Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2017; 5(6): 2331-2336

E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 Annotated check list of the brachyuran JEZS 2017; 5(6): 2331-2336 © 2017 JEZS (Crustacea: ) from Gulf of Mannar Received: 18-09-2017 Accepted: 25-10-2017 region, south east coast of India

V Vidhya M.F. Sc Research Scholar,

Department of Fisheries Biology V Vidhya, P Jawahar and K Karuppasamy and Resources Management Fisheries College and Research Abstract Institute Tamil Nadu Fisheries The check list of brachyuran crabs studied from Therespuram, Vellapatti, Vethalai, Periyapattinam coast University Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India of Gulf of Mannar, south east coast of India. These landing centers show the maximum diversity. Moreover these four regions were taken for composition and diversity study. Totally 60 P Jawahar individual crab species were recorded belonging to 10 families and 24 genera from these landing centers. Professor, Department of The maximum crab species were recorded belonging to family Portunidae than other families. Among Fisheries Biology and Resources these four landing centers maximum diversity has been observed in Vedalai followed by Therespuram. Management Fisheries College Least diversity of brachyuran crabs has been documented from Vellapatti. Twenty six species from and Research Institute Tamil Portunidae, 10 species from , 6 species from , 4 species from Leucosidae, 3 species Nadu Fisheries University from Dorippidae, Majidae and Parthenopidae, 2 species from Matutidae and Carpiliidae and 1 species Thoothukudi Tamil Nadu, India from . The crabs families viz. Portunidae, Calappidae were obtained in almost all seasons from these landing centers. K Karuppasamy M.F. Sc Research Scholar, Keywords: Checklist, Brachyuran crabs, Decapoda, Family, Gulf of Mannar Department of Fisheries Biology and Resources Management Fisheries College and Research Introduction Institute Tamil Nadu Fisheries are highly valuable commodities by virtue of their pivotal role in the seafood University Thoothukudi, Tamil industry of the world. Many of the crabs are commercially important as a food source for Nadu, India people. Brachyuran crabs are a diverse group of crustaceans alive today. Crabs are one of the

important faunal communities serving as a good food source to human beings in the marine and brackish water ecosystems. Crabs are one of the ecologically important faunal communities in the marine ecosystem. They are filter feeders, sand cleaners, mud, plant and carrion feeders, predators, commensals and parasites. The marine water ecosystems such as estuaries, backwaters, saltwater, lakes, mangroves etc., which form the nursery grounds of

crabs, are increasingly encroached by various purposes. They are found with a higher diversity in reef environments and are also widespread on shallow shores and intertidal regions. They found at even 6000 m depths to the seas shore and are dominant in many estuarine habitats where salinity and temperatures can fluctuate dramatically daily [12]. In the present study an attempt has been made on the diversity of crabs from Gulf of Mannar region south east coast [4, 27] of India. Diversity of Brachyuran crabs in brackish water lakes of India and in the [5] mangrove environment of Tamil Nadu was studied by various authors . The brachyuran crab diversity studies are available in different areas like Arukkattuthurai – Pasipattinam [28], Chennai coast [23, 15], Gulf of Mannar areas [7], Pondicherry mangrove areas [19], Pichavaram mangrove areas [1], Parangipettai coast [8, 9, 18] and also from Mudasal Odai and

Nagapattinam. Besides, a general account of the crab fishery off Chennai also available for the [22] period of 1985-95 . There are 210 species of crabs were observed from Gulf of Mannar (CMFRI, 1969a and 1998) [2-3]. The dominant genera were Dromia, Cryptodromia, Ranina, Dorippe, , Scylla, Portunus, Charybdis, Thalamita, Demania, Leptodius, Atergatis, Correspondence Phymodius and Doclea. In Gulf of Mannar coast, crab resources are being exploited mainly by V Vidhya M.F. Sc Research Scholar, four different types of gears viz. trawlnet in the mechanized sector and bottom-set gillnet, Department of Fisheries Biology shore seines and “thallumadi” in the artisanal sector and their operation is restricted to shallow and Resources Management grounds up to 15 meters depth. From the previous reports on crab landings, it is observed that Fisheries College and Research the berried crabs of both P. sanguinolentus and P. pelagicus are under heavy fishing pressure. Institute Tamil Nadu Fisheries The reason for the population decline in portunid species might be due to the overharvesting University Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India by efficient fishing gear, destruction of nursery habitat, harvesting ovigerous females and ~ 2331 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies

