MARC-Digha - Zoological Survey of India

ANNUAL PROGRESS
(2010 (2010-11) 11)
Marine Aquarium & Regional Centre
Zoological Survey of India
DIGHA 721 428 (WB).

COMPLETED PROJECTS
Settlement & population p p studies of benthic fauna around
Digha (2008-10 extended up to Sept’10)
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar & P.C. Tudu
Surveys: Monthly local surveys till Sept Sept’10 10.
Progress made: Data compiled and final draft of report submitted.
Observations:
Species composition: 141 species ffrom
88
genera & 52 families.
Molluscs : 106 sp from 32 families.
Bivalves: 79 species from 16 families
Gastropods: 27 species from 16 families.
Arthropods: 21 species from 11 families.
Cnidarians : 7 species from 4 families.
Annelids: 4 species from 2 families.
Echinoderms: 2 species from one family and Brachiopod with
one species only

Composition of major groups:
COMPLETED PROJECTS
Mollusc contributes the major part in the marine
benthic fauna i.e. 79% which was shared by 58%
bivalves & 21% gastropods. The arthropods
contributed with 14 %, Cnidaria with 4 % & Annelids,
Brachiopods & Echinoderms 1% only of total faunal
composition
Faunal diversity:
Maximum diversity at Udaipur with 84 species,
followed by Talsari & Shankarpur with 77 species.
Minimum diversity at Digha & Mohana with 55 & 57
species.
Percentage g composition: p
The percentage composition shows that the bivalve
contributed major part followed by Arthropods and
Gastropods.
Monthly variation in species diversity
Species diversity is maximum during the pos-monsoon
followed by y winter and minimum during g
Summer

Species diversity index
Occurrence of different species
Abundance of different species
COMPLETED PROJECTS
The major dominant species are
Mactra cuneata , Mactra dissimilis,
Mactra luzonica, Mactra mera, Bernea
candida. candida
Amaea (Acrilla) acunimata, Saccostrea
cucullata, Mactra cuneata, Mertrix
meretrix, Mercia opima, Bernea candida
maximum occurrence.
Umbonium vestiarium, Crassostrea
graphoides, Mactra stultrum were the
most abundant species in the region.

ONGOING PROJECTS
2. Study of macro-benthic fauna (invertebrates) from
some coastal t l areas of f Gujarat G j t State St t
(2008-10 extended up to 2012).
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Dr. Anil Mohapatra & Prasad Tudu
Surveys: 2 surveys (2nd &4th Surveys: 2 surveys (2 Quarter)
nd & 4th Quarter)
Progress made: One survey conducted during Feb-
March, 2011 for 15 days in Saurashtra coast of Gujarat
covering 34 locations in 5 camps. camps
• Number of examples collected: 1853.
• Identification under process.
• Composition of fauna: 809 ex bivalves, 917 ex of
gastropods gastropods, 26 ex other molluscs, molluscs 30 ex of cnidaria, cnidaria 63 ex of
crustacea & 9 others.

ONGOING PROJECTS
33. Taxonomic Ta onomic st study d of oornamental namental fauna fa na around a o nd Digha
coast (2010-12).
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Dr. Anil Mohapatra & Prasad Tudu
Surveys: Monthly local surveys
Progress made:
• Monthly y local surveys y around Digha. g
• No. of days in survey: 24 days.
• No. of examples collected: 3101.
• Identification: 3101 (108 species)
• New site records: 32.
• One new example of mutualisms.
• 8 ms communicated.

