Abstract
The diversity and distribution of polychaete species under the families Nereididae, Syllidae and Eunicidae in sub-tidal fouling assemblage was studied by submerging wood as test substratum. Wooden panels were fitted onto a raft and submerged in Kudankulam coastal waters (south east coast of India) in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons from May 2003 to July 2005. Panels (in replicate) were retrieved from the raft at 15-day intervals. A total of 24 polychaete species belonging to the three families were identified from the test panels. Perinereis cultrifera, Platynereis dumerilii, Syllis variegata, Syllis truncata, and Eunice australis were the dominant species observed on the test panels. The abundance of major polychaete group was varied considerably between the panel series submerged in May 2003 (post-monsoon), November 2003 (monsoon) and July 2004 (pre-monsoon). The major difference in the polychaete community structure was the low abundance of both nereidids on pre-monsoon season panels and the eunicids on monsoon and post-monsoon season panels.