First Report of Three Phyla (Ctenophora : Echiura : Sipuncula) from Mangroves of Orissa

Abstract

Although mangrove flora of Orissa are well inventorised, fauna inhabiting mangroves of this state, especially the lower invertebrates are very poorly known, barring a single publication by Chadha and Kar (1999). During the faunistic survey in March, 2011 under the project, "Mangrove Associated fauna of Orissa coast" the authors had observed and collected three species of invertebrates, namely, Pleurobranchia globosa (Phylum Ctenophora), Anelassorhynchus microrhynchus (Phylum Echiura) and Phascolosoma arcuatum (Phylum Sipuncula) from mangrove habitats of Orissa. Among these, P. globosa was observed to be very common in the fishing nets at Hukitola (River Mahanadi) and Bandar (River Devi) while A. microrhynchus and P. arcuatum were collected from Bandar (Devi River, district Jagatsingpur and Balabhadrapur in district Puri) and Jashipur (Budha Balanga River, district Balasore). P. arcuatum was found in the muddy bank in sparsely distributed mangroves. P. globosa was observed in Mahanadi estuary surrounded by dense mangroves while A. microrhynchus had been collected from dense (in Bandar) as well as sparse (in Balabhadrapur) mangroves. A perusal of literature reveals that the sipunculid P. arcuatum had been reported earlier from mangroves of Andaman Islands (Das and Dev Roy, 1989) and all the three species from Sundarbans mangrove region (Mandal and Nandi, 1989).