inefficiency of crab management. Many fishermen started There are 21 islands covering an area of 623 ha. The islands adopting new harvesting techniques to increase the are occurring in 4 groups namely Mandapam group, harvesting capacity. As a result, the crab stocks in many Keezhakarai group, Vembar group and Tuticorin group. coastal areas are now in crisis. Therefore, it is necessary to There are no permanent inhabitants in these islands and conduct research on stock assessment with the goal of temporary camping by forest officials and fishermen for a enhancing the local crab population. The present study aims few days is common in some of the islands. The coral reefs to contribute to the knowledge of the richness of the are of fringing and patch types and extend from brachyuran crabs on the waters of south east coast of India Rameswaram to Tuticorin covering a distance of 140 km. and enable to mapping the biodiversity of crabs in the Gulf However, major part of the reef is fringing type arising from of Mannar coast. the shallow sea floor of not more than 5m in depth. About 3600 species of flora and fauna have been known to occur in Materials and methods this area in the past. However, this area is now facing severe a) Study area threat due to destruction of sensitive ecosystems like corals Gulf of Mannar covers approximately an area of 10,500 and seagrass through indiscriminate and intensive trawling, sq.km along 8° 35' N - 9° 25' N latitude and 78°08' E - 79° coral mining, dynamite fishing etc, commercialized fishing 30' E longitude. Gulf of Mannar situated in the southeastern of specific fauna such as sea fans, chanks, sea cucumber, sea coast of India extending from Rameswaram in the north to horses, and endangered species like dugongs and turtles. Tuticorin in the south along with its marine environment has These activities have depleted the resources and reduced the been declared as India's first Marine Biosphere Reserve. biological wealth of this region.

Fig 1: Sampling stations at Gulf of Mannar

a) Sample Collection Results and Discussion The present study was carried out for a period of 12 months In the present study totally 60 species belonging to 10 from June 2015 to June 2016 at Gulf of Mannar south east families– Calappidae, Dromiidae, Matutidae, Portinidae, coast of India. The study area was shown in Fig.1. The crabs Carpiliidae, Xanthidae, Dorippidae, Leucosidae, were collected every month of the year with a regular visit Parthenopidae and Majidae and 24 genera- Portunus, Scylla, was made in 4 different landing centers. The sample stations Podophthalmus, Charybdis, Thalamita, Calappa, Mursia, are Theraspuram, Vellapatti, Vethalai, Periyapattinam. The , Matuta, , Etisus, Dorippoides, first two stations Therespuram, Vellapatti are situated in Gaillardiellus, Demania, Atergatis, Halimede, Dorippe, Thoothukudi and Vedalai, Periyapattinam are in Leucosia, Parilia, Parthenope, Camposcia, Hyastenu, Rameswaram. In Theraspuram the Villanguchali (8.930 N Doclea and Arcania were recorded in different stations at and 78.260 E) island and Karai chali island (8.950 N and Gulf of Mannar (Table 1). The families were in the 78.250 E) are the two main fishing ground. The Vann island following descending order; Portunidae (26) > Calappidae (Lat, 8o 50’ N and 78 o 13’E) and Koswari island (Lat, 8o 52’ (10) > Xanthidae (6) > Leucosiidae (4) > Parthenopidae (3) N and 78 o 9’E) are the two main fishing ground in Vellapatti > Dorippidae (3) > Majidae (3) > Matutidae (2) > (Lat, 8o 51’ N and 78 o 11’E) region. At Vethalai Manoli Carpiliidae (2) > Dromiidae (1). island (9.210 N and 79.210 E) and Musal island (9.190 N and The Percentage composition of crab family representation in 79.070 E) and in Periyapattinam Valai island (9.180 N and Gulf of Mannar region was shown in Fig.2.The family 78.930) Mulli island (9.180N and 78.960E) and Musal island Portunidae was represented by 5 genera (Scylla, Portunus, (9.190 N and 79.070 E) are the main fishing grounds. From Podophthalmus, Charybdis and Thalamita) consists of 26 these landing centers the different species of crabs were species which includes (Portunus pelagicus, P. collected and identified up to the species level using some of sanguinolentus, P. gladiator, P.gracilimanus, P. segnis, P. the taxonomic keys [11, 24]. reticulatus, P. arenatus, P. haanii, P. argentatus, Scylla ~ 2332 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies

