Pea crab Arcotheres alcocki (Rathbun, 1909) as endoparasite of the backwater clam Meretrix casta (Chemnitz, 1782)

1067-1070Occurrence of Arcotheres alcocki (Rathbun, 1909) (synonymous with Pinnotheres alcocki) in the mantle cavity of the backwater clam Meretrix casta (Chemnitz, 1782) of Bahuda and Rushikulya estuaries (Odisha), east coast of India is reported in this paper. It is the first record of A. alcocki occurring as parasite in M. casta from Indian coasts and also the first report on the occurrence of pea crab from Odisha coast. Visible damage to the body tissue of the infested clams was noticed which suggests that the clam fishery of this region is susceptible for parasitic attack by A. alcocki

Impact of climate change on marine plankton with special reference to Indian Seas

259-268The seas surrounding India, namely Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB) with their associated coastal embayments form one of the highly productive areas and biodiversity hotspots in the tropics contributing profusely to the socio-economic front of the region. Therefore, acquiring knowledge on the climate change scenario of this region and its impacts on marine ecosystems in general and planktons, in particular, is considered crucial for better resilience. In fact, several attempts have been made of late to understand the climate change impacts on plankton, corals and mangroves of this region. In this article, we tried to update the climate change scenario of Indian seas and its impact on plankton communities based on the information gathered from the peer reviewed publications and scientific reports. Results of this review have shown that the global warming generated SST (Sea Surface Temperature) rise and sea water acidification related pH fall have affected the species composition, abundance, phenology and metabolic pathways of plankton populations in this region

Marine molluscs as a potential drug cabinet: an overview

961-970Marine molluscs have emerged as an important source containing numerous unique secondary metabolites which could be used for development of new drugs against many communicable and non-communicable deadly diseases. The current status of biologically active compounds extracted, identified and isolated from marine molluscs and tested for their anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activities together with important compounds isolated from them such as Dolastatin 10 & 15, Kahalalide F, Keenamide A, Spisulosine-ES-285 etc. which possess anti-cancer and Ziconotide having anti-inflammatory properties are discussed in this paper

Seasonal variation of phytoplankton community in Gopalpur Creek: a tropical tidal backwater ecosystem, East Coast of India

Present study consists of phytoplankton community of Gopalpur creek in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon season There was a significant seasonal variation in water temperature (p < 0.01). Salinity and pH varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the stations. Chlorophyll a and phytoplankton density found to vary significantly (p < 0.01) among seasons rather than the stations. A total of 99 phytoplankton species were identified. Diatoms formed 77, dinoflagellates 14, green algae five, blue green algae two and cocolithophore one species. Phytoplankton species composition was found dissimilar in the three seasons. In pre-monsoon Noctiluca scintillans, Thalassiothrix longissima, Odontella sinensis, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Coscinodiscus gigas, Rhizosolenia alata formed the dominant species. In monsoon, Rhizosolenia alata, Pleurosigma elongatum, Melosira sulcata, Amphora coastatum, Rhizosolenia setigera dominated the phytoplankton population. In post-monsoon Odontella sinensis, Rhizosolenia setigera, Coscinodiscus gigas, Thalassiothrix longissima, Noctiluca scintillans, Oscillatoria spp. dominated. Univariate diversity indices showed maximum diversity during post-monsoon. Pielou’s evenness (J’) and Simpson’s dominance have shown little variation among the season

Seasonal variation of phytoplankton community in Gopalpur Creek: a tropical t idal backwater ecosystem, East Coast of India

622-634Present study consists of phytoplankton community of Gopalpur creek in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon season There was a significant seasonal variation in water temperature (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">p pH varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the stations. Chlorophyll a and phytoplankton density found to vary significantly (p < 0.01) among seasons rather than the stations. A total of 99 phytoplankton species were identified. Diatoms formed 77, dinoflagellates 14, green algae five, blue green algae two and cocolithophore one species. Phytoplankton species composition was found dissimilar in the three seasons. In pre-monsoon Noctiluca scintillans, Thalassiothrix longissima, Odontella sinensis, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Coscinodiscus gigas, Rhizosolenia alata formed the dominant species. In monsoon, Rhizosolenia alata, Pleurosigma elongatum, Melosira sulcata, Amphora coastatum, Rhizosolenia setigera dominated the phytoplankton population. In post-monsoon Odontella sinensis, Rhizosolenia setigera, Coscinodiscus gigas, Thalassiothrix longissima, Noctiluca scintillans, Oscillatoria spp. dominated. Univariate diversity indices showed maximum diversity during post-monsoon. Pielou’s evenness (J’) and Simpson’s dominance have shown little variation among the seasons. </span

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-US">Dominance of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Trichodesmium</i> and associated biological and physico-chemical parameters in coastal water of Port Blair, South Andaman Island</span>

1739-1745<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Dominance of the cyanobacteria <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Trichodesmium was observed in the plankton samples collected from the coastal water of Port Blair during May, 2011. No discernible change in the colour of the surface water was observed. However the cumulative samples collected using plankton net were red in colour. The number of Trichodesmium filaments and colonies were found increasing towards the open sea region. Two species of cyanobacteria viz. Trichodesmium thiebautii and Trichodesmium erythraeum were identified. The number of filaments of T. thiebautii were 10 to 15 times more than that of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">T. erythraeum. The inorganic phosphate and ammonia concentrations were higher during the time of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Trichodesmium dominance. The diatom <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Navicula membranaceae was the second dominating species followed by Nitzschia seriata, N. closterium and Leptocylindrus danicus. In case of zooplankton, the harpacticoid copepods such as Macrosetella spp., Microsetella spp. and cyclopoid copepods like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Copilia spp., Sapphirina spp. were found abundant. Reason for the Trichodesmium dominance in the nearshore water of Port Blair could be due to its stable coastal water conditions during summer. </span

Zooplankton community distribution along offshore transects of some Indian estuaries of east coast: A taxonomic investigation during a summer cruise

1781-1791<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:="" en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Zooplankton abundance and composition were studied by selecting offshore transects of seven estuaries <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">viz. Pennar, Krishna, Godavari, Gosthani, Rushikulya, Devi and Mahanadi along east coast of India during April, 2011. During the study period, sea surface temperature (SST) varied from 27.9°C to 28.3°C with an average of 28.1°C. Salinity varied from 33.0 to 35.0 PSU with an average of 34.5 PSU.  Different zooplankton groups belonging to 13 phyla were recorded from seven transects. Copepods dominated the community with 50.5 to 96.8%. Calanoids, namely Paracalanus parvus, P. aculeatus, Temora turbinata were common in all the transects studied. <span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:="" en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"="" lang="EN-GB">The Shannon’s diversity index (H´) was found highest in Pennar (2.666) and lowest in Godavari transect (1.785). From cluster analysis and non-parametric multidimensional scaling (nMDS), it is observed that the species composition was changing from north to south of the study area. </span