ONGOING PROJECTS
3. Taxonomic study y of ornamental fauna around Digha g coast ( (2010-12). )
NEW SITE RECORDS:
Cypselurus poecilopterus Parascolopsis aspinosa Nemipterus Fistularia petimba Ephippus orbis
Yellow-wing flying fish (Rao and Rao, 1981) nematophorus (Bleeker,
1853)
Lecepede, 1803
Scolopsis vosmeri
(Bloch, 1792)
Acanthurus tristis
(Randall, 1993)
Antennarius hispidus
Acanthurus mata
(Cuvier, 1829)
Caesio caerulaurea
Lacepede,1801
Scorpionopsis cirrhosaNemipterus
randalli
Threadfin bream
Epinephelus bleekeri Pinjalo pinjalo Johnius amblycephalus

ONGOING PROJECTS
3. Taxonomic study of ornamental fauna around Digha coast (2010-12).
NEW SITE RECORDS contd…
Upeneus taeniopterus Upenus tragula,
Upeneus sundaicus
Freked goat fish
Upenus molucensis,
Gold-banded goat fish
Upeneus guttatus
(Day, 1868)
Parupeneus heptacanthus Upeneus luzonius Epinephelus latifasciatus
Apristus carinatus Nibea maculatus Parapercis clathrata,
Ogilby, 1910
Apogon fasciatus
(White, 1790)
Lutjanus lutjanus Pomadassys kaakan
Lutjanus fulvus
TThryssa
dussumieri,
(Valenciennes,1848)
Lutjanus malabaricus

ONGOING PROJECTS
44. Digitization of MARC collection (2010-12).
(2010 12)
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Dr. Anil Mohapatra & Prasad Tudu
Surveys: Nil
Progress made: 430 specimen digitized.
No. Name of Project Number of
1 Study of benthic invertebrate fauna of
Digha coast
species
141
2 Ornamental fauna around Digha coast 104
3 Macrobenthic fauna of Gujarat 35
4 Old collection & JRFs collection 150
Total 430

COMPUTERIZATION
DATABASE ON COASTAL FAUNA
All Scientific staff
Progress made:
• No. of entries: 430 added this year.
• This years survey, aquarium & some old collection entered.
• Alt Altogether th 4477 examples l identified id tifi d this thi year.

IDENTIFICATION & ADVISORY SERVICES
No No. of beneficiaries: 36
This includes schools, colleges, universities, institutions, etc.
Popular Popular Lectures also conducted to group of visitors mainly academic &
research students on Marine Biodiversity
2 PG students of M.Sc. (Zoology) & 1 PG student of M.Sc. (Env.Sc.) from
Vidyasagar University, Midnapore supervised for their dissertation work.
Fi Finall year students t d t off MM.F.Sc. F S ffrom CIFE CIFE, MMumbai b i ffor excursion. i
Final year students of B. Arch. from BESU, Shibpur were supervised for their
project dissertation work on public aquarium.
Groupp of M.Phil. students from Jadavpur p University, y, Kolkata.
Collaborative experiment with National Metallurgical Research Lab.,
Jamashedpur.
Services to IIT, Kharagpur for coastal biodiversity studies.
Services Services to CMFRI CMFRI, Visakhapatnam for their ongoing project project.

Maintenance of Marine Aquarium
(April2010 ( p to March2011) )
Activities undertaken:
• Efficient maintenance of tank.
• Improvement of animal diversity in tanks.
• Improvisation of tank aquascaping
• Micro-habitat & shelters to tank exhibits.
• Improvisation of exhibit interpretation materials
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
2008‐09
2009‐10
600 2008‐09 2009‐10
2010 11
500
400
300
2010‐11 200
April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 0
Average number of visitors per day
100
April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Number of exhibits stocked per month

Tank Renovation
Tanks before renovation
Tanks After renovation

Tank Renovation
TTanks k before b f renovation ti
Tanks After renovation

Tank Renovation
Tanks before renovation
Tanks After renovation

Tank Renovation
Tanks before renovation
Tanks After renovation

Tank Renovation
Tanks before renovation
Tanks After renovation

Jewel fish
Black Angel g
Fish
Fresh water aquarium exhibits
Black guppy fish White Gurammy
Cichlids
Cichlids

