ON A COLLECTION OF FISHES FROM THE MAL VAN MARINE SANCTUARY, MALVAN, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

The Malvan coastal belt of Maharashtra has been declared as Malvan Marine Sanctuary only recently. This sanctuary is rich in marine flora and fauna especially the coral life and mangroves. A perusal of the existing literature shows that the ichthyofaunal resources of this sanctuary has not documented yet. Hence, an attempt was made to evaluate the fish resources of this sanctuary. Two faunistic surveys were undertaken for the assessment of the Marine fish faunal resources of the Malvan sanctuary in the months of September 2004 and October 2005. These surveys have resulted in enlisting 108 species of fishes belonging to 48 families and 13 orders. This study has also revealed the occurrence of 4 vulnerable and 2 near threatesed species in this Malvan Marine Sanctuary. Common English names of the species have been provided along with the scientific names of the species.


INTRODUCTION
The Malvan coastal belt of Maharashtra has been declared as Malvan Marine Sanctuary only recently.This sanctuary is rich in marine flora and fauna especially the coral life and mangroves.
A perusal of the existing literature shows that the ichthyofaunal resources of this sanctuary has not documented yet.Hence, an attempt was made to evaluate the fish resources of this sanctuary.Two faunistic surveys were undertaken for the assessment of the Marine fish faunal resources of the Malvan sanctuary in the months of September 2004 and October 2005.These surveys have resulted in enlisting 108 species of fishes belonging to 48 families and 13 orders.This study has also revealed the occurrence of 4 vulnerable and 2 near threatesed species in this Malvan Marine Sanctuary.Common English names of the species have been provided along with the scientific names of the species.

STUDY AREA
The Malvan Marine Sanctuary is located in Malvan Taluka of Sindhudurg district in Konkan Region along the Maharashtra coast between 16°15'-16°50' N latitude and 73°27'-73°31' E longitude.It covers an area of 29.22 sq km.This costal line is indented with creeks and bays.
Kolam, Kalabati and Karli and the prominent creeks of this sanctuary.This region is free from pollution and harbours a wide variety of flora and fauna.The flora components of this region are mainly mangroves and sea grasses.Several species of marine algae are found in this region.Sand dune vegetation is also found very rich here.Mangrove species like Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia officina lis and Excoecaria sp.flourish well here.It has been observed that among its faunal coposition several species of sponges, sea fans, soft and hard corals, sea anemones thrive well in this sanctuary.Live pearl oyster and red coral are also found here.The sanctuary also includes turtle nesting grounds.The Malvan Marine sanctuary and its surrounding area support a commercial trawl fishery.The Sindhdurg fort, built by Shivaji Maharaj is situated in this sanctuary and is considered as one of the main attraction of Malvan.It is one of the very few relatively undisturbed locations along the western coast of India.Malvan Marine Sanctuary is the only Marine Sanctuary in Maharashtra.The sanctuary is rich in coral and marine life in addition to the mangroves.The creation of Marine Biosphere Reserves has increased due to the natural changes and human depredation in many coastal area.Several ecologically important species of plant and animal have been extinct and whatever remains, urgently need for conservation measures.This has necessitated for the declaration of the sanctuaries for the conservation and protection of the marine wild life.Since Malvan Marine Sanctuary contains four vulnerable fish species and two near threatened species in addition to the coral life and mangroves the declaration of the Malvan coast as Marine Sanctuary recently is justified and it needs urgent legal protection.
It also contains some important commercial food fishes.The fishes of the family Carangidae form the dominating group consisting of 15 species among the important food fishes.The fishes of the family Scombridae and Clupeidae represented by 7 species each followed by Leiognathidae and Engraulidae represented by 6 species each.