Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Biodiversity in fouling species at Karanja Jetty (Mumbai), west coast of India

Volume 53 Issue 2

*B.S. Swami, M. Udhayakumar and S.N. Gaonkar doi: 10.6024/jmbai.2011.53.2.01654-14

Abstract

The study on assessment of fouling species was carried out for a period of 16 months (February 2002– May, 2003) at Karanja jetty in Mumbai harbour (lat.18° 55' N; long.72° 50' E). The biofouling was examined with regard to its species abundance (density) species composition (diversity) and biomass (dry wt.). Forty eight species were recorded during the study period. The species recorded belonged to phylum Annelida (6 species), Ectoprocta (21), Arthropoda (3), Mollusca (4), Tunicata (3), Coelenterata (4), Porifera (2) and others 5 species. The number of species settled at Karanja ranged from 8 to 26. The highest number of species recorded was in April 2003 and lowest in March 2002. Of the 48 recorded species, 5 were new records from the region. The study revealed that the density varied significantly from month to month and season to season. The density recorded was significantly more during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon than recorded during the monsoon (p<0.00005 and p< 0.005). Pre-monsoon showed high density than post-monsoon. The species recorded during the pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon were 17 ± 4, 16 ± 4 and 19 ± 3 respectively. The species settled during pre-monsoon were significantly less than those settled in post-monsoon (p<0.05). Monthly variations were observed in biomass only. It varied between 3.4 and 89 g/m2. The highest biomass recorded was 89.0 ± 34.0 g/m2 during which as many as 21 fouling species including barnacles contributed to the biomass build-up.

Keywords

Biofouling, seasonal variations, species composition, biomass, biodiversity

Date : 09-02-2012