(1):160–169 Gross TF, Werner FE, Eckman JE (1992) Numerical modelling of larval settlement in turbulent bottom boundary layers. J Mar Res 50:611–642 Grothues TM, Cowen R (1999) Larval fish assemblages and water mass history in a major faunal transition zone. Cont Shelf Res 19:1171–1198 Hare JA, Churchill JH, Cowen RK, Berger TJ, Cornillion PC, Dragos P, Glenn SM, Giovoni JJ, Lee TN (2002) Routes and travel rates of larval fish transport from the southeast to the northeast United States continental shelf. Limnol Oceanogr 47(6):1774–1789


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Vulnerability assessment of biodiversity – case studies from an ecosystem perspective Jokiel, P. L., & Coles, S. L. (1990) Response of Hawaiian and other Indo-Pacific reef corals to elevated temperature. Coral Reefs, 8, 155–162. Leis JM, Hay AC, Trnski T (2006) In situ ontogeny of behaviour in pelagic larvae of three temperate, marine, demersal fishes. Mar Biol 148:655–669 Levin LA (1990) A review of methods for labelling and tracking marine invertebrate larvae. Ophelia 32:115–144 Martins IM, Dias JM, Fernandes EH, Muelbert JH (2007) Numerical modelling of fish eggs dispersion at the Patos Lagoon estuary–Brazil. J Mar Syst 68:537– 555 Moser HG, Smith PE (1993) Larval fish assemblages and oceanic boundaries. Bull Mar Sic 53:283–289

Okubo A (1994) The role of diffusion and related physical processes in dispersal and recruitment of marine population. In: Sammarco P, Heron M (eds) The bio-physics of marine larval dispersal. American Association for the Advancement of Science/American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, pp 5–32 Oliver MP, Shelton PA (1993) Larval fish assemblages of the Benguela current. Bull Mar Sci 53 (2):450–474 West, J. M., & Salm, R. V (2003) Resistance and resilience to coral bleaching: implications for coral reef conservation and management. Conservation Biology, 17(4), 956–967 Wroblewski, J. J., & Cheney, J (1984) Ichthyoplankton associated with a warm core ring off the Scotian shelf. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 4, 294 –303.


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Taxonomy of fishes of the family Balistidae in India Satish Sahayak1, K. K. Joshi2 and V. Sriramachandra Murty2 Ornamental Fish Division, Marine Products Export Development Authority, Chennai-600 040, India 2Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute , Kochi- 682 018, Kerala, India

1

Introduction Exploitation of marine living resources for food is an age-old practice but this exploitation was largely restricted to near shore regions in the sea. The improvements in the capabilities of exploitation during the past half a century have helped in increasing harvests of living resources from the coastal waters as well as deeper regions of the sea. The rapid increase in the human population and the consequent increased demand for protein-rich seafood, have led to the exploitation of marine fisheries resources to their optimum levels in most cases. Fisheries resources being renewable, managing them on a sound scientific basis is essential to harvest maximum sustainable economic yields on a continual basis, year after year. The basis for such a management is knowledge of the dynamics of every species that contribute to the fishery. The tropical seas, however, unlike their counterparts in the temperate regions, are inhabited by a large number of species. In many cases the species live together sharing the same habitat and food. Several families are represented by several genera and several closely resembling species and any non-selective (or the least selective) gear exploits a large number of species in one haul. If these species are not correctly differentiated, there is a likelihood of treating two or more closely resembling species as one species, in detailed biological studies like growth, spawning, fecundity etc., leading to erroneous conclusions. A sound knowledge of the taxonomy of the fishes contributing to the fishery and the capability to identify them to species level correctly therefore plays a vital role. As the biological characteristics are known to be different between species and as they form the basis for studies on stock assessment of exploited resources, the capability to distinguish species effectively is of immense value, without this all species-oriented studies do not lead to any meaningful results. Moreover, in recent years there is increasing concern on the protection of the environment and conservation of biodiversity and the issues of marine biodiversity cannot be addressed effectively without a proper understanding of the species constituting to the biodiversity.