8 Banded Butterfly
(Chaetodon octofasciatus.)
Sickle fish
(Drepene sp.)
Major Exhibits of Aquarium
King Soldier Bream
(Argyrops spinifer)
Horned Cowfish Fish
(Lyctroria cornuta)
(2010 -11) 11)
Bat fish
(Platax sp.)
Snake Eel
(Gymnothorax sp.)
Bicolor Angel fish
(Centropyge bicolor)
Pomfret
(Pampus sp.)
Collored Butterfly
(Chaetodon collare)
Porcupine Fish
(Diodon sp)
Black spotted croaker Red Squirrel fish
Sea snake
Sabae clownfish
Smoke Angel
(Protonibea diacanthus) (Sargocentron sp)
(Hydrophis sp.)
(Amphiprion sebae) (Apolemichthys xanthurus)

Other research initiatives
• MMonitoring it i of f marine i mammals l stranding t di incidences i id in i the th area.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Irrawady Dolphin
(Tursiops ( p truncatus) ) (Orcella (O ce a bbreviorostris) e o ost s)
• Study of ecto-parasites in ornamental fishes.
• Spawning of Horse-shoe crabs in captivity.

WORKSHOP/SEMINAR/TRAINING
OOrganized: i d
The 95th Foundation day of ZSI was also celebrated at this
Centre by involving local school students and arranging film
show on wildlife wildlife.
Participation:
Shri. Prasad Tudu, , Zoo. Asst. attended trainingg program p g on networkingg of ZSI Libraries & e-
Granthalaya at WGRS, Calicut during April, 2010.
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Officer-in-Charge attended a national seminar on Recent trends in taxonomy
and biodiversity conservation in India at ZSI, Kolkata during April, 2010.
Mr. Dipanjan Ray & Mr. Tridip Datta, Junior Research Fellows of this Centre attended training on
ornamental faunal breeding & culture at Centre for Advanced Studies on Marine Biology, Anna Malai
University, Perringipetti during February, 2011.
Sh Shri. i PPrasadd TTudu d attended dda nature camp organized i d bby Di Digha h Si Science CCentre as a resource person iin
January, 2011.
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Scientist ‘C’ & Officer-in-Charge attended the Workshop at Institute of
Wetland Studies, , Kolkata on 10th December, , 2010.
Dr. Prasanna Yennawar, Scientist ‘C’ & Officer-in-Charge delivered the validectory lecture for National
Talent Search Program organized by Jagdis Bose National Talent Search, Kolkata during February, 2011.

Total No. of Papers: 20
Communicated: 9
Under review: 5
Published: 6
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLISHED:
1. Prasanna Yennawar, 2009. Recent stranding incidences of marine mammals in
West Bengal Bengal. JJ. Bombay Bombay Nat Nat. Hist Hist. Soc Soc., 106(1): 106(1): 95-97 95-97. (published in April April,
2010).
2. Prasanna Yennawar, 2010. Indigenous technique to achieve maximum survival and
mating behavior of Stingrays under captivity. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, 110(II):
31 31-34. 34
3. Prasanna Yennawar & T.K. Chatterjee, 2010. Indigenous technique of Converting
selected marine fishes to fresh water conditions for ornamental purpose. Rec.
Zool. Surv. India, 110(II): 27-30.
44. Prasanna Yennawar & PP.C. C Tudu Tudu, 2010 2010. New site record of Indian yellow box
fish Ostracion cubicus in northern east coast of India. Rec. Zool. Surv. India,
110(I): 115-118.
5. Prasanna Yennawar & P.C. Tudu, 2011. New example of mutualisms of spider crab
Doclia Doclia ovis ovis (Herbst (Herbst, 1790) in Indian waters waters. Current Current Science Science, 100(3): 281 281.
6. Anil Mohapatra & P.G.S. Sethy, 2010. Eco-degradation to eco-restoration of Chilka
lagoon: an overview. Journal of Envioronment & Sociobiology, 7(2): 107-112.

UNDER REVISION:
PUBLICATIONS
1. Prasanna Yennawar. A Pictorial Hand book for Identification of Aquarium Fauna.
2. Prasanna L. Yennawar. Early development, life history & reproductive strategy
of Shipworm Nausitora hedleyi (Schepman) (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) in Indian
waters. Rec. Zool. Surv. India.
3. Prasanna Yennawar. Habitat based population variability in marine bivalves of
Digha coast. Rec. Zool. Surv. India.
4. Prasanna Yennawar. Recent account of Marine bivalves of Digha coast, India. Rec.
ZZool. l SSurv. IIndia. di
5. Prasanna Yennawar & P.C. Tudu. First record of appearance of Argyrops
bleekeri (Perciforms: Sparidae) at Digha, northern east coast of India. Rec.
Zool. Surv. India.

