P.R. Jayachandran , M.P. Prabhakaran , C.V. Asha , Akhilesh Vijay , S. Bijoy Nandan

Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Cochin-16, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 3   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0003
Received: 25 Oct., 2014    Accepted: 23 Nov., 2014    Published: 05 Jan., 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Jayachandran et al., 2015, First report on mass reproductive swarming of a polychaete worm, Dendronereis aestuarina (Annelida, Nereididae) Southern 1921, from a freshwater environment in the south west coast of India, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.5, No.3 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0003)

In the present study we report the occurrence of red coloured mass reproductive swarms of Dendronereis aestuarina from Periyar River of the south west coast of India. It was observed in the freshwater zone of the river during the evening hours of August 31^st, 2010. Reproductive swarmingbehaviourof D. aestuarinahas been first reported by Southern, 1921 from brackishwater environment in the Gangetic delta, however present study reports first time from absolutely freshwater environment. The density of swarmed polychaete was ~14800 indls. m^-2 with the average length of 86 ± 16 mm. Male worms were dominated in the 60 specimens analyzed and the sex ratio was 3:1 (M/F). The average diameter of eggs collected from polychaete body was 0.33 ± 0.08 mm. Swarming was extended for two days; after successful mating and spawning they were died.

Dendronereis aestuarina; Reproductive swarming; Periyar River; Cochin estuary; Kodungallure - Azhikode estuary