Status of Gorgoniidae (Octocorallia) from the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu, South India

The Gulf of Mannar, located in the south-east coast of India with an area of 10,500 km2 (8o 47’ - 9o 15’ N and 78o 12’ - 79o 14’ E), is a major fishing zone in the Indian waters. The fisher folk of this area make their livelihood by exploiting finfish’s and shellfishes as well as marine algae and other resources of this area. As resulted in the depletion of these population. Extensive survey for gorgonian was conducted during 2008 in the sub- tidal regions of Vembar and Thoothukudi groups of Islands in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve using SCUBA. The survey report brings out 14 different species belonging to 5 families from this region, The genera Dichotella,  Ellisella, Acabaria, Melithaea, Menella, Paracis and Annella are the new addition and observed and reported from the Gulf of Mannar Islands.