INTRODUCTION

Mangroves are salt-tolerant plants inhabiting the tropical and subtropical estuarine regions. They are ranked among the most productive ecosystem of the earth. Few to mention of their ecosystem services are provision forestry products, protection from coast erosion, preservation of water quality, reduction of pollution, recycling of nutrients, and high amount of carbon sequestration especially in the soils (Kathiresan, 2009; Sathirathai, l998; Bandaranayake, 2002). Of the many kinds of biodiversity elements associated with mangroves, from microbes to mammals, molluscs have important ecosystem functions associated with degradation of organic detritus to playing key role in the trophic structure of estuaries.

Molluscs make the second largest Phylum of invertebrates, next only to the Arthropods. In mangroves, molluscs occupy all the levels in the food web such as predators, herbivores, detritus and filter feeders. Thereby they play an important role in maintaining the function and productivity of mangroves. Gastropods and bivalves are the two major classes of molluscans occupying mangrove areas. These macrobenthic molluscs can be broadly grouped under three categories epifauna (living on mud or surface area of the land), infauna (burying themselves in the substratum), and arboreal (living on the vegetation); some molluscs have habitat overlap as well (Dey, 2006; Kesavan et al., 2009; Shanmugam and Vairamani, 2009). Molluscs are used for various purposes like food, ornamental, poultry feed, and source of lime (Boominathan et al., 2008). In India, studies on mangrove associated molluscs were done by Das and Dev Roy (1989), Dehadrai (1994), Dey (2006), Ganapati and Rao (1959), Ingole et al. (2002), Kesavan et al. (2009), Kurian (1984), Mandal and Nandi (1989), Ramamorty and Rao (1993), Oswin (1998), Pereira et al. (2002), Radhakrishna and Janakiram (1975), Radhakrishnan et al. (2006), Santhakumaran (1983), Shanmugam and Vairamani (2009), Subba Rao (2003), Suresh et al. (2012), and Venkatesan et al. (2010). Dey (2006) mentioned that the Indian subcontinent has about 100 molluscs associated with mangroves. However, there is no comprehensive list of molluscs found in Indian mangrove areas. Hence, the objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive list of molluscs found in the Indian mangrove areas.