The bubble snails (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) of Mozambique: an overlooked biodiversity hotspot

This first account, dedicated to the shallow water marine heterobranch gastropods of Mozambique is presented with a focus on the clades Acteonoidea and Cephalaspidea. Specimens were obtained as a result of sporadic sampling and two dedicated field campaigns between the years of 2012 and 2015, conducted along the northern and southern coasts of Mozambique. Specimens were collected by hand in the intertidal and subtidal reefs by snorkelling or SCUBA diving down to a depth of 33 m. Thirty-two species were found, of which 22 are new records to Mozambique and five are new for the Western Indian Ocean. This account raises the total number of shallow water Acteonoidea and Cephalaspidea known in Mozambique to 39 species, which represents approximately 50 % of the Indian Ocean diversity and 83 % of the diversity of these molluscs found in the Red Sea. A gap in sampling was identified in the central swamp/mangrove bio-region of Mozambique, and therefore, we suggest that future research efforts concentrate on or at least consider this region.publishedVersio

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Not AvailableThe current study was carried out to document molluscs that are caught in lobster nets (Singhi valai), an indigenous gear operated by fishers in the Gulf of Mannar to harvest lobsters, crabs and fishes. This net is operated in depths up to 15 m from the traditional country craft, Vallam' . A total of 73 species of marine molluscs from class Bivalvia (32 species belonging to 4 families) and Gastropoda (41 species belonging to 27 families) have been documented. Vulsella vulsella was dominant (1235%) among bivalves Avhereas Lambis lambis was dominant (143%) among the gastropods. The family Veneridae in bivalves (29%) and the family Strombidae in gastropods (17%) contributed the highest among the documented molluscs.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableCommercial scale cultivation of Kappaphycus alvarezii, an introduced seaweed species has proved to be a profitable alternate livelihood in Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu, India since 2003. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the decadal changes in water quality during the period of large scale commercial cultivation of K. alvarezii. The hydrographic and water quality parameters were measured following standard procedures across three seasons (southwest monsoon, northeast monsoon and spring inter-monsoon). Consistently significant variations were not observed for the physico-chemical parameters between the culture and control sites in all the three culture locations during the three seasons. The observed variations were mostly site-specific. Statistical analyses revealed that there is no consistent variation of physico-chemical parameters in the study area in relation to the culture, control and reference sites. A comparison of the current study and previously reported aggregate data in this context indicated that the nutrient concentration was significantly higher during the current study than when compared to the pre-culture and initiation stages of culture, indicating no depletion in nutrient content due to seaweed culture. Moreover, long-term changes are insignificant in the Palk Bay region because of the influence of the Bay of Bengal waters seasonally enriched with inorganic nutrients from the major rivers draining into it during monsoon and the transport of nutrients across the coastal waters by the coastal and tidal currents. Therefore, the variations in the physico-chemical properties cannot be directly attributed as an impact of seaweed cultivation in Palk Bay. Rather, the changes were observed to be seasonal and found to be within the range already reported for this part of the coast.Not Availabl