RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Dey, (2006) mentions about 100 species of molluscs from mangrove areas of Indian subcontinent. The literature survey reveal of 215 species of molluscs from India. Of these are 133 Gastropoda, 77 Bivalvia, four Cephalopoda, and only one from Polyplacophora (Table 1). During our investigations in the mangrove areas of the estuaries of the west flowing rivers from the Western Ghats namely Aghanashini, Gangavali, Kali, and Sharavathi about 16 genera of molluscs were found. Of these 12 genera are assigned to class Gastropoda. Of these eight were assigned to generic level viz. Assiminea, Cerithidea, Littoraria, Neritina, Onchidium, Stenothyra, Telescopium, Thiara, one was assigned to the family Ellobiidae and three remain to be identified. Four taxa of class Bivalvia are identified to generic level viz. Crassostrea, Modiolus, Polymesoda, and Saccostrea. The edible bivalve species such as Anadara granosa, Meretrix meretrix, M. casta, Paphia malabarica, Villorita cyprinoides, and Perna viridis, although abundant in the local estuaries (Boominathan et al., 2008) were not found in the mangrove areas, although such a conclusion needs to be strengthened by further observations.

Table 1: The comprehensive list of molluscs found in the Indian mangrove areas.

Source: 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), Venkatesan et al. (2010).