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Observations were made on 2 beaches during the premonsoon period (January to March) when conditions were relatively stable. The beach below the berm at Cochin is 14 m wide with a slope of I in 8.5, and at Shertallai 40 m wide with a slope of I in 16. The well-sorted sand has a mean particle size of 275 ~ at Cochin and 175 ~ at Shertallai. The amount of chlorophyll attached to sand grains is very small. Chlorophyll in the water varies between 0.9 and 13.0 ~g/1. Carbon in the sand amounts to 210 to 630 ~.g/g, and in the water to 355 to 3660~g/1. Throughout observations, the water temperature remained about 3t ~ but on the dry sand surface it reached 50 ~ Fauna zonation on the 2 beaches is similar to that of other tropical beaches; crabs of the genus Ocypode and the isopod Eurydice sp. occur at high water mark, the polychaetes of the genera Glycera, Onuphis, Scoloplos and Lumbrinereis in the mid-intertidal region and below; the tidal migrants Bullia melanoides (Gastropods), Donax incarnatus and D. spiculum (Bivalvia) and Emerita holthuisi (Crustacea) inhabit the wash zone of the surf. The average biomass is 0.73 g carbon/m 2 at Shertallai and 0.85 g C/m 2 at Cochin, where fewer species are present. This compares with a value of 0.63 g C/m 2 for a sandy beach on the west coast of Scotland.

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