Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Predation of corallivorous snail ( Drupella sp.) on the hard corals of Chetlat Atoll, Lakshadweep, India

 

Volume 61 Issue 2

P. P. Thaha and J. L. Rathod

10.6024/jmbai.2019.61.2.2126-12

Abstract

Coral reefs around the globe are deteriorating at an alarming rate due to anthropogenic and natural stresses, and predation by corallivorous snail is one of them. Coral predation by gastropod snail of the genus Drupella can cause damage to coral reefs. We observed Drupella snail predation on lagoon corals of Chetlat reef, Lakshadweep, India. Our study was to investigate the percentage of damage caused by Drupella sp. to corals, and its feeding preferences at three selected reef stations. We found that the percentage of Drupella affected colonies were more in Station-1 with (21.2%), followed by Station-2 (18.5%) and in Station-3 (10.5%) which was the least affected site. We also found that the Drupella snails were feeding on Scleractinian corals of four genera Acropora, Pocillopora, Isopora and Porites. Lastly our surveys revealed that Acropora as the most preferred prey species of Drupella on this reef followed by Pocillopora, Isopora and Porites . Our observations give evidence for the presence of corallivorous snail Drupella in declining coral reefs in Lakshadweep archipelago

Keywords

 Drupella, Acropora, Pocillopora, Isopora, Porites, Chetlat reef

Date : 30-03-2020