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Advances in Applied Science Research, 2015, 6(6):207-210

ISSN: 0976-8610 CODEN (USA): AASRFC

Estuarine molluscs of Pennera River, Andhra Pradesh

S. D. Gurumayum

Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Ganjam, Odisha ______

ABSTRACT

During the year 2011-2013 Surveys of the Pennera River estuary were conducted three times. Using qualitative and direct sampling methods, collection of fauna were made from six sampling stations along the estuarine part of the river at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. A total of 29 estuarine mollusca form were found under 7 order, 15 family and 22 genus. Out of this 14 species were found alive and extensive mollusca beds were observed within the study areas.

Keywords: mollusca, Pennera river, estuary, , Andhra Pradesh ______

INTRODUCTION

Estuarine environments are among the most productive natural habitat on earth and support unique communities of plants and especially adapted for life at the margin of the sea. The estuarine ecosystem is also one of the most important ecosystems as Estuaries and coastal areas trap significant quantities of material and thus act as filters between land and oceans. More important is the trapping of suspended mud and sand carried by rivers which leads to delta formationaround estuaries. The ability of estuaries to remove and to retain materials in suspension and in solution has important practical as well as scientific implications. It leads, or at least contributes in a significant way, to many of the most serious estuarine pollution and management problems [1]. India with a huge coastline is intercepted by more than 113 major/minor rivers and rivulets, opening on both east and west coast forming about 7000 sq. km. of estuarine habitat. The sub content also harbors some important estuaries of the world and most of the Indian’s major estuaries occur on the east coast. Recently, estuary gets lots of attention because these areas are included amongst the most heavily populated areas throughout the world.

Molluscs are important group of that live in estuarine ecosystems including shallow sub tidal regions and along the continental shelf. They are also very susceptible to changes in their environment. Therefore, Molluscs are considered as excellent ecological indicator; their ecological status provides a window into the health of entire ecosystems. The Pennar or Pennera river is the third major river in Andhra Pradesh, after Godavari and Krishna. The Pennera rises on the hill of Nandi Hills in Karnataka state, and runs north and east through the state of Andhra Pradesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is 597 kms long, with a drainage basin of 55,213 square km. The estuary of the Penner river extends 7 km upstream from the Bay of Bengal. Tidal influence and salt water extends further upstream during dry season from November to June. Several coastal dunes some of them as high as 7 meters form around the river mouth. Upputeru tidal creek, and Isakapalli lagoon, separated from the Bay of Bengal by the Isakapalli barrier island, 180 m long and up to 3 m high, form the main coastal wetlands. The river is perennial and a major water source of Nellore District of AP. It has two anicuts one at Sangam and the other at Nellore and the river was almost dry when it reach the Nellore city. The small boat port of Krishnapatnam lies on Upputeru creek. Buckingham Canal, a navigable man-made waterway that runs just behind the coast, allows small boats from the Penner to get to Chennai in the south and the Krishna River delta to the north.

Because of its importance, estuarine ecology has been studied by many workers both in India and aboard. Numerous studies documented the significant of marine molluscs in ecology and socio economy. Significant works on the

207 Pelagia Research Library S. D. Gurumayum Adv. Appl. Sci. Res., 2015, 6(6):207-210 ______estuarine molluscs of India have been carried out by Subba Rao, et. al [2,3,4], Dey [5] and Mahapatra [6,7] etc. Few studies done on pollution status of the Pennar estuary were that of Sundara Raja Reddy, et al [8], Jayaraju, et al. [9], etc. However there is lack of information regarding taxonomy of the molluscan fauna. There is almost no published work on the mollusca fauna of the Pennar estuary except that mentioned on the occurrence and distribution of some fauna in the Fauna of Andhra Pradesh, published by Zoological survey of India. Till now, no studies have been taken up so far in these aspects. So, the present study has been taken up to provide some basic information of the mollusca fauna of the estuary.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Surveys of the Pennar River estuary were conducted during the year 2011-2013. There were altogether 2333 specimens collected from six different sampling sites along the estuarine part of the river. Mollusca shells were hand picked randomly from the exposed areas using qualitative and direct sampling methods. Sampling sites had different types of substrate, including sand, silt, rocks and gravel. The collections are kept in dried form while some were preserved in 4% formaldehyde solution. All the samples collected were deposited in the Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Ganjam, Odisha. Screening of the collected material was carried out with stereo microscopes to assort it into species or higher taxonomic categories. After morphological analysis, all the shells collected, either death or alive were studied and identified using relevant literatures and registered. The classification followed is that of Vaught [10]. The samples were photographed by using D90 Nikon Camera.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Estuaries are dynamic ecosystem having a free connection with the open sea through which sea water enters the river or creek in accordance with the twice-daily rhythm of the tides. Two groups of molluscs, the gastropods and the bivalves, form the most conspicuous part of the estuarine macrofauna. The collection included both live and death shells and both freshwater and marine species as well. A total of 29 species of mollusca belonging to 7 order, 15 families and 22 genera were recorded from the collection which are estuarine in habitat. A classified list of mollusca species along with some photographs of species is also given in the present report.

