MELANOIDES TUBERCULATA (MÜLLER, 1774) (MOLLUSCA: PROSOBRANCHIA: THIARIDAE): OCCURRENCE AND EXTENSION OF THE GASTROPOD TO KARACHI MANGROVES.

Authors

  • SAFIA KHANAM Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.
  • FAIZA IQBAL Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan
  • QUDDUSI B. KAZMI Marine Reference Collection and Resource Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.
  • MUHAMMAD UZAIR KHAN Marine Reference Collection and Resource Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.

Abstract

Melanoides tuberculata is a cosmopolitan freshwater gastropod snail belonging to the family Thiaridae. There has been no record of occurrence of this gastropod in Pakistani estuarine habitats. In the present study, M. tuberculata is abundantly discovered as empty shells in the intertidal areas in the mangrove Avicennia marina Russian Beach (Port Qasim, Karachi). They are more abundantly observed in mid and high tidal zones while low quantity in low tidal zone comparatively on an average tidal height of 0.5 meter. A total number of 158 empty shells of Melanoides tuberculata were found during study. The current study documents broader distribution of this species in mangrove of Avicennia marina of Pakistan (northern Arabian Sea). As this record is based on empty shells, the possible reasons of availability of this fresh water snail in Karachi mangroves is discussed.

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Published

2021-03-07

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (2020): FUUAST Journal of Biology

Section

Articles

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