CMarZ activities in India during 2007 Vijayalakshmi R. Nair

Digitized inventory for Indian Ocean Zooplankton Prepared inventories for 250 species of zooplankton from Indian Ocean Each inventory covered morphological description, biogeography and ecology of species Can be incorporated into species page Out put Calanoid copepods-60 species Chaetognaths-31 species Ostracods-32 species Mysids-101 species Pleuronectiformes-26 species

Biodiversity of zooplankton from Andaman Sea Study on biodiversity of chaetognaths of the Andaman Sea completed Andaman Sea is one of the prominent biodiversity hotspots in Indian Ocean Andaman Sea has special physical features like cyclonic circulation, tropical cyclones, reduction in temperature from 50 m onwards, low salinity upto 50 m, OMZ below 100m

Oceanic and coastal locations 16 stations from oceanic sector and 17 stations from coastal waters Collections from 2003 to 2006 Oceanic :MPN (0-TT, TT-BT, BT-300 & m) Coastal:Bongo net (surface) Andaman Sea Port Blair Wandoor Diglipur

Species diversity List of species Eukrohnia fowleri Ritter-Zahony, 1909 *Krohnitta balagopali sp. nov. Krohnitta pacifica (Aida), 1897 Krohnitta subtilis (Grassi), 1881 Pterosagitta draco (Krohn) 1853 Sagitta bedoti Beraneck, 1895 Sagitta bipunctata Quoy and Gaimond, 1827 Sagitta decipiens Fowler, 1905 Sagitta enflata Grassi, 1881 Sagitta ferox Doncaster, 1903 Sagitta hexaptera d’ Orbigny, 1843 Sagitta lyra Krohn, 1853 Sagitta maxima (Conant) 1896 Sagitta minima Grassi, 1881 *Sagitta meenakshiae sp. nov. Sagitta neglecta Aida, 1897 Sagitta pacifica Tokioka, 1940 Sagitta pulchra Doncaster, 1903 Sagitta regularis Aida, 1897 Sagitta robusta Doncaster, species coming under 4 genera recorded : Oceanic – 19, Coastal – 13 New Species : Krohnitta balagopali, Sagitta meenakshiae

Phenomenal changes in chaetognath community in the Andaman Sea Population density reduced from 20/m 3 to 9/m 3 in 4 decades Species diversity increased from 10 to 20 Subtle changes in community structure Maximum diversity at Thermocline Upto BT - S. enflata dominated, Below BT – S. decipiens dominated Surfacing of meso and bathypelagic species (S. decipiens, E. fowleri) Grouping of species showed 2 clusters at each stratum Chaetognath community

Declining trend in a dominant calanoid copepod in coastal waters Earlier proliferated following diatom blooms and is an indicator of upwelled waters The species dominated in the entire shelf from 1970 to 1980 (100/m 3 ) & reduced to 16/m 3 (1998 to 2005) Attributed to climate change SST increase from the area is evident Climate related alterations in zooplankton community

National Institute of Oceanography, Kochi recently developed barcoding facilities Barcoded a few chaetognath and mysid species Training on DNA Marker Training on DNA Marker Training programme on “DNA Marker Technologies : Principles and Applications” held at NBFGR, CMFRI Campus, Kochi, 21 February 03, March 2007 Theoretical and practical knowledge on DNA based markers including recent developments Collaborative work for DNA barcoding

Upcoming events Comparative study on biodiversity of chaetognaths from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal ( ) Biodiversity of zooplankton off Alang, Gujarat, west coast of India ( ) Barcoding of zooplankton species Data recovery from IIOE collections to produce further information Popular articles on CMarZ