Journal of Environment and Sociobiology

Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, 27, J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkta-700016, IN

Abstract

Several faunastic surveys were undertaken in Subarnarekha estuary (Balasore : Odisha) from 2006-2010. During these surveys 82 species of phylum Mollusca were found there, of which Gastropoda comprises the major portion by 46 species whereas Pelecypoda or bivalves consist of only 36 species. Molluscs are being exploited as food from ancient times. Apart from this, shells of molluscs are utilized for preparation of decorative materials, preparation of lime and for fish and poultry feed. Some gastropod shells, namely, Pugilina cochlidium, Bursa spinosa, Tonna sp, Cerithidea sp., Telescopium telescopium, Murex tribulus and Umbonium vestiarum are used as ornamen-tal or decorative article. Among the bivalves, Meretrix meretrix, M. casta, Andara granosa, Gluconoma sculpta, Paphia textiles, Macoma sp. and Saccostrea cucullta are exploited to makings of lime and dust for fishery food. The present study aimed at documenting the molluscan fauna of the Subarnarekha estuary, as well as highlighting the socio-economic aspect of the trade on molluscs from this estuary. The need for conservation of these molluscs is also discussed.

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Santanu Mitra ¹, M. K. Dev Roy ¹

Affiliations
1 Crustacea Section, Zoological Survey of India, F.P.S Building, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata - 700016, IN

Abstract

During a recent survey to Himachal Pradesh, the authors came across a single example of leech from a clean and unpolluted swift-water running stream at Bilaspur (lat. 31°35 ' N. long. 76°75 ' E.) situated at an altitude of 673 m near D.A.V. School (Senior) on 15.09.2012. It was found under a stone attached to a freshwater crab. This leech (Figs. 1A-C) has been identified as Myxobdella annandalei Oka,1917 (Family Hirudinidae) for the following characters: soft and flabby body for the greater part of its length, gently tapering at the posterior and anterior extremities; caudal sucker much larger; jaws small and weak, teeth very few, three or four in each row; somites imperfectly 5 annulate, complete somites from X-XXII; eyes five pairs on somite II to VI, small and obscure; gonopores separated by five annuli. Colour of this leech is pale grey or olive, more or less closely maculated with black and dusky blotches. Its length and width of the leech were 29.5 mm and 12 mm respectively and the radius of the posterior sucker 5 mm only. The specimen has been deposited in the National Collection of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (Reg. No. An 3808/1).

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Santanu Mitra ¹, Mousumi Roy ², A. Misra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, 27, J. L. Nehru Road, F. P. S. Building, Kolkata-7000016, West Bengal, IN
2 KBB Nivedita College, Behala, Kolkata-700 034, IN

Abstract

During a recent survey to Chandipur coast (Balasore District), Odisha one of us (MR) collected a specimen of polychaete worm from the lower tidal area of the Chandipur sea beach. This specimen is 65 mm long and 7 mm wide with reddish-brown ooze adhering to the skin surface. Body is cylindrical or club-shaped anteriorly, while posterior part tapering, looking like a filiform coiled tail. Body is covered by small globular papillae. Buccal tube is very long, protrusible, cylindrical and frilled at the edge. Mouth opening is trilobed, two ventral lobes are larger than the dorsal.

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Maitri Bose(Biswas) ¹, Santanu Mitra ²

Affiliations
1 Dept. of Zoology, Raja Peary Mohan College, Uttarpara, West Bengal, IN
2 Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, IN

Abstract

Odonates, commonly known as dragonflies and damselflies, are one of the most common insects flying over ponds and rivers. Their larval stages mainly inhabit top soft layer of bottom soil/humus near littoral zone of aquatic ecosystem but they also inhabit attached to submerged macrophytes. In the present paper some selected ponds of Paschimpara village under Goghat-II Panchayat , Arambagh Sub-division of Hooghly district, West Bengal were brought under study. In all, nine species were observed and studied. These belong to the Suborder Anisoptera (Dragonflies) and Suborder Zygoptera (Damselflies) as follows : Suborder Anisoptera (7 species under the family Libellulidae) - Brachythemis contaminata (Fabricius, 1793), Brachydiplax sobrina (Rambur, 1842), Crocothemis servilla servilla (Drury, 1770), Diplocodes trivialis (Rambur, 1842), Orthetrum pruinosum (Rambur, 1842) and Rhyothemis variegata (Linnaeus, 1763) and Suborder Zygoptera (2 species under the family Coenagrionidae) - Ceriagrion olivaceum (Laidlow, 1914) and Agriocnemis spelendidissima (Laidlow, 1919). Habitat ecology of these odonate insects are highlighted herein.

