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New records of Parascolopsis akatamae Miyamoto, McMahan, & Kaneko, 2020 are reported from India’s southeast coast. Three specimens were collected in April 2021 on the Parangipettai coast, Tamil Nadu, India. We examined and compared morphometric and meristic characters of our specimens with published data from the holotype. The new India records expand the known distribution of P. akatamae, which had previously been reported from southern Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand. Parascolopsis akatamae is a new addition to the list of marine fishes from Indian coastal waters.

Bharadhirajan P, Mahadevan G, Murugesan P, Murugan S, Pouladi M, Abbaspour Naderi R. 2019. Relative condition factor, length-weight relationship, and growth of three-spotted flounder, Pseudorhombus triocellatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) from Parangipettai Coast, India. Biodiversitas 20: 373-379. The three-spotted flounder, Pseudorhombus triocellatus is usually caught as trawl by-catch from Parangipettai coastal waters but regrettably, limited information on its age structure and growth is available. Hence, the present study aims to understand some basic parameters of its biology and growth. A total of 759 specimens (360 males and 399 females) ranging from 4 cm to 13 cm in total length (TL) and 5.26-35.41 g in weight were collected from the trawl catches of Parangipettai and Mudasalodai landing center during January–December 2015. The estimated growth coefficient (b) value for males (2.797) was greater than 3 and for females (3.023) was less than 3. The relative condition factor (Kn) values of females were higher than males except during February, June, and September. The values of asymptotic length (L∞) obtained in this study using various methods didn’t vary significantly (P>0.05). The most appropriate values of asymptotic length (Lα) for males were 137.11 mm and for females were 141.75 mm. The most appropriate values of growth rate (K) for males were 0.397 yr-1 and for females were 0.410 yr-1. The estimated length at age 0 (t0) for males and females were 0.197 mm and 0.292 mm, respectively. The longevity (tmax) of males and females P. triocellatus were 2.04 years and 2.24 years, respectively. The result of this study provides basic information for future studies.

Anguilliformes, also known as “true eels”, are an ecologically diverse group of predominantly marine origin whose members were easily recognized by their extremely elongated bodies with reduced cross-sectional areas and universal lack of pelvic fins. The Marine Eels were collected from landing centres of Parangipettai coastal waters and identified based on their morphometric and meristic characters. The newly recorded species were used for the barcoding analysis. Information on molecular taxonomy of marine eels was very meagre and hence, the present study was aimed to study the barcoding of marine eels which were present along the southeast coast of India. The cube of lateral muscle was exercised for DNA isolation followed by its amplification. Cluster IX 2.06 was used to align the nucleotide sequences (Thomson, 1997). The evolutionary history was inferred using the Neighbor-Joining method (Saitou and Nei, 1987). The evolutionary distances were computed using the Maximum Composite Likelihood method (Tamura et al., 2004). The barcodes sequences were submitted in NCBI (National centre for Biotechnological Information). The species within genera of Muraenidae, Muraenesocidae and Ophichthidae family were clustered in a same clade with high bootstrap value. The evolutionary relationships of six species were analyzed using neighbor joining method. This results of phylogenetic tree showed maximum genetic relatedness with the sequenced results which were submitted in gene bank.

Study on the occurrence and distribution of unusual crab species is a matter of fascination for carcinalogists. The present study reports the recurrence of a marine brachyuran crab species Parapanope euagora, of the family Galenidae, after a long period along the East coast of India. During a routine survey, three female ovigerous specimens are caught from Parangipettai coastal waters, southeast coast of India. From the results, after more than ten decades, the species, Parapanope euagora has reappeared in Indian coast revealing its possible, continued existence in Indian waters.

Melioidosis is an emerging infectious disease caused by a free living soil dwelling Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. The disease is endemic to most parts of Southeast Asia and northern Australia and the organism has been isolated from moist soil and water. In India clinical cases are recently reported from the states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Assam, West Bengal, Pondicherry and Tripura. This study is aimed to confirm the prevalence of this important bacterial species in soil samples collected from coastal areas of Tamilnadu. Forty five soil samples from five different sites were collected from Parangipettai, Tamilnadu and screened for the presence of B. pseudomallei. The study confirmed 4 isolates as B. pseudomallei with the help of conventional bacteriological methods and molecular methods that include; 16S rDNA sequencing, B. pseudomallei specific PCR, fli C gene RFLP and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry based bacterial identification. This study reveals the prevalence and distribution of B. pseudomallei in the soil environment in coastal areas of southern India and further necessitates studies from other parts of the country. It will also be helpful to understand the distribution of B. pseudomallei and to access its epidemiological importance.

Electrophoretic and serological studies of foot muscle protein of three species of Cerithiacea (Telescopium telescopium, Cerithidea fluviatilis and C. obtusum) were carried out to understand their relationships. Living specimens were collected from mud flats and mangrove swamps off Portonovo. Polyacrylamide electrophoresis of proteins from foot muscle extract of T. telescopium, C. fluviatilis and C. obtusum showed that the former had a different densitometric profile as well as more number of protein bands; but the later two species showed a closer related pattern as well as lesser number of protein bands. At the same time these two species are distinguished from each other in their total number of bands and Rf values. Immunological studies using micro-Ouchterlony double diffusion tests which absorbed antiserum indicated that C. fluviatilis and C. obtusum were more closely related as revealed by an identity reactions than T. telesopium as shown by non-identity reactions. Results are discussed in relation to ecological and morphological adaptations