This is particularly serious in the tropical ecosystems where a multiplicity of species from lower invertebrates to higher vertebrates inhabits the same ecosystem in certain assemblages. Hence, the value of taxonomic studies in fisheries research is invaluable; it is a prerequisite for any detailed study on species and ecosystem. Growth of fish taxonomy in India can be traced back to the late 18th century, when European scientists and British Officers of the East India Company, particularly medical doctors, began to collect and describe Indian fishes. Bloch (1795) is one of the pioneers in the field of taxonomy of Indian fishes. As on date, a total of about 2500 species of fish are known from India (Talwar and Jhingran 1991a) of which about 1570 are truly marine. While the work of Talwar and Jhingran (1991a, 1991b) largely fulfils the long felt need of the workers on inland fishes, a similar treatment on the Indian marine fishes is yet to be made. Consequently the workers, perforce, refer to either the publication of Day (1878), which needs to

Fig.1 Sample collection centres for Balistidae 219

Taxonomy of fishes of the family Balistidae in India be updated, or some regional publications (as those of Munro, 1955; Smith and Heemstra, 1986 etc.,), which do not contain all species known from the country till date, resulting in most cases, in inaccurate identifications. While there is an urgent need for a comprehensive publication on Indian marine fishes also, the taxonomic studies carried out in recent years on certain groups have shown that there is considerable scope for work in this area because the earlier species descriptions were made on single or a few specimens and did not take intraspecific variation into account thus leading in certain instances to `recognition’ of different stages in the life history of a particular species as belonging to different species (as in the case of Caranx melampygus Cuvier and Caranx stellatus Smith, see Berry, 1968) or creation of new species on the basis of certain abnormal specimens of a species (Cirrhinus chaudhryi Srivastava, 1968) and to a lot of confusion on the identity of the species in many instances. In this connection it is worthwhile to quote the following: 1. Leaders in many fields of biology have acknowledged their total dependence on taxonomy (Mayr, 1969:6) 2. The extent to which progress in ecology depends upon accurate identification, and upon the existence of a sound systematic groundwork for all groups of animals, cannot be too much impressed upon the beginner in ecology. This is the essential basis of the whole thing; without it the ecologist is helpless, and the whole of his work may be rendered useless (Elton, 1947, as cited by Mayr, 1969:6)

managers. However in the recent years there has been some demand for these fishes for human consumption and these fishes have been contributing to seasonal fishery in certain pockets along Indian coasts. Another issue that has emerged in recent years is the one pertaining to marine biodiversity conservation and management and in this respect top priority attention is given to the coral reef ecosystems which are under the severe threat of degradation and, Balistids are an integral part of the coral reef ecosystems. Without strong taxonomic database on the various organisms inhabiting the ecosystem, issues pertaining to sustainable utilization of the living resources and biodiversity conservation cannot be effectively addressed. In taking the meristic and morphometric data, the methodology of Hubbs and Lagler (1958) was followed; all the linear measurements were made in the median longitudinal axis (Fig.2). Examination of the nasal apertures and the counts of lateral line scales, arrangement and morphology of the scales on the cheek, body, abdomen, caudal peduncle and fin rays counts were made under a binocular stereo zoom microscope.

The fishes of the family Balistidae unlike a large number of other teleosts do not form a major fishery any where along their distribution range. Further, these fishes until very recently were not used for human consumption even at places where they occur in catches regularly. As the major interest in research has been on the commercially important fishes, no significant research effort has been paid to any aspect of these fishes. A review of the past work revealed that the species were described on the basis of one or few specimens, hence did not take into account the possible intraspecific variation with growth, a large number of inconsistencies occur in the nomenclature, a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the family is not available from the Indian ocean region, There has not been any taxonomic research in India after Day (1878), The absence of regional works on these fishes resulted in misidentification of different species by different workers. A critical study of the available species in the range of their distribution shows that the descriptions were rather cursory depending mainly on colour, shape and such others but did not take into account certain morphological characters (scales, nostrils, ventral flap, pelvic spine etc.) or anatomy, resulting in inadequate definition of species. So far as the Balistids are concerned, the total lack of taxonomic work has been the stumbling block to the fisheries scientists and fishery

