A Preliminary Study on the Status of the Valithondal Coral Reef in Northern Sri Lanka
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Date
2021
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Coral reefs are one of the most important marine habitats in shallow tropical seas. However, there
are no proper scientific records on the status of the Valithondal coral reef in Northern, Sri Lanka.
Therefore, the present study was carried out to identify the abundance and diversity of Valithondal
coral reef at Northern coastal waters of Sri Lanka from January 2021 to May 2021. Coral Video
Transects (CVT) method was carried out for sampling at the selected location assigned by the
criteria of the species abundance and water clearance where water depth less than 5m by
snorkelling over 100m transect lines, which covered 10m x 100m area. Altogether 69 macro-
species were recorded comprising twenty-three species of hard corals, seven species of soft corals,
nine species of green seaweeds, seven species of brown seaweeds, five species of red seaweeds,
thirteen species of fishes, and five species of molluscs. Species richness, Shannon-H index, and
Simpson’s diversity index were 29, 3.113, and 0.9428 respectively. Comparatively, a medium
diversity of coral families were recorded. Families Faviidae, Merulinidae, Acroporidae,
Montastraeidae, Pocilloporidae, Leptastrea, and Poritidae are the hard corals. There is one soft
corals under the family Alcyonidae. Green, brown, and red seaweed species were identified under
three, two, and three families respectively. The families of the green seaweeds were Caulerpaceae,
Halimedaceae, and Ulvaceae, brown seaweeds were Dictyotacea and Sargassaceae, and red
seaweeds were Liagoraceae, Gracilariaceae, and Halymeniaceae. Identified fishes were included
under six families; Chaetodontidae, Lutjanidae, Pomacentridae, Serranidae, Acanthuridae, and
Haemulidae while molluscs are included in five families which are Buccinidae, Terebridae,
Mactridae, Trochidae, and Muricidae. The highest species diversity was observed in the family
Merulinidae (12.72%), Caulerpaceae (10.90%), and Alcyonidae (7.27%) and followed by
Chaetodontidae (5.45%). The most abundant species were Acropora cytherea and Porites lobata in
hard coral species, which is contributed to reef recovery in Sri Lanka. The other high abundant
species are Lobopyton sp. and Sinularia sp. in soft coral species, Caulerpa imbricata, Caulerpa
lentillifera, Caulerpa parvula, Canistrocarpus crispatus, Padina boergesenii and Halymenia
durvillei in seaweed species, Chaetodontidae and Pomacentridae in fish species. The results
highlighted that the high biodiversity and abundance of macro-species recorded in the Valithondal
coastal waters, which would be protected by forcing effective management practices. Further
studies are also needed to the sustainability of the coral reef ecosystem.
Keywords: Corals; diversity indices; hard coral; macro-species; molluscs; seaweeds; soft cora
Description
Keywords
Aquaculture and Fisheries, Fisheries Industry, Biodiversity, Biodiversity – Sri Lanka, Coral Reefs