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Maitri Bose (Biswas) ¹, Santanu Mitra ²

Affiliations
1 Dept. of Zoology, Raja Peary Mohan College, Uttarpara, Hooghly, West Bengal, IN
2 Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, IN

Abstract

Three years periodic surveys on macroinvertebrate diversity in several ponds at Paschimpara village of Goghat-II Panchayat under Arambagh sub-division, Hooghly district, West Bengal, have revealed that chironomid larvae are dominated in polluted pond, while odonate larvae were abundant in almost all the ponds. In the beginning of this study a poriferan species Spongilla carteri was observed to flourish in these ponds but later the population of Spongilla carteri is almost vanished in most of the ponds which are particularly in the middle of agricultural fields. Modern agriculture highly depending on inorganic manure and insecticide might have possibly affected the invertebrate diversity of the pond ecosystems that play a vital role in village life and these ponds need to be conserved from chemical pollution. In the present paper macroinvertebrate diversities of these pond ecosystems are recorded and discussed along with some physico-chemical parameters.

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Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building 27, J.L. Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, IN

Abstract

As per available literature cnidarian fauna of West Bengal comprise of 50 species. Out of these, these species, viz., Hydra vulgaris, Moerisia gangetica and Limnocnida indica were found in freshwater and the remaining from brackish, estuarine and coastal water. In the present communication a systematic list of all cnidarian species of West Bengal is furnished along with their habitat, district-wise distribution and local status.

Keywords

Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Cubozoa, Anthozoa.

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Santanu Mitra ¹, A. Misra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27, J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700016, IN

Abstract

A total of 74 species of Polychaetes belonging to 51 genera and 28 families have been reported so far from West Bengal wetlands. Out of these, only two species, viz., Aelosoma bengalensis and Lumbrineris pseudobifilaris are reported from freshwater habitats and the remaining are from brackishwater, estuarine and caostal habitats of the state. A list of all these species along with their habitat, district-wise distribution in the states and local status is presented in the present communication.

Keywords

Polychaetes, Macrobenthic, Wetland, Endemic.

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J. G. Pattanayak ¹, Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, 27, J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata-700 016, IN

Abstract

Sponges are mostly marine, comprising of 4562 species (Thomas, 1998). Amongst these, only about 100 species belonging to the family Spongillidae are freshwater sponges and distributed all over the globe (Thomas, op. cit.). These sponges grow as tufts or irregular masses on stones, sticks, logs, shells and other solid objects lying in freshwater. Some of these freshwater sponges occur in brackishwater also as reported by Annandale (1907a) from West Bengal, India.

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Santanu Mitra ¹, J. G. Pattanayak ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata-16, IN

Abstract

Bryozoa or Ectoprocta are small benthic, sessile and aquatic invertebrates growing as colonies of connected zooids on submerged substrates. They feed on suspended organic particles which they captured by the whorls of ciliated tentacles (lophophore). Of the estimated 8000 extant species of bryozoans (Ryland, 2005), only a small number are found in freshwater habitats. Till now 94 bryozoan species are found in freshwater consisting of 24 genera and 10 families (Massard and Geimer, 2008). Most of these species belong to the exclusively freshwater inhabiting class Phylactolaemata and reproduce asexually by means of statoblasts (buoyant floatoblasts and fixed sessoblasts), which are very important in identification of species. Freshwater bryozoan colony adheres to the surface of any substratum inside the water bodies, i.e., aquatic weeds, logs, stones, bricks or any other artificial substratum in the ponds, lakes, water reservoirs, streams, and rivers.

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Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, IN

Abstract

Lingula is one of the oldest living genus belonging to the phylum Brachiopoda commonly known as 'Lamp shell'. Lingula anatina Lamarck, 1801 is a rare and primitive animal that occurs as patchy distribution in Indian coasts and estuaries. Soota and Reddy (1976) reported Lingula sp. from Talsari, the western most part of the Subarnarekha estuary. During the faunistic survey in Subarnarekha Estuary (2006-09), a vast Lingula bed was noticed (Mitra et al., 2010) besides the narrow creeks, surrounded by mangroves and salt marshes from Talsari to Kirtania. In this estuary, the habitat of Lingula anatina is generally soft muddy, sometimes with black soil (decomposed) and sand mixed mud. Juveniles inhabit in fine soft mud only.

