Diversity and distribution of shallow water octocorallia from Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, South Andaman, India

Abstract

Diversity and distribution of octocorals of Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park (MGMNP), South Andaman were investigated from June, 2013 to May, 2016 using a Line Intercept Transect method with help of SCUBA diving. The study was carried out in 11 different islands named as Alexandra, Belle, Chester, Snob, Grub, Jolly Bouy, Boat, Red Skin Rutland, Tarmugli and Twins Islands. We undertook a systematic study on the diversity of octocorals. Thirty five species belonging to 29 genera were reported from MGMNP of which, the alcyonacea was a dominant group followed by gorgonacea, helioporacea and pennatulacea at all the study sites which is also substantiated by Principal Component analysis, and Ternary plot. Results on Bray-Curtis cluster analysis showed 35 % to 76 % similarity between the study sites in MGMNP.