Abstract
Red algae are one of the ancient and largest groups of eukaryotic algae. Most of them are multicellular seaweeds. They provide habitat for near-shore benthic floras and are also considered ecologically unique as they contribute substantially to primary production. Most of the red algae are economically important in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Increasing concern on destruction of seaweed resources is noticed due to anthropogenic and climatic disturbances demand to study their diversity and species richness. Seaweeds include all the macroscopic algae occurring in the marine and brackish water habitats and are considered as one of the primary producers of the marine ecosystem. In the present study, the status of red algae variation along Thoothukudi coastal region was investigated. The sampling was conducted for six months from June to November 2015 to document the seaweed diversity of the coast. Total of 36 species belonging to 7 order, 11 family and 20 genera are documented. Gracilariaceae was the dominant family with 9 species, followed by Corallinaceae and Rhodomelaceae with 6 and 5 species each. The maximum species richness was found to be in the month of July in comparison to other months. Thus, the field exploration presents the current status of seaweed wealth of different beach fronts of Thoothukudi. Further, the present study showed the potential algal marine resources of this coast especially Kappahycus alvarezii and Hypnea musciformis. Future studies are designed to analyze the major lead molecule present in the selected red algae such as Kappahycus alvarezii and Hypnea musciformis and their therapeutical potentialities.