For uniformity, pectoral fin rays, gill rakers and, morphology and arrangement of scales on cheek, body, abdomen and caudal peduncle, were recorded from the left side only. The abbreviations of Hubbs and Lagler (1958) were followed for various meristic characters. In the case of Dorsal, it is cited as ‘D’. The number of spines are shown in upper case Roman numerals, unbranched rays in lower case Roman numerals and branched rays by Arabic numerals (for example D. III, i, 31-36 means the first dorsal fin has three spines and the second dorsal fin has one unbranched ray and thirty one to thirty six branched rays). The number of Pectoral rays shown as P.i, 11-12, meaning the presence of one unbranched ray on the upper side of the pectoral fin and eleven to twelve branched rays. The count of caudal fin rays includes all the branched rays plus two unbranched rays, one above and the


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Satish Sahayak, K. K. Joshi and V. Sriramachandra Murty other below. The method of counting scales from origin of the second dorsal to base of anal is shown in Fig.3. A. The anterior and posterior margin of first dorsal spine is described in same figure. The lateral line is interrupted in some species,

rakers present on the C- shaped gill arches is given in Arabic numerals. In trigger fishes, the upper and lower limbs of gill arches cannot be distinguished. Attempts were made to collect adequate number of specimens of each species. However as already stated, the landings of Balistids are poor and only two species (Sufflamen fraenatus and Zenodon niger) are common. For the rest of the species only a few specimens could be collected. Hence in the case of seven species, the descriptions were made on the basis of less than thirty specimens.

Fig.3A consisting of anterior curved portion and the posterior straight portion, in such cases the range of lateral line scales in the anterior portion is given first followed by posterior portion. In most of the species the lateral line is continuous. The teeth and spines in the ventral flap, are described with suitable figures. The scales on cheek, body, abdomen and caudal peduncle were studied using stereo zoom microscope under different magnification, which ranged from 5x - 20x, (Fig. 3.B); the marked area indicates the position of the scales which were studied. To study the arrangement, shape and

The descriptions of species were made on the basis of specimens collected from one locality and such specimens were indicated in “Material examined”. The specimens collected from other localities were used for comparison and supplementing the description and such material was indicated in the “Additional material examined”. The frequency distribution of meristic characters together with estimated values of mean, standard deviation and standard error are given for all species. Colour description was always based on fresh specimens. Specimens of certain species were not available in fresh condition; in such cases colour descriptions were made from formalin-preserved specimens. Certain terms used for the description of shape of body, teeth and fins are as follows: rhomboid, oval, rectangular, concave, convex and diamond shaped.

Scale terminology For describing scales the following terminologies were used. 1. Anterior margin: - embedded part, anterior margin of the scale (Fig. 4.A) 2. Posterior margin: - exposed part, posterior margin of scale when scale is on fish. (Fig.4.A) 3. Protuberances: - a projection on the scale surface which is ridge-like (Fig.4.B), round (Fig.4.C), spiny antrose or retrose (Fig.4.D & E). Fig.3B morphology of the scale. Photographs taken during the study were arranged in the figures given at the end of the species description of each species. After this initial study, scales with skin were dissected out and boiled in 5% KOH solution for 5 minutes to separate the scales from tissue and study its shape and arrangement of protuberances. For this the scales were first examined under the stereo zoom microscope and later the scales were treated in 1% osmium tetra oxide and coated with gold in the gold spatter for observing under scanning electron microscope. The observations were made in the Hitachi H600 electron microscope having an H6010-A scanning electron microscope attachment, in magnification of 100x and 200x. The nasal apertures were also studied under similar magnifications; the figures of these are presented in the species description of each species. The number of gill 16 February - 8 March 2015

Body shape The fishes of the family Balistidae have a laterally compressed body. Most of the species have rhomboid or an oval shaped body, where as some have an oval-elongate body.