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Santanu Mitra ¹, M. K. Dev Roy ¹

Affiliations
1 Crustacea Section, Zoological Survey of India, F. P. S. Building, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata–700016, IN

Abstract

Alitropus typus was described for the first time by H. Milne Edwards (1840) from Gulf du Bengale (Bay of Bengal). Later on, Stebbing (1911) recorded this species from Shastancotta Lake, a freshwater lake of Kerala. Subsequently, Chilton (1926) and Pillai (1967) reported Rocinella simplex and Alitropus dimorphus from Chilka lake and Travancore (Kerala) respectively. Both the species are now synonymised as Alitropus typus (Bruce, 1983).

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Sayantani Shaw ¹, Santanu Mitra ¹, Subhrendu Sekhar Mishra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, F.P.S. Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, IN

Abstract

Mangroves are often considered as nursery ground for many marine and estuarine animals. Hence a lot of work has been carried out in mangrove ecosystems worldwide. But mangroves with their characteristic shapes and ischolar_main systems provide shelter and food for many animals of that particular ecosystem. Keeping in this mind, a case study was undertaken in 2016-2017. Bichitrapur mangrove is located in the mouth of Subarnarekha estuary, in Balasore district of Odisha. The preliminary study reveals occurrence of total 57 species of estuarine animals associated with different parts of mangrove plants as borers or non-borers and some of them obviously harmful to mangrove forests. Most of them are opportunistic to live on mangroves for shelter and feeding purpose in a dynamic tidal influx environment. Molluscs are the dominating groups inhabiting the mangroves, 8 species of molluscs are found as borers of mangroves wood, whereas 19 species are opportunistic epi-fauna. Crustaceans are found as second diverse group in this ecosystem, with 13 species of crabs, 6 species of boring isopods and a single species of amphipods. A few species of Cnidaria, Polychaetea, Echinoderm and some fishes are found as epifauna in 7 species of mangroves, which are found here. But these seem to be not specific to any plant species. A detail study in ecological viewpoints of those species is required for the conservation and management of the mangrove ecosystems.

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Maitri Bose ¹, Santanu Mitra ², Jyoti Das ¹

Affiliations
1 Dept. of Zoology, Raja Peary Mohan College, Uttarpara, Hooghly, West Bengal, IN
2 Zoological Survey of India, FPS Building, Kolkata–700 016, IN

Abstract

In West Bengal, in the district of West Midnapore, Arabari is a well known forest, which is known as 'Model Community Forest'. It shares boundary with the famous Dalma forest of Jharkhand and as a result herds of Elephants often visit the Arabari forest range. After the initiation of 'Joint Forest Management' the movement in the forest areas revived with increase of forest cover. With the improvement of irrigation, production of multiple crops including cash crops also increased gradually. These increased productions, assured food for the migrating elephants; as a result number of elephants is increasing gradually. With the ever growing human population, the conflict between man and elephant is also increasing gradually. Practically the people used to drive out these elephants but not solving the problem permanently. It leads to a greater damage including loss of life of human, elephants and the growing crops. The present study is taken as an effort to realize the migration pattern of elephant, nature of damage of human property and natural wealth and to make a way out of these burning problems.

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Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Crustacea Division, Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

A new species of potamid crab of the genus Himalayapotamon Pretzmann, 1966 from Jammu and Kashmir is described in this paper with illustrations. A key to all the 14 species reported so far has been provided. All the related species of the genus has been compared with Himalayapotamon pretzmanni sp. nov.

Keywords

Crustacea, Decapoda, Himalayapotamon pretzmanni, New Species, India, Description.

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M. K. Dev Roy ¹, Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, IN

Abstract

Red Piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri Kner, 1860, is an ornamental fish belonging to the family Characidae, order Characiformes. This fish is native to South America where it occurs widely in lowland areas of Central and Southern America east of the Andes including the Amazon and Parana basins and various central drainages of the Guianas and Brazil (Fink, 1993). The fish has established in China from where it has probably entered into Bangladesh waters. Of late, it has been reported from peninsular India. As opined by Bijukumar (2000), this fish was introduced in India illegally by aquarium traders and in course of time it has found its way into the natural water systems.

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Santanu Mitra ¹

Affiliations
1 Crustacea Section, Zoological Survey of India, Fire Proof Spirit Building, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

Two species of isopod crustaceans, viz., Annina fustis Bowman & Iliffe, 1991 and A. kumari (Bowman, 1971) are recorded herein from Burhabalanga river of coastal Odisha, both representing first reports from Indian subcontinent.

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