tranquebarica, S. serrata, Podophthalmus vigil, C.natator, Atergatis subdentatus. The family Dromiidae was C. feriata, C. lucifera, C.granulata, C. annulata, C. represented by single genus (Lauridromia) consists of a japonica, C. reversandersoni, C. smithii, C. hellerii, C. species Lauridromia dehaani. The family Dorippidae was variegate, Thalamita integra, T. crenata, T. admete, T. represented by two genus (Dorippoides and Dorippe ) parvidens).The family Calappidae was represented by two consists of a species Dorippoides facchino, D. quadridens genus consists (Calappa and Mursia) of 9 and 1 species and Dorippe tenuipes. The family Leucosiidae was Calappa lophos, C. gallus, C. bileneata, C. calappa, C. represented by three genus (Arcania, Leucosia and Parilia) philargius, C. japonica, C. bicornis, C. hepatica, C. consists of a species Arcania septemspinosa, Leucosia pustulosa and Mursia bicristimana. anatum, L. craniolaris and Parilia major. The family The family Matutidae was represented by a single genus Carpiliidae was represented by single genus (Carpilius) (Matuta) consists of a species Matuta lunaris, M. planipes. consists of a species Carpilius maculatus and C. convexus The family Xanthidae was represented by five genus (Etisus, and the family Parthenopidae also represented by a single Gaillardiellus, Demania, Atergatis and Halimede consists of genus (P. longimanus, P. contraries and P. echinatus). The a species, Etisus denatus, Gaillardiellus rueppelli, Halimede family Majidae represented by three genus (Camposcia ochtodes Demania baccalipes, Atergatis integerrimus and retusa, Hyastenus pleione and Doclea hybrida).

Table 1: Checklist & occurrence of crab species recorded during the study in different stations

S. STATION Species Family No s1 s2 s3 s4 1. Portunuspelagicus(Linnaeus, 1758) Portunidae + + + + 2. Portunussanguinolentus(Herbst, 1783) + + + +

3. Portunusgracilimanus(Stimpson, 1858) + + + +

4. Portunussegnis(Forskal,1775) + + + +

5. Portunusgladiator(Fabricius, 1798) + - - -

6. Portunusreticulatus(Herbst, 1799) + + + +

7. Portunusarmatus(A. Milne-Edwards, 1861) + + + +

8. Portunushaanii(Stimpson,1858). + + + +

9. Portunusargentatus(A. Milne-Edwards, 1861) + + - +

10. Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, 1798) + + + +

11. Scylla serrata(Forskal, 1775) + + + +

12. Scylla tranguebarica(Fabricius, 1798) + + + +

13. Charybdis natator(Herbst, 1794) + + + +

14. Charybdis feriatus(Linnaeus, 1758) + + + +

15. Charybdis lucifera(Fabricius,1798) + + - -

16. Charybdis annulata(Fabricius, 1798) + + - -

17. Charybdis smithii(Macleay,1838) + + - -

18. Charybdis hellerii(A. Milne Edwards, 1867) + + - -

19. Charybdis granulate (De Haan, 1833) + - - -

20. Charybdis japonica(A. Milne Edwards, 1861) + + - +

21. Charybdis reversandersoni(Alock,1899) + + + +

22. Charybdis variegate (Fabricius, 1798) - - + -

23. Thalamita crenata(Ruppell, 1830) + + - + 24. Thalamita integra ( Dana, 1852 ) - + - + 25. Thalamita admete (Herbst, 1803) - + - + 26. Thalamita parvidens (Rathbun, 1907) - + - + 27. Calappabileneata(Ng,Lai&Aungtonya, 2002) Calappidae + + + + 28. Calappacalappa(Linnaeus, 1758) + + + +