Second dorsal and anal fin The unpaired fins, second dorsal and the anal fins display symmetry in these fishes. The shapes are species specific. These fins can be divided into two types based on the height, 1) fins with height less than half the depth of the body; 2) fins with height more than half the depth of the body. The fins belonging to the first category are mostly rectangular, transparent, thick at base thin at the top with different types of outer borders, which range from straight (Fig.5.A), convex (Fig.5.B), elevated at the anterior (Fig.5.C) and wavy edged (Fig.5.D). The rays in these fins are almost of the same length except in some cases the anterior rays are the longest


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Taxonomy of fishes of the family Balistidae in India


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Satish Sahayak, K. K. Joshi and V. Sriramachandra Murty

Fig.5 The second dorsal fin of the fishes of the family Balistidae



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compared to the other rays “elevated at the anterior”. In case of “convex” the middle rays are the longest. The fins belonging to the second type have a concave upper border (Fig.5.E) with the base being thick and upper margin thin, in some case wavy, the anterior longest ray gives a appearance of a separate lobe, posterior most rays being less than half the length of the first ray.

Teeth Balistids have two types of teeth, arranged in two separate rows on the upper jaw. The inner row consisting of three teeth, which is pear shaped to rectangular shaped having thin and sharp edge, placed in the interdental gap of the outer teeth. The outer row has four teeth, the first teeth are flat and projects outside. The lower jaw has a single row of four teeth.

Fig.6 Teeth pattern in the fishes of the family Balistidae

Based on the shape of the first and second teeth of the upper and lower jaws, five types have been identified. They are as


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jaw rectangular but teeth of lower jaw rectangular with a concave tip, the second teeth caniniform and orange coloured (Fig.6.C). 4) The first teeth of upper jaw conical with pointed tip diverging outside, the first teeth of the lower jaw also conical with the tip diverging towards the inside, rest of the teeth of both jaws with a rectangular base, with a conical projection, towards the anterior. (Fig.6.D). 5) All the teeth of upper jaw rectangular with serrated edge (Fig.6.E). The teeth of the lower jaw symmetrical to upper jaw, but directed inwards.

Nasal aperture

Fig.7 The nasal apertures of the fishes of the family Balistidae

follows: 1) The first and the second teeth conical (Dagger shaped), with tips pointed and directed inward (Fig.6.A). 2) The first and the second teeth rectangular with the tip convex towards the inside (Fig.6.B). 3) The first teeth of the upper 16 February - 8 March 2015

The nasal apertures - anterior and posterior, are situated in small depression along the anterior border of the eye. The anterior nasal aperture has different shapes, which is species specific but the posterior aperture is similar in all species. Based on the shape of the anterior nasal aperture five types have been identified. 1) Funnel shaped with edges decurved and a lobe towards the posterior (Fig.7.A). 2) Dome shaped with a pore at the tip (Fig.7.B). 3) Tube like with an irregular edge, in some it is a short tube, which is directed forward (Fig.7.C). 4) The anterior nasal aperture has a circular flap bend over the circular opening (Fig.7.D). 5) Dome shaped with a circular opening, guarded by a fleshy cone from inside (Fig.7.E).


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Gills Trigger fishes have 4 pairs of gills, supported on C- shaped branchial arch. The outer most branchial arch possesses gill rakers. Based on the shape they are divided into five types. 1) Slender, hyaline, pointed and elongated (Fig.8.A). 2) Short and conical with pointed tip (Fig.8.B). 3) Blunt with globular protuberances towards inside (Fig.8.C). 4) Pointed with bristles towards the inside (Fig.8.D). 5) Blunt tipped, hyaline, serrated towards the inside (Fig.8.E).

Scales a) Morphology

Fig.8 Gill rakers of the fishes of the family Balistidae

In trigger fishes scales on body and caudal peduncle are diamond-shaped where as scales on cheek and abdomen are rhomboid, rectangular, square or round shaped with the round edges. These scales have a dorsal exposed part called posterior margin and a ventral basal plate called anterior


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Fig.9 Arrangement of protuberances on cheek, body, abdomen and caudal peduncle scales in the fishes of the family Balistidae



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Taxonomy of fishes of the family Balistidae in India margin (Fig.4.A). The anterior margin forms anterior part of the basal plate, which is embedded in the dermis. Based on the position of the scale on the body, the width of the anterior margin varies. It is widest in the scales found on the body and narrowest on the scales on cheek. The posterior margin consists of horizontal or vertical rows of ridges, round protuberances, antrose spines or retrose spines. Arrangement and type are species specific. At the centre of the posterior margin is present the central canal (minute pore). The morphology and arrangement of scales on cheek, body, abdomen and caudal peduncle are described below. i) Cheek These scales have “