Table 1. List of estuarine Mollusca collected from Pennera estuary with remarks

Sl. no. Family Scientific name Remarks 1. Trochidae Ubonium vestiarium (Lin) Death /Empty 2. Neritidae Theodoxus (Clithon) oualaniensis (Lesson) Live 3. Neritidae Neritina (Dostia ) violacia (Gmelin) Live 4. Potamididae Cerithidea cingulata (Gmelin) Live 5. Potamididae Telescopium telescopium (Lin) Live 6. Nassaridae Nassarius (Niotha) stolatus (Gmelin) Live 7. Arcidae Anadara granosa (Lin) Live 8. Arcidae Anadara rhombea (Born) Live 9. Arcidae Anadara (Scapharca ) deyrollei Joussaeume Live 10. Arcidae Anadara inaequivalvis (Brugiuere) Death /Empty 11. Perna viridis (Lin) Live 12. Mytilidae philippinarum Hanley Death/Empty 13. Mytilidae Modiolus striatulus Hanley Death/Empty 14. Mytilidae Modiolus undulatus (Dunker) Death /Empty 15. Ostreidae Crassostrea cuttackensis (Newton&Smith) Live 16. Ostreidae Saccostrea cucullata (Born) Live 17. Anomiidae Anomia achaeus Gray Death /Empty 18. Pteriidae Pinctada margaritifera (Lin) Death /Empty 19. Isognomonidae Isognomon legumen (Gmelin) Death /Empty 20. Pinnidae Pinna bicolor Gmelin Death /Empty 21. Placunidae Placuna placenta Lin Death /Empty 22. Solenidae Solen annandalei Preston Death 23. Veneroidae Placamen tiara (Dillwyn) Death/Empty 24. Veneroidae Meretrix meretrix (Lin) Live 25. Veneroidae Meretrix casta (Gmelin) Live 26. Veneroidae Marcia pinguis (Schroeter) Live 27. Veneroidae Paphia undulata (Born) 1 valve Death /Empty 28. Veneroidae Paphia malabarica (Schroeter) Death /Empty 29. Glauconomidae Glauconome sculpta Sowerby Death /Empty

Dey, [5] mentions about 100 species of molluscs from mangrove areas of Indian subcontinent. However, in comparison to the earlier works on the different estuaries of India, the present study recorded more number of estuarine species. Subba Rao et al. [3] reported 48 mollusca species from Rushikulaya estuary, of these only 13 species are of estuarine in their habitat. Again, Subba Rao et al in [4], reported 120 species from Hooghly-Malta

208 Pelagia Research Library S. D. Gurumayum Adv. Appl. Sci. Res., 2015, 6(6):207-210 ______estuary. Again, Mahapatra [6,7] reported 91 and 62 species of mollusca from Krishna and Godavari estuaries respectively, however, majority of the species collected are represented by death shells only. However, out of 29 mollusca species observed at the mouth of Pennera river, only 14 of them (Table 1) were found alive.

Fig. 1 Umbonium vestiarium (Linnaeus) Fig. 2 Theodoxus (Clithon) oualaniensis (Lesson) Fig. 3 Cerithidea cingulata (Gmelin) Fig. 4 Nassarius (Niotha) stolatus (Gmelin) {A:Ventral view; B: Dorsal view} Fig. 5 Telescopium telescopium (Lin) Fig. 6 Pinctada margaritifera (Lin) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view}

Fig. 7 Anadara granosa (Lin) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 8 Anadara rhombea (Born) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 9 Anadara inaequivalvis (Bruguiere){A: Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 10 Isognomon legumen (Gmelin) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 11 Modiolus undulatus (Dunker) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 12 Crassostrea cuttackensis (Newton & Smith)

209 Pelagia Research Library S. D. Gurumayum Adv. Appl. Sci. Res., 2015, 6(6):207-210 ______

Fig. 13 Saccostrea cucullata (Born) Fig. 14 Perna viridis (Lin) {A:Exterior view; B: Interior view} Fig. 15 Placamen tiara (Dillwyn) Fig. 16 Meretrix casta (Gmelin) Fig. 17 Meretrix meretrix (Lin)

Acknowledgment The author is grateful to director, Zoologica survey of India and also to Officer-in charge, EBRC, ZSI, Gopalpur for providing necessary facilities. The author is also thankful to Dr. B. Tripathy, Scientist C, Officer-in-Charge, Mollusca Section, ZSI, Kolkata for his help in identifying some doubtful species.

REFERENCES

[1]Schubel, J. R., 1984 , The estuary as a filter: An introduction, In: The estuary as a filter. V. S. Kennedy (ed), Academic Press. Florida. Pg 1-15. Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial International Estuarine Research Conference, Virginia, Oct. 23-26, 1983. [2]Subba Rao, N. V., Surya Rao, K. V and Maitra, S., 1991 , Marine Molluscs of Orissa, Fauna of Orissa , State Fauna Series , 1(Part 3), pp 175. Zoological Survey of India. [3]Subba Rao, N. V., Dey, A. and Barua , S., 1992 , Estuarine and Marine molluscs of West Bengal. Fauna of West Bengal, State Fauna Series , 3(Part 9): 129-268 . Zoological Survey of India. [4]Subba Rao, NV, Dey, A., Maitra, S. and Barua, S., 1995 , Mollusca. Hooghly-Malta Estuary, Estuarine Ecosystem series , 2: 41-91. Zoological Survey of India. [5]Dey, A., 2006, Handbook on mangrove associate molluscs of Sundarbans . Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, pp 96. [6]Mahapatra, A., 2001 , Molluscan fauna of Godavari estuary: Fauna of Godavari, Estuarine Ecosystem series , 4: 55-82. Zoological Survey of India. [7]Mahapatra, A., 2008 , Mollusca, Fauna of Krishna Estuary, Estuarine Ecosystem series , 5: 105-173. Zoological Survey of India .. [8]Sundara Raja Reddy B.C., N. Jayaraju, K.R. Reddy and A.N. Reddy, 2009 , Research Journal of Earth Sciences 1(1): 07-14. [9]Jayaraju, N., B.C. Sunder Raja Reddy and K.R. Reddy, 2008 , Environ Monit Assess ., 142: 319-323. [10]Vaught, K.C, 1989 , A classification of the living Mollusca ed. (R.T. Abbott and K.J.Boss) American Malacologist, U.S.A, pp 189.

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