Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ASSESSMENT OF POLYCHAETES IN PULICAT LAKE ECOSYSTEM: GIS BASED EXPLICATION

R. Gomathy, J. Sesh Serebiah, A. Priya and R. Moses Inbaraj

Abstract

The polychaetes and physicochemical paramenters in Pulicat lake were studied for a period of one year at twenty different stations.The Physico chemical parameters such as temperature, salinity, pH, DO, Nitrate, Nitrite, Inorganic Phosphate and Reactive Silicate were assessed in water and organic carbon from sediment sample and compared with polychaetes distribution. A total of 28 species belonging to 13 families were identified. The most abundant polychaetes seen in all stations are Heteromastus filiformis, Armandia longicaudata. DO, nutrients, organic materials found to be the most obvious correlation factorsfor the distribution of species