Trochus and turbo fishery in Andamans

The seas around Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a rich ground for a variety of commercially important molluscs. Among the sea shells, trosuch or top shell and turbo or turban shells have unique position for their utility and abundance

Ashtamudi Clam Fisheries: The First MSc Certified Fishery from India

Ashtamudi lake (Lat. 8° 45' - 9° 26' N and Long 76° 28' - 77° 17'E) is the second largest and deepest wetland ecosystem in Kollam District of Kerala in the South West Coast of India with a water spread of 61.4 km2 (6140 ha). The estuary is palm shaped with eight prominent arms and the arms converge into a single outlet at Neendakara to enter into Lakshadweep Sea. The Kallada river which originate from the Western Ghats traverse through the forests 120km and empty the freshwater into the lake. The water spread area from the Neendakara barmouth u p to 6-7 km upstream is the estuarine p a r t of the lake with rich biodiversit

ചിപ്പി വര്‍ഗ വിഭവങ്ങള്‍ (Marine molluscs)

Molluscs are soft-bodied non-segmented invertebrates, popularly known as shellfish, though not a fish in the strict sense. The soft body of molluscs is protected by an outer casing, usually hard, composed of calcareous material without an internal skeleton. In cephalopods viz. squid, cuttlefish and wtopus, an internal skeleton is present. Almost 600 million years back, during Cambrian period, these animals appeared on earth and it was in 1757 that Linaaeus first clamifled them under molluscs

Trochus and turbo fishery in Andamans

The sea around Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a rich ground for a variety of commercially important molluscs. Among the sea shells, troehus or top shell and turbo or turban shells occupy a unique position for their utility and abundance

Recent development in molluscan aquaculture in India

Aquaculture has been in existence or centuries as a traditional practice in India mainly for freshwater finfishes and brackishwater shrimp production. Only in recent years emphasis was given to develop coastal aquaculture with focus on increased production and to generate more income and employment opportunities for the artisanal and smallscale coastal fishing communitie

Status of marine pearl culture of India

The pearls produced by the Indian pearl oyster Pinctadafucata have been acclaimed globally as the Oriental Pearls. During the last five years, the Institute has made concerted efforts to upgrade pearl production methodology by developing new techniques for pearl production through tissue cultured pearl at the Tuticorin Research Centre of CMFRI. Efforts were also made to produce large pearls (>6 mm), which are highly priced in the international market. The technique for mabe pearls production has also been developed in P.fucata. The advances made in research and development of marine pearl culture in India with a note on the problems faced by the industry and the potential for development of pearl culture in India is presented in the paper

Molluscan resources and management strategies

Since the dawn of human civilization molluscs have a tremendous impact on Indian tradition and economy. In India, molluscs have been in great demand as ornaments, currency, as popular panacea for illnesses and as mascot for ward off evil spirits in olden days. Now, molluscs have assumed greater significance in our industrial, technological and aesthetic aspects of life, in addition to edible utility. Several species of gastropods and bivalves are traditionally fished for food and shell from time immemorial. The exploitation of cephalopods began recently and became large scale operation after the introduction of mechanized trawling. About 80,000 - 1,00,000 species of molluscs are recorded from the world over and a total of 3271 species are recorded from India. They are represented in 220 families and 591 genera and the spectrum comprise of 1900 gastropods, 1100 bivalves 210 cephalopods 41 polyplacophores and 20 scaphopods (edible and ornamental) and 14 species of cephalopods are exploited on commercial basis in India

Molluscan resources of India- Winter School on Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Marine Fisheries – Building Mass Balance Trophic and Simulation Models

India is endowed with rich and diverse bio-resources and the molluscs are not an exception. Molluscs are a heterogenous group of animals both in shape and diversity and are represented by amphineura, gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods and scaphopods. Most of the molluscs inhabit the marine environment and very few dwells in the terrestrial and freshwater habitats. About 8,000-10,000 species of molluscs were recorded from the world over and a total of 3,271 species are reported from India (Subba Rao, 1991). They are represented in 220 families and 591 genera and the spectrum comprises 190 gastropods, 1,100 bivalves, 210 cephalopods, 41 polyplacophores and 20 scaphopods

Potential and prospects of mariculture in India

Aquaculture is an activity primarly originated in Asian countries from time immemorial. During the past 50 years, aquaculture practices have spread to all continents showing faster growth rate

Techniques for quality pearl production

The success of pearl production adopting culture techniques depend on the quality of pearls rather than the quantity produced. It is quiet evident that the cost of production would go up in future and hence pearl quality alone can meet their challenges to make profits in this industry. There is long way to go to meet the challenges through application of advanced biotechnological tools for quality pearl production