Abstract
A survey conducted to know the diversity of malacofauna in Vellar estuarine mangroves (southeast coast of India). In this study, 13 species of molluscs (10 species of gastropods - Melampus ceylonicus, Cerithidea cingulata, Cassidula nucleus, Pythia plicata, Neritina (Dostia) violacea, Littorina scabra, Littorina melanostoma, Ellobium aurisjudae, C. obtusa T. telescopium and Assiminea nitida and 3 species of bivalves - Perna viridis, Crassostrea madrasensis and Modiolus metcalfei were recorded. M. pulchella, C. obtusa, L. scabra and N. violacea were found arboreal. T. telescopium, C. cingulata and E. aurisjudae were found crawling on the intertidal mud.
Highlights
The river Vellar flowing on the southeastern coast of India originates in the Servarayan hills of Salem District (Tamil Nadu, southern India)
The macrobenthic molluscs of the estuary may be broadly grouped under three categories (1) arboreal, those live attached to stem and roots of mangrove vegetation (2) epifauna, lying on the mud of the intertidal area (3) infauna, burying themselves in the substratum
Out of the 13 species (10 species of gastropods and 3 species of bivalves) observed in the Vellar Estuary mangroves, 6 species were arboreal and the remaining 4 species of gastropods crawl on the muddy substratum
Summary
The river Vellar flowing on the southeastern coast of India originates in the Servarayan hills of Salem District (Tamil Nadu, southern India). The Vellar estuary (11029N & 79046E) is perennially open. The molluscs were hand picked in a transect of known area or a quadrate of known size. The infaunal bivalves were collected by digging the substratum.
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