FAUNISTIC STUDIES ON MACROZOOPLANKTON AT SUNDARAPANDIAN PATTINAM AND MANAMELKUDI, BOTH LOCATIONS ALONG PALK STRAIT, TAMIL NADU, INDIA (9-10 degrees N, ARABIAN SEA)

摘要

Sundarapandian Pattinam and Manamelkudi are two locations situated on the east coast of Tamil Nadu, India (9 degrees 40'N 69 degrees 20'E), along Palk Strait, the sea channel between India and Sri Lanka, in the Arabian Sea. These sites are located in one of the most productives zones of the world's oceans and they were sampled from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. The present investigation has been made to study the distribution of planktonic copepods, in particular the occurrence of species in local assemblages, using null-model analysis. The results revealed that copepod assemblages can be considered random for Station I, whereas for Station II the species assemblages observed are not random. Hence, conservational measures are needed to protect the coastline of these two stations from too large an increase in aquacultural practice and an uncontrolled growth of fishery production, both intended for the economic upheaval of the local fishermen's communities.