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Huge cup corals found in the Gulf of Mannar

By Our Staff Reporter

Abnormally big cup corals found in an island in the Gulf of Mannar.

TUTICORIN, MAY 28. Researchers of the Fisheries College and Research Institute here have recorded two abnormally huge cup corals belonging to the species Turbinaria undata around four islands in the Gulf of Mannar. They were found during scuba diving research on Wednesday on the islands of Van, Kaswari, Vilaangu and Kariya Shuli under an Indian Council of Agricultural Research and National Agricultural Technology Project-funded scheme, `Resource Assessment of Ornamental Reef Fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar, Southeast Coast of India'. The researchers, T. Vaitheeswaran and M. Venkatasamy, identified the cup corals of 72 and 89-cm diameter. The corals of this species, distributed in other parts of Indian and international waters, were less than 50 cm diameter. The height of the two corals was 46 and 56 cm. Though cup corals are brown or greenish brown, Wednesday find was mainly brown.

According to the professor and principal investigator, V.K. Venkataramani, the cup corals of the genus Turbinaria has 50 species, normally distributed in the Indo - Pacific region. This species provides shelter to molluscan species and finfish varieties, including ornamental fish, worth exporting. The dean, R. Santhanam, said the institute had for the first time in India recorded a number of new ornamental fish species from the Gulf of Mannar.

The intensive and long-term studies on coral ecology would pave the way for assessing the biodiversity of the region.

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