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A year and countless excursions later, the results have been startling. Ninety-two species of sea creatures, previously unknown to be living in the arid northern coast of the Gulf of Kutch — that stretches roughly from Mundra to Jhakhou — have been found.
Project leader Dr G A Thivakaran said, "It is a tremendously encouraging find. It was a very basic kind of an ecological survey and the results have been great so far. We now know that the northern coast of the Gulf of Kutch is rich in coastal biodiversity. The second year of the project will reveal even more species."
The study is significant as it challenges the traditional view of the southern Coast of the Gulf of Kutch being a hotspot of coastal bio-diversity in view of the rich coral formation in the area.
Dr Thivakaran said they were hopeful about the finds from the very beginning. "The Mundra-Jhakhou belt has 720 sq km of mangroves, the richest mangrove zone in the western coast of India and mangroves are known for the bio-diversity they support," he said.
The species found belong to the gastropods, bivalves, crustaceans and polychaetes families and range from worms found in the ocean bed to even shrimps and lobsters.
For correct classification the species were also sent to the Chennai-based Marine Biology Centre of the Zoological Survey of India. Some were also sent to the Centre for Advanced Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Chennai.
In the second year of the project, GUIDE has requested for a special vessel from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai to help in the search for species that live beyond a depth of 50 metres. In the wake of the successful results from the research, the scientists are also hopeful of a grant in excess of the modest Rs 7.5 lakh provided by the Ministry of Earth Sciences to enable them to carry out an extensive ecological survey of the Mundra-Jhakhou coastal belt. Dr. Thivakarran said: "The study to map the wealth of the coastal life in the region had never been attempted prior to this preliminary survey. The results are fantastic and an extensive survey must follow this."
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