Diversity and resource characteristics of tetraodontidae fishes from Andaman with special reference to Arothron immaculatus – a preliminary study
Keywords:
Puffer fishes, Arothron, Canthigaster, Andaman, Reef fish
Abstract
Puffer fish belonging to the family tetraodontidae are usually distributed in the shallow waters. During investigation in stations viz. Marina Park, Chidiyatapu and Burmanullah, around Andaman, five species from genus Arothron and two from Canthigaster have been recorded and were mostly found to prefer coral reefs and rock crevices, with the exception of Arothron immaculatus, which was found to be present in the open waters and it confined to sandy bottom substrate with patches of sea grasses around them. These fishes were found to be most diverse and abundant in Chidiyatapu with the Margelef’s Richness Index of 2.49, Shannon-Wiener index of 1.05 and Pielou’s evenness index of 0.96. Biometric analysis results demonstrate that they have shown an isometric growth. The individuals collected were mostly lying in the length group of 120-160 mm. Gut content analysis of A. Immaculatus reveals that the fish feed mainly on molluscs and sea urchin and the other food items were shrimps, crabs, sponges, micro algae, foraminiferans etc. gastro-somatic index, hepato-somatic index and gonado-somatic indices were also calculated to throw light upon the feeding behavior and reproductive maturity of the fishes. Most of the individuals were found to be in the developing stage of maturity.
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Bagenal TB and Tesch FW. (1978). Age and growth. In: Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters, 3rd edn. T. Bagenal (Ed.). IBP Handbook. Blackwell Science Publications, Oxford, (3): 101–136.
Bell JD, Pollard DA, Burchmore JJ, Pease BC and Middleton MJ. (1984). Structure of a fish community in a temperate tidal mangrove creek in Botany Bay, New South Wales. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 35(1): 33-46.
Beumer JP. (1978). Feeding ecology of four fishes from a mangrove creek in north Queensland, Australia. Journal of Fish Biology, 12(5): 475-490.
Brock VE. (1954). A preliminary report on a method of estimating reef fish populations. Journal of Wildlife Management, 18(3): 297-308.
Can MF, Basuta N and Cekic M. (2002). Weight length relationships for selected fish species of the small-scale fisheries off the south coast of Iskenderun Bay. Turkish Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 26(5): 1181-1183.
Clarke KR and Warwick RM. (2001). Changes in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation, 2nd edition, PRIMERE: Plymouth. 172.
Clifford HT and Stephenson W. (1975). An introduction to numerical classification. Academic Press, London.
English S, Wilkinson C and V Baker. (1997). Survey Manual for Tropical Marine Resources. Townsville, Australia, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville Australia. 378.
Froese R and Pauly. (2008). Family Tetraodontidae-Puffers [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
Ghosh S, Hazra AK, Banerjee S and Biswapati Mukherjee (2004). The seasonal toxicological profile of four puffer fish species collected along Bengal coast, India. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 33(3): 276-280.
Grant E. (1987). Fishes of Australia. E.M. Grant PTY Limited. Redcliffe, Australia.
Hindell JS and Jenkins GP. (2004). Spatial and temporal variability in the assemblage structure of fishes associated with mangroves (Avicennia marina) and intertidal mudflats in temperate Australian embayments. Marine Biology, 144(2): 385-395.
Hill MO (1973). Diversity and evenness: a unifying notation and its consequences. Ecology, 54(2)427-473.
Halstead B (1967). Poisonous and venomous marine animals of the world, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Krumme U, Keuthen H, Saint-Paul U and Villwock W. (2007). Contribution to the feeding ecology of the banded pufferfish Colomesus psittacus (Tetraodontidae) in north Brazilian mangrove creeks. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 67(3): 383-392.
Kumar P, Mishra JK, Ysamin and Kumar SC. (2013). Studies on Biology of Puffer Fish Species from South Andaman Sea. Journal of Coastal Environment, 4(1): 81-89.
Le Cren ED. (1951). The length-weight relationship and seasonal cycle in gonad weight and condition in the perch (Perca fluviatilis). Journal of Animal Ecology, 20(2): 201-219.
Michailidis N. (2010). Study on the lessepsian migrant Lagocephalus sceleratus in Cyprus. East med subregional technical meeting on the lessepsian migration and its Impact on Eastern Mediterranean Fishery. 74-87.
NSW Goverment of Natural Resources. (2006). Estuaries in NSW; Sandon River [Electronic Version].
Potter IC, Cheal AJ and Loneragan NR. (1988). Protracted estuarine phase in the life cycle of the marine pufferfish. Torquigener pleurogramma. Marine Biology, 98(3): 317-329.
Qasim SZ. (1972). The dynamics of food and feeding habits of some marine fishes. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 19(1 and 2): 11-28.
Rajan PT, Sreeraj CR and Titus Immanuel. (2013). Fishes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a checklist. Journal of the Andaman Science Association, 18(1): 47-87.
Ricker WE. (1973). Linear regressions in fishery research. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 30(3): 409-434.
Sabrah MM, El-Gannainy AA and Zaky MM. (2006). Biology and toxicity of the puffer fish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) from the Gulf of Suez. Egyptian Journal of aquatic Research, 32(1): 283-297.
Simpson EH. (1949). Measurement of diversity. Nature, 163:688.
Tani I. (1945). A study of the toxicity of Japanese fugu (Teikoku Tosho Co., Tokyo, Japan), 103 p.
Targett TE. (1978). Food resource partitioning by the pufferfishes Spoeroides spengleri and S. testudineus from Biscayne Bay, Florida. Marine Biology, 49(1): 83-91.
Taskavak E and Bilecenoglu M. (2001). Length weight relationships for 18 Lessepsian (Red Sea) immigrant fish species from the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 81: 895-896.
Published
2016-03-14
How to Cite
Saha, P., Singh, D., Malakar, B., Ram B, S., & S, V. (2016). Diversity and resource characteristics of tetraodontidae fishes from Andaman with special reference to Arothron immaculatus – a preliminary study. Journal of Research in Biology, 6(2), 1984-1993. Retrieved from https://ojs.jresearchbiology.com/ojs1/index.php/jrb/article/view/414
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