COMMUNICATED:
PUBLICATIONS
1. Prasanna Yennawar, Prasad Tudu & Anil Mohapatra. Occurrences of three
conservation important species of Genus Epinephelus (Serranidae) on Digha coast
of India India. Journal Journal of of Threatened Threatened Taxa Taxa.
2. Prasanna Yennawar, Prasad Tudu & Anil Mohapatra. New record of occurrences of
two species of eels of Genus Gymnothorax (Gymnothoridae) on Digha coast of
India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society.
3. Anil Mohapatra, Prasad Tudu & Prasanna Yennawar. A note on occurrence of
Yellow-wing flying fish, Cypselurus poecilorpterus (Valenciennes, 1857) from
Digha, east coast of India. Records of ZSI.
4. Prasanna Yennawar & Prasad Tudu. Incidence of spawning of two Horse shoe crab
species in captivity captivity. Current Current Science. Science
5. Prasanna Yennawar & Prasad Tudu. Occurrence of three new ornamental fishes of
Genus Acanthurus (Acanthuridae) from Digha coast, India. Indian Journal of
Fisheries.

COMMUNICATED contd…. contd
PUBLICATIONS
6. Anil Mohapatra, Mohapatra Prasad Tudu &Prasanna Prasanna Yennawar
Yennawar. First report of afish fish
from family: family Antennariidae (Antennarius
Antennarius hispidus)) hispidus from Digha coastal
waters waters, on the east coast of India India. Records Records Records Records of of of of ZSI ZSI ZSI ZSI..
7. Prasanna Yennawar, Dipanjan Ray & Anil Mohapatra. Incidence of
butterfly fish of family Chaetodontidae: Heniochus acuminatus (Linnaeus,
1758) on Digha coast of India. Records of ZSI.
8. Prasanna Yennawar, Prasad Tudu & Anil Mohapatra. First report of
stargazer Ichthyscopus Ichthyscopus lebeck lebeck (Schneider in Block & Schneider, 1801)
from Digha coast, India. Records of ZSI.
9. Anil Mohapatra, Prasad Tudu, Dipanjan Ray & Prasanna Yennawar. First
report on the occurrence of four fishes of family: Nemipteridae from Digha
on the east coast of India. Records of ZSI.

LAST S 5 YEARS S ADDITIONS ONS IN N HOLDINGS: O NGS:
Years 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Named 2448 4035 6744 8617 13094
Unnamed 14610 14737 14458 15419 17272
Total 17058 18772 21202 24036 30366
Added
during the
year
1341 1714 2162 2834 5760

DEVELOPMENT OF LIBRARY
Journals 346
Books 1371
Total 1717
This year’s addition 191

Number of posts
(AS ON 31/03/2011)
Sanctioned Filled Vacant
Group A 6 2 4
Group B 2 0 2
Group C 12 3 9
Group D 10 7 3
Total 30 12 18

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
• Projects undertaken: 4
• SSurveys: 48 days d
• Collection: 5760 examples
• Identification: 4470 examples
• Species p Registration: g 430 sp. p
• Advisory services: 36 beneficiaries
• Aquarium maintenance: 2808 live examples.
• New records: 32 site records.
• Publications: 20 (6 pub pub., 5 rev rev., 9 com.) com )
• Seminar & training attended: 3, Workshop: 1
• Library: 191 new entries.
• Museum development under spl. grant.
• External Funded Project: ICZM Project commenced since Oct’10.
• New Office vehicle procured through special grant.
• Old office vehicle disposed through auction.

MAJOR JO CO CONSTRAINTS
S S
Number of vacant posts.
Separate budget allocation & DDO post.
Timely y budget g allocation to CPWD.
THANK YOU ALL