Students of the Annamalai University’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology are currently studying and mapping the corals near the Puducherry coast under a University Grants Commission-sponsored programme. This is the first time that the university is embarking upon a study of corals.
T.M. Vasanthan, special officer (aquatic sports) at the university, said that the researchers would study the age of the corals, species, their distribution and micro-organisms. Usually, off the Indian coast, corals are found near the Andamans, Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch. This reef off Puducherry is indeed a rare find, he said.
A. Gopalakrishnan, assistant professor at the Centre, said though fish that depend on corals have been landing at Puducherry and Cuddalore for a long while, no study has been conducted on the reefs that usually grow in shallow areas. “This one is at quite a depth. Since fishermen with their native knowledge know where the underwater rocks are, they don’t do trawling in such areas. The corals thus enhance ecologically and economically important fish diversity in the region,” he said.
T. Balasubramanian, advisor to the Centre, said that former Zoological Survey of India director Venkatraman used to say that the entire Indian coastline had corals but over millions of years most of them had vanished.
“Corals, even when dead, offer shelter to fish. Corals help in climate control. They are involved in all the natural, physical, biological and chemical processes of the coastal environment,” he said, adding that the University’s Vice-Chancellor S. Manian had been encouraging students to study the corals.
Some half a dozen students who are being trained in scuba diving would be studying the reefs.
