A Study of Intertidal Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in the Chandipur Coast, Odisha, Eastern India

An attempt has been made from March 2023 to February 2024 to study the community composition and diversity of invertebrate macrofauna in the wide intertidal region of the Chandipur coast, Odisha, one of the less documented parts of the east coast of India. A total of 46 invertebrate species belonging to 5 phyla were observed. The most species-rich phylum was Mollusca (23), followed by Arthropoda (13), Cnidaria (5), Annelida (3), and Echinodermata (2). Relative abundance showed that 22 species (47.83%) were recedent, 12 species (26.09%) were subrecedent, and 6 species (13.04%) each were of subdominant and sporadic categories. Four functional feeding groups were identified, with carnivorous ranking first (34.78%), followed by filter feeders (32.61%), omnivorous (28.26%), and remainder as suspension feeders (4.35%). Further studies to explore whether there are any differences in community assemblages in the three designated zones of intertidal areas of the study area found that the mid intertidal zone sustains higher species diversity (( \(\:\overline{\text{H}}\) ) = 3.54), followed by the lower intertidal zone (( \(\:\overline{\text{H}}\) ) = 3.48) and the upper intertidal zone (( \(\:\overline{\text{H}}\) ) = 3.39). The highest evenness index (J^/) was recorded in the upper intertidal zone (0.81), followed by the mid intertidal zone (0.76) and the lower intertidal zone (0.74). The findings can help to better understand the composition of intertidal invertebrate macrofauna on the east coast of India.