Abstract
Trochus niloticus (Linnaeus 1767) is a marine gastropod that belongs to the Order Archaeogastropoda and Family Trochidae. The present status survey on Trochus niloticus was carried out during August 2009 to March 2010 at 79 stations covering entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands to assess their distribution and standing stock on its natural beds parameters along with the primary and secondary productivities in their ambience. Extensive undersea and intertidal surveys revealed that the occurrence of Trochus niloticus throughout the sublittoral zone of continental shelf of Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago up to the depth of 20 m. The density of Trochus niloticus found in the depth ranges between 10 and 20 m at all the places of study. The mean density of Trochus niloticus varied from 6 shells/100 m2 in the coastal waters of South Andaman to 15 shells/100 m2 in Nancowry Islands. The abundance of Trochus niloticus was maximum in Nancowry group of Islands, and it recorded up to 20 shells/100 m3, and also the larger specimen up to the maximum size of 13.62 cm has been observed at this region. The observations of the present study revealed that the density and size of the Trochus niloticus is comparatively higher in the Nicobar group of Islands than Andaman group. Apart from that, Middle and North Andaman were shown to have moderately high density of animals.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, for providing necessary facilities to undertake the survey. Financial support provided by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to carry out the study is gratefully acknowledged.
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Raghunathan, C., Sivaperuman, C., Venkataraman, K. (2012). Status and Distribution of Trochus niloticus (Linnaeus 1767) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In: Venkataraman, K., Raghunathan, C., Sivaperuman, C. (eds) Ecology of Faunal Communities on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28335-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28335-2_6
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