29. Calappaphilargius(Linnaeus, 1758) + + + +

30. Calappagallus(Herbst, 1803) + + + +

31. Calappalophos(Herbst, 1782) + + + +

32. Calappa japonica (Ortmann, 1892) + - - -

33. Calappa hepatica (Linnaeus, 1758) + + + +

34. Calappabicornis(Miers, 1884) - - + +

35. Calappapustulosa(Alcock, 1896 ) - - + +

36. Mursiabicristimana(Alock&Anderson, 1895) - - + +

37. Lauridromiadehaani(Rathbun,1923 ) Dromiidae + - + - 38. Matutaplanipes(Fabricus,1798) Matutidae - - + + 39. Matutalunaris(Forskal, 1775) - - + +

40. Carpiliusmaculatus(Linnaeus, 1758) Carpiliidae + - + + 41. Carpilius convexus (Forskål, 1775) + - + - 42. Etisus denatus(Herbst, 1785) Xanthidae - + + + 43. Gaillardiellu srueppelli (Kraus, 1843) + + + +

44 Halimede ochtodes (Herbst, 1783) - + + +

45 Demania baccalipes(Alcock, 1898) + + + + 46. Atergatis integerrimus (Lamarck, 1818) + - + - 47. Atergatis subdentatus (Haan, 1835) + - + - 48 Dorippoides facchino (Herbest,1785) Dorippidae + + + + 49 Dorippoides quadridens(Fabricius,1793) + + + +

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50 Dorippe tenuipes (Chen, 1980) + + + +

51 Arcania novemspinosa (Lichtenstein, 1816) Leucosidae + + + + 52 Leucosia anatum (Herbst, 1783) - - + -

53 Leucosia craniolaris (Linnaeus, 1758) - - + -

54 Parilia major (Sakai, 1961) + - - -

55 Parthenope longimanus (Linnaeus, 1758) Parthenopidae - - + + 56 Parthenope contrarius (Herbst, 1804) + - + +

57 Parthenope echinatus (Herbst, 1790) + - + +

58 Camposciaretusa(L atereille,1829) Majidae + - + - 59 Hyastenus pleione (Herbst, 1803) - + + - 60 Doclea canalifera (Stimpson, 1857) - + + - Total 44 39 46 42

+: present, and -: absent

Fig 2: Percentage composition of family representation in Gulf of Fig 4: The number of familes, genera and species of crabs recorded Mannar region on Vellapatti

a) Therespuram (station -1) c) Vedalai (station -3) At station I, 9 families in 44 species of crabs were observed. At station III, 10 families in 45 species of crabs were The order of species abundance in different families is observed. The order of species abundance in different Portunidae > Calappidae >Xanthidae > Dorippidae > families is Portunidae > Calappidae > Xanthidae > Carpiliidae >Leucosiidae > Parthenopidae > Leucosiidae >Dorippidae > Parthenopidae > Majidae > Dromiidae>Majidae > Matutidae (Table.1 and Fig.2). Carpiliidae > Matutidae > Dromiidae (Table 1 and Fig. 4).

Fig 5: The number of familes, genera and species of crabs recorded Fig 3: The number of familes, genera and species of crabs recorded on Vedalai on Therespura

b) Vellapatti (station -2) d) Periyapattinam (station -4) At station II, 8 families in 38 species of crabs were At station IV, 7 families in 29 species of crabs were observed. The order of species abundance in different observed. The order of species abundance in different families is Portunidae > Calappidae > Xanthidae > families is Portunidae > Calappidae > Matutidae > Dorippidae > Leucosiidae > Majidae > Matutidae > Xanthidae > Dorippidae > Carpiliidae > Leucosiidae > Carpiliidae>Dromiidae >Parthenopidae (Table 1 and Fig. 3). Dromiidae (Table 1 and Fig. 5).

