Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T01:05:11.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Distribution pattern and community structure of zoanthids (Zoantharia) along the coast of Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2015

Sonia Kumari ,
P.U. Zacharia ,
V. Kripa ,
K.R. Sreenath  and
Grinson George
Sonia Kumari*
Affiliation:
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri – 99. Karnataka, India
P.U. Zacharia
Affiliation:
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India
V. Kripa
Affiliation:
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India
K.R. Sreenath
Affiliation:
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India
Grinson George
Affiliation:
Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: S. Kumari, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-18, India email: sonia_singh1010@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Coral reef environments support a great diversity of benthic organisms, of which zoanthids form an integral part. Studies have been carried out regarding the degradation of coral reefs and changes in community structure under the present dynamics of climatic change. Zoanthids are dominant among the observed fauna in these degrading reef ecosystems. Zoanthids are observed at mid and lower intertidal zones beyond 20 m from highest high tide level. In the present study, distribution patterns of zoanthid species along three coastal villages of Saurashtra coast, Gujarat were studied. Line intercept transect method was performed to assess the zoanthid coverage. A total of seven species of zoanthids were recorded during the survey. Palythoa mutuki formed the abundant species in the area with 45.99% coverage, followed by Zoanthus sansibaricus with 33.67% and Zoanthus cf. sansibaricus with 12.26% coverage. Abiotic parameters (sea surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH) and nutrient data (ammonia, phosphate, total suspended solids and nitrate) were also recorded during sampling to determine their influence on zoanthid colonies. Higher levels of DO were found to favour the growth of Palythoa mutuki and Isaurus tuberculatus, whereas increased SST was tolerated by Palythoa tuberculosa only. Ammonia and phosphate were negatively impacting the growth of Palythoa mutuki and Zoanthus spp. The study provides new information on quantitative zoanthid distribution and the dynamic changes exhibited by zoanthids in relation to various environmental parameters. Zoanthids could be looked upon as an adaptive species which may support reef resurgence in degraded reefs under stress from climate change effects.

Keywords

Zoanthidsquantitative distributionPalythoa sp.Zoanthus sp.Isaurus tuberculatusabiotic parametersSSTDOnutrients
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 8 , December 2016 , pp. 1577 - 1584
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

