A REPORT ON INTERTIDAL MACROFAUNA OF TALSARI (BALASORE : ORISSA)

Talsari is a less popular tourist spot of Orissa, situated on the tributaries of Subarnarekha Estuary. Despite of Anthropogenic pressure and various types of fishing activities, this place is rich in marine faunal diversity. The first author investigated the intertidal faunal resources of this area since 1995 to 2003. As several types of marine habitats are found in this small area (2.5 sq. km. only), different types of faunal composition are found here in distinct zonation. Previously Goswamy (1992) reported some marine fauna of Digha coast. Rao & Misra (1986) reported the Macrofauna of Digha Beach of West Bengal. Very recently Chatterjee & Mitra (2003) reported the Estuarine Molluscs of Talsari. But till date there is no comprehensive report on the intertidal fauna of this region. Bairagi (1995); Subba Rao et al., (1792) and Mitra et al., (1997, 1998) contributed on some marine fauna of Digha coast.


INTRODUCTION
Talsari is a less popular tourist spot of Orissa, situated on the tributaries of Subarnarekha Estuary.Despite of Anthropogenic pressure and various types of fishing activities, this place is rich in marine faunal diversity.The first author investigated the intertidal faunal resources of this area since 1995 to 2003.As several types of marine habitats are found in this small area (2.5 sq.km.only), different types of faunal composition are found here in distinct zonation.Previously Goswamy (1992) reported some marine fauna of Digha coast.Rao & Misra (1986) reported the Macrofauna of Digha Beach of West Bengal.Very recently Chatterjee & Mitra (2003) reported the Estuarine Molluscs of Talsari.But till date there is no comprehensive report on the intertidal fauna of this region.Bairagi (1995); Subba Rao et al., (1792) and Mitra et al., (1997Mitra et al., ( , 1998) ) contributed on some marine fauna of Digha coast.
The present paper deals with a comprehensive list comprising 90 species belonging to seven phyla of the Intertidal Macrofauna of Talsari with short notes on habitat choice, zonation, status of availability, threats and some recommendation for their conservation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Talsari is a small coastal village in the District of Balasore of Orissa, close to Orissa-West Bengal border.There is a large mud flat, which remains submerged during high tides.The village is criss-crossed by the canals connected to the tributaries of the river Subarnarekha at its confluence with the Bay of Bengal.A natural Mangrove cover consisting of Sonneratia apatala, Exocaria agalocha and Acanthus sp., is coming up on the south west side of the village.Recently the Govt. of Orissa constructed a fishing harbour.A large Molluscan fishery has also been established on the Southeastern part of Talsari.The Intertidal beach is very much extended (more than 600 mt.) on Eastern portion of this area.
The observation and collection of specimens for this study were made on weekly/fortnightly basis.Horizontal and vertical survey were made in different time and tidal conditions.Littoral fauna was collected during low tide from the Sandy shore, as well as Mud flat area, Boulder, Rocks & Jetties, and also from Mangrove vegetations.
During sample collections and observation, type of the substrate, abundance, habit and habitats of individual species were noted.Specimens were preserved in 70% Alcohol or in 10% Formalin after proper narcotisation, and attempts were made to identify all the collected specimens up to species level whenever possible.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In our study a total of 90 species of intertidal macrofauna belonging to 71 genera, 48 Families, 23 Orders, 11 Classes and 7 Phyla have been counted.(The Faunal list is given in Table 1).Among this groups phylum-Mollusca is dominated (55%) with a list of 49 species whereas phylum-Echiurida and Brachiopoda represented with a single species only.(The phylum wise species composition is shown in Fig. 1).The Intertidal Fauna of Digha coast studied by Rao & Misra  (1984) comprises only 44 species of Macrofauna.Ovbiously due to occurrence of a diverse type of habitat the Faunal composition of Talsari beach is so healthy.Fauna associated with mudflat & mangrove area are totally absent in Digha beach.Due to excessive tourism pressure some animals shifted their population from Digha beach to Talsari sea beach, such as Ocypode macrocera, Thorsonia investigatoris, Carcinoscorpious rotundicauda.
According to habitat, most of the species found in Sandy beach (41%) where sandy beach with siltation and mud habitat dwelling species accounted 18% in each case, a total 6% animals are available in Mangrove forest as epifauna (Fig. 2).
Status of the Intertidal macro-fauna also observed, and 36% species are accounted as very common, whereas 11% species are considered as rare in this area.Some species are commercially exploited (19%) in large scale.Due to Anthropogenic activity, habitat loss and some other causes some species (14%) are threatened here also (Fig. 3).
As Talsari sea beach is very nearer to Digha beach (12 km), a very popular sea resort of West Bengal, a large number of tourists come here all the year round, of which a large number of students use to collect zoological specimens from here.These are one of the causes to decline the faunal population.Besides this, the recent advent of aquaculture industry in this area leads to the destruction of lot of invertebrate juveniles (including their egg capsules).The fishermen collect the post larval stages of tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and throwaway the other forms catched in the same net (Juveniles of fish and other invertebrates) on the beach.This unscrupulous daily activity causes heavy loss of biodiversity of this area and causes ecological imbalance.Development of molluscan fishery is playing also a negative role in case of Biodiversity conservation, because it depends here only on capture fishery.Establishment of a Fishing Harbour in the vicinity by the Govt. of Orissa in the recent past may lead to the rapid destruction of this unique ecologically diverse sea beach as well as its faunal resources.
The intertidal fauna of Digha beach is somewhat different in respect of Talsari beach, because the Digha beach is purely sandy and there are some artificial rocks on upper and supralittoral zone on the other hand Talsari has all types of coastal ecosystems.Species no.4,6,14,17,22,26,27,28,29,32,33,35,37,38,41,44,45,46,57,58,59,61,62,63,65,68,69,72    area.Some of the species are commercially exploited (19%) in large scale.Due to Anthropogenic activity, habitat loss and some other causes some species (14%) are threatened here also.As Talsari sea beach is very nearer to Digha beach (12 km), a very popular sea resort of West Bengal, a large number of tourists come here all the year round, of which a considerable number of students collect zoological specimens from the locality.These are some of the causes for declination of the beach faunal population.Beside this, the recent growing interest in aquacultural activities all along the east coast has introduced a new enthusiatic group among the fishermen and their daily activity destroy a good number of Invertebrates including their egg capsules, juveniles at the time of collecting the post larvae of tiger Shrimp (Penaeus monodon).Development of molluscan fisheries is playing also a negative role in case of Biodiversity conservation, because it depends here only on capture fishery.Very recently Govt. of Orissa constructed a Fishing Harbour, which may destroy in near future this unique ecologically diverse sea beach as well as its faunal resources.
Abbreviations used are as follows :For denoting the habitats: A: Sandy beach; B : Sandy beach with siltation; C : Mud; D : BoulderlRocks/Jetties; E : Mangrove epifauna; F : Hard soil with grass bed.For suggesting the status of the specimens : 1 : Very common; 2 : Common; 3 : Rare; 4 : Commercially exploited; 5 : Threatened due to human activity.

Table 1 .
and 82 of Table No.1 of this article are not available at the sandy shore of Digha.: List of intertidal macro fauna along with their habitat & status data