Mohammed Koya

Characterization of microsatellite markers in silver pomfret, Pampus argenteus (Perciformes: Stromateidae) through cross-species amplification and population genetic applications

Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen 1788) is one of the commercially important marine food fish in India, having high value and demand in both domestic and export market. Pomfrets in Indian waters showed a steady decline in catch due to capture of undersized, juvenile fishes. Baseline information on the genetic stock structure is important for conservation and sustainable harvest of this species. Fish stock structure and genetic variation can be evaluated/identified through microsatellite molecular markers. An alternative for finding polymorphic microsatellites is cross-species amplification between genetically closely related species.

Record of striped paper bubble shell, Hydatina physis (Linnaeus, 1758), from Indian waters

The opisthobranch gastropod Hydatina physis (Linnaeus, 1758) is recorded from the north-west coast of India, off Veraval, Gujarat. A literature review on the distribution of this species revealed that this is the first report of H. physis from Indian waters since 1877 when a specimen collected from Chennai along the east coast of India and deposited in the Australian Museum was later identified to be H. physis . A note on the morphological features of this specimen is detailed in the present paper.