Littoral meiofauna of Bhitarkanika mangroves of river Mahanadi system, east coast of India

Abstract

221-224Meiofaunal investigations of Bhitarkanika mangrove sediments revealed the presence of 11 major faunal taxa, of which nematodes were the dominant. Higher densities (no.1 m(-2)) of meiofauna were observed in low water mark (143.68 cm(-2)) and mid water mark (119.2 cm(-2)) at 0-5 cm depth. A positive correlation between meiofaunal densisties and median sorted sediments with high organic matter was observed. Harpacticoid copepod density (28.74 cm(-2)) was found to be 2 times higher than that reported for salt marsh. However, nematodes (108.78 cm(-2)) showed lower densities than those reported for other estuarine habitats