Biodiversity and seasonal variation of macro-benthic infaunal community in the inshore waters of Parangipettai Coast.

This paper deals with the diversity and seasonal variations of macro-benthic infauna and associated environmental factors influencing the benthic community in the inshore waters of southern Indian coast. Four seasonal collections (2006-2007) were made at three different depths (5, 15 and 25 m) in the inshore waters of Pazhayar, Parangipettai and Cuddalore and at 5 m near State Industrial Promotion Council of Tamilnadu (SIPCOT), covering 10 stations in Bay of Bengal. Altogether, 80 infaunal samples (Van-veen grab 0.1 m(2)) were collected which revealed the occurrence of 132 species representing five diverse groups. Polychaetes were the dominant group (45%), followed by bivalves (31%) and gastropods (16%). Diversity (H'log2) was maximum (4.601) at Parangipettai 25 m during the pre-monsoon season, and the minimum (0.954) was in SIPCOT during monsoon. Multivariate analyses were used to define assemblages.