P.R. Jayachandran , S. Bijoy Nandan , O.K. Sreedevi , V.F. Sanu

Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0002
Received: 20 Nov., 2012    Accepted: 21 Dec., 2012    Published: 26 Dec., 2012

Jayachandran et al., 2013, Influences of Environmental Factors on Fish Assemblage in the Tropical Estuary of South West Coast of India, A Case Study of Kodungallur-Azhikode Estuary, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.2 4-16 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0002)

A proper monitoring of aquatic environment is crucial to appropriate management of the fisheries that rely on harvests from the environment and attempts of present study have been made to demonstrate links with environmental variability and fish abundance in the Kodungallur-Azhikode estuary (KAE). Annual average fish production in the estuary was declined considerably to 908.6 tons during 2009-2010, where 2747 tons was reported. Sixty three species of fin fishes, six species of penaeid shrimps, one species of Palaemonid prawns, two species of crabs, four species of bivalves and two species of edible oysters were observed in this study. Present study revealed that, Salinity is consistently the most important parameter explaining variation in assemblage composition and abundance of KAE; the availability of fish for recruitment into an estuary depends primarily upon the distributional range of euryhaline marine and estuarine species. The direct gradient analysis, first CCA axis, which explained most of the variation (45%) in the species data, was related to salinity, transparency and pH, and first two CCA axes together explained 72% of the cumulative percent variance of species-environment relationship. The importance of monitoring the estuarine condition in relation to fish assemblage was discussed, with significance on the potential use of estuarine fish assemblages and their monitoring and surveillance in management programs.

Kodungallur-Azhikode estuary; Fish productivity; Water quality; Eutrophication