INVESTIGATION ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GENUS ULVA FROM THE SHORELINE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

The indication on the existence of genus Ulva in Andhra Pradesh is sporadic and poorly reported since 1952. Hence, an attempt was made to prepare the detailed account of genus Ulva from the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Totally 112 localities were surveyed in different seasons from March 2017 – August 2019. A total of 14 species of Ulva were spotted from the nine maritime districts, among them seven species (U. clathrata, U. conglobata, U. linza, U. profunda, U. prolifera, U. quilonensis, U. rigida, and U. taeniata) were treated as new distributional records to the marine macroalgae flora of Andhra Pradesh. Further, four species of Ulva were reported for the first time from the east coast of India. Also, the present study confirms the presence of two endemic species (names of 2 endemic species here) of India. The description, occurrence, specimen examined, and distribution of 14 species are furnished in detail in this article