APHA, AWWA and WEF. (1998) Standard methods for examination of water and wastewater, 20th edn. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.Google Scholar
Belford, S. and Phillip, D. (2011) Rapid assessment of a coral community in a marginal habitat in the southern Caribbean: a simple way to know what's out there. Asian Journal of Biological Sciences 4, 520–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belford, S. and Phillip, D. (2012) Intertidal distribution patterns of zoanthids compared to their scleractinian counterparts in the southern Caribbean. International Journal of Oceanography and Marine Ecological Systems 1, 67–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellwood, D.R., Hughes, T.P., Folke, C. and Nystrom, M. (2004) Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature 429, 827–833.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, M. (1996) PRIMER user manual: Plymouth routines in multivariate ecological research. Plymouth: Plymouth Marine Laboratory.Google Scholar
Costa, C.F., Sassi, R. and Amaral, F.D. (2005) Annual cycle of symbiotic dinoflagellates from three species of scleractinian corals from coastal reefs of northeastern Brazil. Coral Reefs 24, 191–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, C.F., Sassi, R., Gorlach-Lira, K., Lajeunesse, T.C. and Fitt, W.K. (2013) Seasonal changes in zooxanthellae harbored by zoanthids (Cnidaria, Zoanthidea) from coastal reefs in northeastern Brazil. Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences 8, 253–264.Google Scholar
Costa, O.S. Jr, Nimmo, M. and Attrill, M.J. (2008) Coastal nutrification in Brazil: a review of the role of nutrient excess on coral reef demise. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 25, 257–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De'ath, G. and Fabricius, K. (2010) Water quality as a regional driver of coral biodiversity and macroalgae on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecological Applications 20, 840–850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emanuelle, F.R., de Marcelo, O.S., Luis, E.A.B., Matthews-Cascon, H. (2015) Distribution pattern of zoanthids (Cnidaria:Zoantharia) on a tropical reef. Marine Biological Research. doi: 10.1080/17451000.2014.962542 Google Scholar
English, S.A., Baker, V.J. and Wilkinson, C.R. (1997) In English, S., Wilkinson, C. and Baker, V. (eds) Survey manual for tropical marine resources, 2nd edn. Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science.Google Scholar
Fitt, W.K., Spero, H., Halas, J., White, M.W. and Porter, J.W. (1993) Recovery of the coral Montastrea annularis in the Florida keys after the 1987 Caribbean ‘Bleaching event’. Coral Reefs 12, 57–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuzawa, S., Hayashi, Y., Uemua, D., Nagatsu, A., Yamada, K. and Ijuin, Y. (1995) The isolation and structures of five new alkaloids, norzoanthamine, oxyzoanthamine, norzoanthaminone, cuclozoanthamine and epinorzoanthamine. Heterocyclic Communications 1, 207–214.Google Scholar
Häussermann, V. (2004) Identification and taxonomy of soft-bodied hexacorals exemplified by Chilean sea anemones; including guidelines for sampling, preservation and examination. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84, 931–936.Google Scholar
Hernandez Delgado, E.A., Sandoz, B., Bonkosky, M., Ramirez, J.N. and Mattei, H. (2008) Impacts of non-point source sewage pollution on Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmate (Lamarck), assemblages of the southwestern Puerto Rico Shelf. In Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 7–11 July. Session Number 18.Google Scholar
Huang, Y.C.A., Hsieh, H.J., Huang, S.C., Meng, P.J., Chen, Y.S., Keshavmurthy, S., Nozawa, Y. and Chen, C.A. (2011) Nutrient enrichment caused by marine cage culture and its influence on subtropical coral communities in turbid waters. Marine Ecology Progress Series 423, 83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, T.P., Rodrigues, M.J., Bellwood, D.R., Ceccarelli, D., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., McCook, L., Moltschaniwskyj, N., Pratchett, M.S., Steneck, R.S. and Willis, B. (2007) Phase shifts, herbivory, and the resilience of coral reefs to climate change. Current Biology 17, 360–365.Google Scholar
Kemp, D.W., Cook, C.B., Lajeunesse, T.C. and Brook, W.R. (2006) A comparison of the thermal bleaching responses of the zoanthids Palythoa caribaeorum from three geographically different regions in south Florida. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 335, 266–276.Google Scholar
Khan, A., Murugesan, S. and Lyla, P.S. (2004) A new indicator macro-invertebrate of pollution and utility of graphical tools and diversity indices in pollution monitoring studies. Current Science 87, 1508–1510.Google Scholar
Knowlton, N. and Jackson, J.B.C. (2008) Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs. PLoS Biology 6, 54.Google Scholar
Loya, Y. (2004) The coral reefs of Eilat – past, present and future: three decades of coral community structure studies. In, Rosenberg E. and Yossi, L. (eds) Coral health and disease. Berlin: Springer, pp. 1–34.Google Scholar
Moore, R.E. and Scheuer, P.J. (1971) Palytoxin: a new marine toxin from a coelenterate. Science 172, 495–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mythili, J.K. (2012) Identification of a fluorescent protein from a marine Zoanthid: Zoanthus sansibaricus (Carlgren) from the intertidal rocky shore of Anjuna (Goa). Indian ETD Repository.Google Scholar
Naim, O. (1993) Seasonal responses of a fringing reef community to eutrophication (Reunion Island, Western Indian Ocean). Marine Ecology Progress Series 99, 137–151.Google Scholar
Pielou, E.C. (1966) The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. Journal of Theoretical Biology 13, 131–144.Google Scholar
Reimer, J.D., Nakachi, S., Hirose, M., Hirose, E. and Hashiguchi, S. (2010) Using hydrofluoric acid for morphological investigations of Zoanthids (Cnidaria: Anthozoa): a critical assessment of methodology and necessity. Marine Biotechnology 12, 605–617.Google Scholar
Reimer, J.D., Shusuke, O., Yasuo, F. and Junzo, T. (2007) Seasonal changes in morphological condition of symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) in Zoanthus sansibaricus (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) in Southern Japan. South Pacific Studies 27.Google Scholar
Rilov, G. and Benayahu, Y. (1998) Vertical artificial structures as an alternative habitat for coral reef fishes in disturbed environments. Marine Environmental Research 45, 431–451.Google Scholar
Saxby, T., Dennison, W.C. and Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2003) Photosynthetic response of the coral Monitipora digita to cold temperature stress. Marine Ecological Progress Series 248, 85–97.Google Scholar
Sebens, K.P. (1982) Intertidal distribution of zoanthids on the Caribbean coast of Panama: effects of predation and desiccation. Bulletin of Marine Science 32, 316–335.Google Scholar
Suchanek, T.H. and Green, D.J. (1981) Interspecific competition between Palythoa caribaeorum and other sessile invertebrates on St. Croix reefs, U.S. Virgin Islands. In Proceedings of the Fourth International coral Reef Symposium, Manila, 1981, 2.Google Scholar
Sukumaran, S. and George, R.M. (2010) Community structure and spatial patterns in hard coral biodiversity in selected islands in the Gulf of Mannar, India. Asian Fisheries Science 23, 9–24.Google Scholar
Szmant, A.M. (2002) Nutrient enrichment on coral reefs: is it a major cause of coral reef decline? Estuaries 25, 743–766.Google Scholar
Turkmen, G. and Kazanci, N. (2010) Application of various biodiversity indices to benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in streams of a national park in Turkey. Review of Hydrobiology 3, 111–125.Google Scholar
Vaghela, A.K. and Bhadja, P. (2013) Diversity and status of corals along the Saurashtra coast, western coast of India. International Journal of Advanced Research 1, 97–102.Google Scholar
Venkataraman, K. and Wafer, M. (2005) Coastal and marine biodiversity of India. Indian Journal of Marine Science 34, 57–75.Google Scholar
West, K. and Woesik, R.V. (2001) Spatial and temporal variance of river discharge on Okinawa (Japan): inferring the temporal impact on adjacent coral reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42, 864–872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, S.Y., Bourgeois, C., Ashworth, C.D. and Reimer, J.D. (2013) Palythoa zoanthid ‘barrens’ in Okinawa: examination of possible environmental causes. Zoological Studies 52, 39.Google Scholar