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done. The conservation measures for catching young, undersized and berried crabs should be done by educating the fishermen through audiovisual aids. Sea ranching should be promoted for over exploited species. And certain regulatory measures and laws should be enforced like, fixing the legal minimum size (across the broadest part of carapace) and protection of ovigerous crabs. The law breakers should be fined or punished.

References 1. Ajmal Khan S, Raffi SM, Lyla, PS. Brachyuran crab diversity in natural (Pitchavaram) and artificially developed mangroves (Vellar estuary). Current Science. Fig 6: The number of familes, genera and species of crabs recorded on Periyapattinam 2005; 88:1316-1324. 2. CMFRI. Catalogue of types of , corals, The decapod crabs are mostly active with complex polychaetes, crabs and echinoderms in the reference behaviour patterns (Pillai and Nair, 1968) [14]. Crabs are one collection of Central Marine Fisheries Research of the fascinating groups in decopoda. Brachyuran crabs, Institute. Bulletin of the Central Marine Fisheries comprise about 700 genera and 5000 to 10,000 species Research Institute. 1969a; 7:62. worldwide [10, 13, 21, 12, 30], out of which 2,600 are present in 3. CMFRI. In: Initial Environmental Examination of Indo-West Pacific (Serene, 1968) [20]. Out of about 640 Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project Report. Compiled species of marine crabs so far recorded from Indian waters by CMFRI, Report submitted to NEERI, Nagpur, 1998. only 15 species are edible, which inhabit the coastal waters 4. Dev Roy MK, Nandi NC. Brachyuran biodiversity of and adjoining brackish water environments, support some selected brackish water lakes of India. commercial fisheries [16, 25, 26]. A total number of 990 species Proceedings of Taal. 2008, 496-499. of marine brachyuran crabs belonging to 281 genera and 36 5. Fredrick WS, Samuthrapandian R. Diversity of families were recorded in Indian waters by Kathirvel (2008) Brachyuran Crabs in the Mangrove Environment of [11]. Suthakar (2011) [24] have been reported 72 crab species Tamil Nadu. World Journal of Fish and Marine from Cuddalore coast. Recently Varadharajan (2012) [26] Sciences. 2013; 5:441-444. was reported 79 crab species coming under 21 families crabs 6. Gokul A, Venkataraman K. On some brachyuran crabs in Palk Strait. Tamil Nadu coast, one of the state in India has from Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere reserve. 404 species of crabs belonging to 26 families and 152 Training manual on GIS and Marine biodiversity genera (Kathirvel, 2008) [11]. Maximum percentages of crab (Johnmilton MC, ed). Loyola College Publication, catches are landed from Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, 2008, 123-155. Nagapattinam and Puducherry landings of Tamil Nadu coast 7. Jeyabaskaran R, Ajmal Khan S. Diversity of brachyuran in India (Rao et al., 1973) [17]. In the present study totally 60 crabs in Gulf of Mannar (Southest coast of India). In: crab species were recorded in different station, which were Biodiversity Conservation of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere represented by 10 families and 24 genera. Maximum crab Reserve (Kannaiyan S, Venkataraman K, eds). National species recorded in the present study was belonging to the Authority, Chennai, India. 2007, 68 - 82. family Portunidae than others families. Maximum species 8. John Samuel N, Thirunavukkarasu N, Soundarapandian were recorded at station 3 and minimum species at station 2. P, Shanmugam A, Kannupandi T. Fishery potential of The occurrence of crab species in different stations were in commercially important portunid crabs along the following order; Vedalai (46) (Fig.5) > Therespuram Parangipettai coast. In: Pro Ocean Life Food Med Expo. (45) (Fig.3) > Periyapattinam (43) (Fig.6) > Vellapatti (39) 2004, 165-173. (Fig.4). Similar observations were made by Gokul and 9. John Samuel N, Soundarapandian P. Fishery potential Venkataraman (2008) [6] recorded 67 crab species in Gulf of of commercially important crab Portunus Mannar. A check list of 162 species of hermit crabs, 3 sanguinolentus (Herbst) along Parangipettai coast, families, 40 genera and 705 brachyuran crabs (28 families, south east coast of India. International Journal of 270 genera) were reported from India [29]. and Veterinary Advances. 2009; 1:99-104. 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Ng PKL, Guinot D, Davie PJF. Systema brachyurorum: throughout the year are given as follows The large-scale Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran destruction of young crabs would obviously have an adverse crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. effect on the crab resources; therefore a specific size for 2008; 17:1-286. harvest is to be fixed. The fishing areas should be closed or 13. Ng PKL. Crabs. In: FAO species identification guide the fishing effort should be minimized for a certain period of for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the time or seasonal banning of the shipment of crabs should be Western Central Pacific. Cephalopods, Crustaceans,

