Ecology and Occurrence of Pugilina (Hemifusus) cochlidium and Pugilina erecta (Gastropoda: Melongenidae) from Thondi coast , Palk strait in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The environment is a selective force of an organism and its population. Knowledge of the environmental parameters of study area is thus an essential prerequisite to understand the composition of animal’s inhabitants and their distribution. In the present study the Ecology and Occurrence of two species of Pugilina (Hemifusus) cochlidiumandPugilina erectaalong the coast of Thondi are influenced by the environmental factors with less significance. As these animals are bottom living, they were not much affected by changes in the environmental factors. In the present study the maximum temperature was recorded during summer season and the minimum during monsoon. The changes in the temperature have been proved to have meager influence in the distribution of these two species as the temperature variation was not sufficient enough to affect their distribution