Seasonal and spatial variation of Polychaetes along the Bengre, Thannirbhavi and Chitrapur off Mangalore coast, India

Macrobenthic polychaetes play a significant role in marine benthic food chain. Polychaetes are significantly diverse, abundant and have ecologically importance in coastal waters. Due to their short life cycle and limited mobility polychaetes are used as bio indicator in monitoring studies. The present investigation was carried out for the period of eight months along Bengre region having estuarine influences and receiving load of domestic sewage and Thannirbhavi receiving treated effluents from Fertilizer industry and Chitrapur receiving treated effluents Refinery Petroleum limited and Soda factory. In the present study polychaets belonging to 15 different families were observed and the distribution of which varied both in space and time.