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Holothurians and Sharks (Carpenter KE, Niem VH, crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) in freshwater. eds). Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome. 1998; Hydrobiologia. 2008; 595:275-286. 2:1046-1155. 14. Pillai K, Nair N. Observations on the breeding biology of some crabs from the Southwest coast of India. Journal of Marine Biological Associations of India. 1968; 15(2):754-770. 15. Pillai LS, Thirumilu P. New record of brachyuran crabs from the Chennai coast. Journal of Marine Biological Association of India. 2008; 50:238-240. 16. Radhakrishnan CK. Studies on portunid crabs of Porto Novo (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). PhDThesis, Annamalai University, India. 1979. 17. Rao PV, Vedavyasa M, Thomas MM. Crab fishery resources of India. In: Proceeding Symposium on Living Resources of the Seas around India, 1973, 581- 591. 18. Sakthivel K, Fernando A. Brachyuran crabs diversity in Mudasal Odai and Nagapattinam coast of south east India. . 2012; 1:136-143. 19. Satheeshkumar P, Khan AB. An annotated checklist of brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) from Pondicherry Mangroves, south east coast of India. World Journal of Zoology. 2011; 6:312-317. 20. Serene R. The Brachyura of the Indo-Pacific regions. In: Prodromus for a Check List of the Nonplanktonic Marine Fauna of South East Asia. Singapore National Academy of Sciences Special Publication. 1968; 1:33- 112. 21. Sternberg R von, Cumberlidge N. On the hetrotreme- thoracotreme distinction in the Eubrachyura de Saint Laurent, 1980 (Decapods, Brachyura). Crustaceana. 2001; 74:321-338. 22. Subramaniam VT. An assessment of crab resources off Chennai coast. Maraine Fisheries Information Service Technical & Extension Service. 1998; 152:2-6. 23. Subramanian VT. On the exploitation of portunid crab Podophthalmus vigil (Weber) along the Chennai coast in Tamil Nadu. Indian. Journal of Fisheries. 2001; 48:431-434. 24. Suthakar M. Biodiversity, Resources, Nutrition status and shell utilization of crabs from Cuddalore Coast. South East Coast of India. PhD Thesis, Annamalai University, India, 2011. 25. Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P, Dinakaran GK. Crab Fishery Resources from Arukkattuthurai to Aiyammpattinam, South East Coast of India. Current Research Journal of Biological Sciences. 2009; 1(3):118- 122. 26. Varadharajan D. Biodiversity and antimicrobial activities of Crabs from Arukkattuthurai to Pasipattinam, South East Coast of India. PhD Thesis, Annamalai University, India, 2012. 27. Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P, Pushparajan N. The global science of crab biodiversity from Puducherry coast, south east coast of India. Arthropods. 2013; 2:26-35. 28. Varadharajan D, Soundarapandian P. Crab biodiversity from to Arukkattuthurai Pasipattinam, south east coast of India. Indian Journal of Geo- Marine Sciences. 2014; 43:676-698. 29. Venkataraman K, Wafar M. Coastal and marine biodiversity of India. Indian Journal of Marine Science. 2005; 34:57-75. 30. Yeo DCJ, Ng PKL, Cumberlidge N. Global diversity of

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