Macro epibiont diversity in breeding olive ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) from east coast of India

The epibionts associated with breeding Olive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) was studied during the offshore monitoring at Rushikulya rookery in Odisha during the breeding season 2021. Epibionts attached to different body parts of the turtles were sampled and identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Altogether, 324 epibionts from 14 species belonging to 12 genera and 12 families were documented. Stomatolepas elegans (Costa, 1838) and Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758) were found to be most abundant species. For the first time, two species of bivalve Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758) and Anomia sp. were documented as epibionts attached to the carapace of olive ridley sea turtles. The species richness, abundance, diversity and distribution of epibionts in different body parts of olive ridley turtles was also studied. Shannon diversity Index was higher in case of males than females; species richness was found to be higher in males than females; dominance index was maximum in female turtles than in male turtles. This is first documentation of epibionts on olive ridley sea turtles from Rushikulya rookery in India.