Seasonal abundance and diversity of finfish in a tropical estuary, Karwar, southwest coast of India

The spatial and seasonal variability in finfish availability in the tropical Kali Estuary, in Karwar was studied from January 2017- May 2019 at three stations. A total of 26 species belonging to 9 orders and 20 families were recorded from the Kali Estuary and the order Perciformes with 16 species dominated the group (62%) followed by order Mugilliformes and Pleuronectiformes (8%). Maximum abundance was observed during the pre-monsoon season in all the stations. Excluding Ambassis ambassis which was abundant in all the stations, Caranx ignobilis dominated in all the stations. Truly marine and estuarine species of fishes recorded dominated than the freshwater estuarine ones like Etroplus suratensis, Scatophagus argus, Aplocheilus lineatus. Number of species recorded at each station during the study ranged from 11 to 25 and it was significantly different between stations. The Shannon- Wiener diversity index ranged from 2.0 to 4.6, the minimum in station 1 and maximum in station 3. The seasonal analysis of diversity also showed minimum value during the monsoon season in station 1 and maximum value in station 3. The minimum value (2.2) of Margalef richness index was also recorded in Station 1 during monsoon season and maximum value (4.2) in Station 2. When comparing the relative abundance using Pielou’s evenness index (J’) the values were in the range of 0.92 to 0.99 which was closer to one, indicating evenness in distribution. There was similarity in species composition according to different seasons except for monsoon season in Station 1. The same pattern was also evident in the MDS plot where seasonal aggregation was observed between the stations. In addition to the diversity studies, the surveys also threw light on the abundance and seasonality of candidate species suitable for mariculture like C. ignobilis, Lutjanus spp., Etroplus spp., etc. Judicious exploitation of the species could help brackishwater fish farmers.