Additional Records of Macrobenthic Fauna in and Around Marine National Park and Sanctuary, Gujarat, India

Geeta Padate, Ankita Viradiya, Sunita Salunke and Ruzbeh Mirza^*

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

*Corresponding Author : Ruzbeh Mirza
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Tel: +91 9428381020
E-mail: ruzbeh23@gmail.com

Received: January 02, 2018 Accepted: February 13, 2018 Published: February 20, 2018

Citation: Padate G, Viradiya A, Salunke S, Mirza R (2018) Additional Records of Macrobenthic Fauna in and Around Marine National Park and Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. J Mar Biol Oceanogr 7:2. doi: 10.4172/2324-8661.1000189

Additional Records of Macrobenthic Fauna in and Around Marine National Park and Sanctuary, Gujarat, India

Coral reefs serving as shelter and food to many marine organisms’ world over are under the threat of bleaching due to global warming and climate change. Hence documenting the rare fauna from such habitats becomes important. The Gulf of Kachchh with its 42 islands, in western Gujarat, India has been rich in terms of marine diversity. Since, the Southern Gulf of Kachchh has its mouth opening towards the Arabian Sea the place has opportunity of having species that might migrate towards the gulf along with the tidal flow, Arabian Sea currents and the movement of vessels from world over. During our studies at Shivrajpur, Poshitra and Narara coastal reefs we have encountered three species i.e. Botrylloides diegensis, Marivagia stellata, Heteractis malu and three genus i.e. Neozoanthus spp., Ecteinascidia spp., Thysanozoon spp. that are new to the Southern Gulf of Kachchh region and Gujarat coast. We report the same over here.