A new species of Corallana Dana, 1852 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Corallanidae) from the Andaman Islands, northern Indian Ocean.

Corallana mishrai sp. nov. collected from dead mangrove roots at Kodiyaghat, South Andaman, Andaman Islands, India is described and illustrated in detail. Corallana mishrai sp. nov. the first definitive record of the genus from India, is characterized by: frontal lamina with short straight (or very weakly convex) lateral margins and the anterior margin forming a strong acute median point; pleotelson length 0.76 greatest width, posterior margin with 5 robust setae; uropodal exopod 7 times longer than greatest width, extending beyond endopod by one fourth of its length; endopod lateral margin slightly convex with 4 RS and PMS, apex forms a slightly obtuse angle with long simple setae, mesial margin weakly convex with 2 RS and PMS; mandible bidentate; transverse row of 6 tubercles present on pereonite 1 and pleonites 2, 3 and 4 lacking lateral tubercles. The status of the genus and its species are reviewed, and two species are transferred to new combinations: Argathona kulai (Bruce, 1982) comb. nov. and Tachaea bidentata (Jones et al. 1983) comb. nov.

A new species of Aphantolana Moore amp; Brusca, 2003 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cirolanidae) from the Andaman Islands, northern Indian Ocean.

Aphantolana wandoor sp. nov. is described from intertidal algae in South Andaman, Andaman Islands. Aphantolana wandoor sp. nov. is characterized by the uropodal exopod posterolateral margin with a slight concavity, mesial margin evenly convex with 2 robust setae, pleotelson posterolateral lateral margin concave, weakly sinuate.

Mesozooplankton distribution near an active volcanic island in the Andaman Sea (Barren Island).

The study addresses the distribution and diversity of mesozooplankton near the active volcano-Barren Island (Andaman Sea) in the context of persistent volcanic signature and warm air pool existing for the last few months. Sampling was done from the stations along the west and east side of the volcano up to a depth of 1,000 m during the inter monsoon (April) of 2006. Existence of feeble warm air pool was noticed around the Island (Atm. Temp. 29°C). Sea surface temperature recorded as 29.9°C on the west and 29.6°C on the east side stations. High mesozooplankton biomass was observed in the study area than the earlier reports. High density and biomass observed in the surface layer decreased significantly to the deeper depths. Lack of correlation was observed between mesozooplankton biomass and density with chl. a. Twenty-three mesozooplankton taxa were observed with copepoda as the dominant taxa followed by chaetognatha. The relative abundance of chaetognatha considerably affected the copepod population density in the surface layer. A noticeable feature was the presence of cumaceans, a hyperbenthic fauna in the surface, mixed layer and thermocline layer on the western side station where the volcano discharges in to the sea. The dominant order of copepoda, the calanoida was represented by 52 species belonging to 17 families. The order poecilostomatoida also had a significant contribution. Copepods exhibited a clear difference in their distribution pattern in different depth layers. The families Calanidae and Pontellidae showed a clear dominance in the surface whereas small-sized copepods belonging to the families Clausocalanidae and Paracalanidae were observed as the predominant community in the mixed layer and thermocline layer depth. Families Metridinidae, Augaptilidae and Aetideidae were observed as dominant in deeper layers.

Influence of environmental properties on macrobenthos in the northwest Indian shelf.

The paper deals with the standing stock of macrobenthic infauna and associated environmental factors influencing the benthic community in the shelf region of the northwest Indian coast. The data were collected onboard FORV Sagar Sampada during the winter monsoon (January-February, 2003) to understand the community structure and the factors influencing the benthic distribution. The environmental parameters, sediment characteristics and macrobenthic infauna were collected at 26 stations distributed in the depths between 30 and 200 m extending from Mormugao to Porbander. Total benthic abundance was high in lower depths (50-75 m), and low values noticed at 30 m depth contour was peculiar. Polychaetes were the dominant group and were more abundant in shallow and middle depths with moderate organic matter, clay and relatively high dissolved oxygen. On the other hand crustaceans and molluscs were more abundant in deeper areas having sandy sediment and low temperature. High richness and diversity of whole benthic groups observed in deeper depths counter balanced the opposite trend shown by polychaete species. Generally benthos preferred medium grain sized texture with low organic matter and high organic matter had an adverse effect especially on filter feeders. Deposit feeding polychaetes dominated in shallow depths while carnivore species in the middle depths. Ecologically, benthos were controlled by a combination of factors such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, sand and organic matter and no single factor could be considered as an ecological master factor.