Mesozooplankton Distribution in Kavaratti Atoll, Lakshadweep Archipelago, South West Coast of India with Special Reference to Calanoid Copepods

Abstract

Lakshadweep archipelago is a group of coral Islands on the West coast of the Arabian Sea. It is one among the unique coral atolls in India that are well known for several species of fishes and other biotic resources. Seasonal variation in mesozooplankton, particularly of copepod abundance and distribution in the inner and outer lagoon of Kavaratti atoll were studied during April 2013 (premonsoon), September 2013 (monsoon) and January 2014 (postmonsoon). Copepods were the most dominant taxa in all the stations and seasons, that accounted 44.15 to 85.97% of the total mesozooplankton abundance. Ostracoda (premonsoon), crustacean larvae (monsoon) and chaetognaths (postmonsoon) formed the abundant groups in the respective seasons. Mesozooplankton community in the study area exhibits temporal variation corresponding to the variation in abiotic parameters therefore can be used as potential indicators of water quality. Calanoid copepods formed the dominant taxa during monsoon and postmonsoon, while cyclopoid copepods dominated during premonsoon. Among the copepods, species of the family Candacidae, Calanidae, Pontellidae, Temoridae, Psuedodiaptomidae, Centropagidae and Oithonidae were predominant. The ten species of calanoids were previously not reported from Kavaratti atoll, in Lakshadweep.

Seasonal variation of copepod community structure in Chavara coast along the Southern Kerala, India

“…This region is world famous for its rich heavy mineral resources like rutile and ilmenite. Seasonal variation of copepod community structure was studied by different authors in different regions of India (Perumal ., 2009;Santhanam ., 2012;Stephen et al, 2013;Sanu ., 2014). However, the information on zooplankton and copepod species diversity from the coastal waters of Southern Kerala (Robin ., 2009;Jeyaraj ., 2014;Vineetha ., 2015;Cleetus ., 2016) is still sparse.…”