A review of the status of corals and coral reefs of India
2010; Indian Council of Agricultural Research; Volume: 80; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2394-3327
Autores Tópico(s)Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
ResumoCorals belong to the phylum Anthozoa and they are objects of beauty and utility. The hermatypic corals with their symbiotic zoothanllae build the mighty reefs beneath the waves that are exposed only at low tides. Corals are exclusively marine and taxonomically belong to the order scleratinia. They are both solitary and colonial, the solitary forms are called ahermatypes and they do not have symbionts. Reef building corals grow actively in the photic zone of the ocean. Coral reefs are found in the tropical waters as a belt around the globe. The reefs of seas around india India has a coast line of nearly 8000 km but the reef formation is restricted to four major centres, viz. Gulf of kutchh. Gulf of Mannar, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Lakshadweep is exclusively atolls but others have fringing reefs or patch reefs. Barrier reefs are found in Andamans. Additionally the Malvan area and Kanyakumari district of Tamil nadu have patchy reefs. The vast stretch of Bay of Bengal except for Andaman and Nicobar Islands is devoid of any coral formation. Estimation of reef flats of Indian reefs by remote sensing has shown that the extent of the area in Gulf of Kutchh is 148.4 km 2 that of Tamil Nadu coast as 64.9 km 2 . Lakshadweep 140.1 km 2 and that of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 813.2 km 2 . Additionally knolls and lagoon reefs from roughly 50 km 2 . (Pillai, 1996).
Referência(s)