Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Distribution of siphonophores along the west coast of India and the Laccadive Sea

Volume 17 Issue 1

K.Rengarajanan

Abstract

A study has been made of the occurrence and distribution of siphonophores of the west coast of India and the Laccadive Sea based on 331 epipelagic zooplankton samples collected during the cruises of R. V. Varuna. A total of 47 species have been identified and their distribution pattern along the coast and in the oceanic regions determined. Based on their distribution in space, the species are broadly classified into neritic forms, oceanic forms and the species occurring both in the neritic and oceanic waters. Six species belong to the neritic region, fifteen to the) oceanic region and twenty six species are distributed in both the oceanic and the neritic waters. The meso and bathy pelagic siphonophores Marrus orthocannoides, Bargmania elongata. Rosacea plicata, Lensia lelouveteau, Abyla haeckeli and Heteropyramis maculata were encountered in the upper 200 m layer and their occurrence in the epipelagic region is of interest.

Frillagalma vityazi, Amphicaryon peltifera, A. ernesti and Marrus orthocannoides have been recorded from the Indian Coast for the first time.

The possibility of using siphonophores particularly Marrus orthocannoides and Lensia lelouveteau as indicators of upwelling in oceanic regions in the Arabian Sea is also discussed.

Date : 30-04-1975