Abstract
The present study provides a checklist of free-living marine nematode species from nine intertidal sites located along the central west coast of India covering an area between latitudes 16°33′08.47″ N and 16°38′50.75″ N and longitudes 073°19′30.13″ E and 073°23′34.97″ E. The list includes 33 species of marine nematodes belonging to 20 genera and 13 families. The occurrence of nematode species identified appears to be correlated to character of the sediments across sampled intertidal sites. Ten families were encountered in sandy sites while in muddy sites the number was ten. Three families, namely Camacolaimidae, Ironidae, and Microlaimidae, were exclusive to the sandy sites, while Anoplostomatidae, Comesomatidae, and Linhomoeidae were only found across muddy sites. Some of the dominant free-living marine nematode groups encountered across all sites was represented by the genera Ptycholaimellus, Viscosia, Oncholaimus, Halalaimus, and species such as Sphaerolaimus balticus and Metachromadora suecica.
Highlights
In estuarine and coastal sediments, free-living marine nematodes are usually dominant for abundance and diversity (e.g., Lambshead 2004)
The present study provides a checklist of freeliving marine nematode species from nine intertidal sites located along the central west coast of India covering an area between latitudes 16°33′08.47′′ N and 16°38′50.75′′ N and longitudes 073°19′30.13′′ E and 073°23′34.97′′ E
During the present study, 33 species were recorded from sampled sites and the dominant genera were Ptycholaimellus Cobb, 1920, Viscosia de Man, 1890, Oncholaimus Dujardin, 1845, Sphaerolaimus Bastian 1865, Halalaimus de Man, 1888, and Metachromadora Filipjev, 1918
Summary
In estuarine and coastal sediments, free-living marine nematodes are usually dominant for abundance and diversity (e.g., Lambshead 2004). Recent estimates have shown that marine nematode species number could be as high as 50,000 with 86% of the existing species waiting to be discovered (e.g., Appletans et al 2012) They are abundant in particulate shores, reaching their highest number in muddy estuaries and salt-marshes (around 20 million per m2) and lowest in very exposed sandy shores as well as in deep sea sediments (0.1 million per m2) (Balsamo et al 2010). Marine nematodes can be effectively used as bioindicators for environmental stress and pollution across the marine realms (Boyd et al 2000; Moreno et al 2011) Despite their ecological importance, studies of marine nematodes are largely neglected because their identification, which is predominantly based on morphological characters, requires taxonomic expertise (e.g., Platt and Warwick 1988; Bhadury et al 2008). The accuracy of the identification is fundamental to our understanding of ecological attributes of any organism in its environment
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