Distributional Pattern of Two Limpet Groups in the Rock Pool Habitat of the South Saurashtra Coastline, Gujarat, India

Rock pools are considered as a special habitat for the intertidal communities which live in it due to certain prevailing stressed conditions. The pools in the upper intertidal zone are more stressed than the pools of the middle and lower intertidal zones due to the time span of exposure. Going through the literature, it was observed that limited studies were conducted for species composition in rock pool habitat which are in abundance in the rocky shores of the south Saurashtra coastline. The present communication reports the spatio-temporal variations in the distributional patterns of few limpet species from the rock pool habitat from more stressed upper and middle intertidal zones of different shores of the south Saurashtra coastline. The results of the study indicated that two groups of limpet,genusCellana and Siphonaria were dominating species in the communities of the upper intertidal zone. Interactions among the different communities clearly indicated that the limpets were the most robust species of the intertidal areas. These two groups were found to have isolated and patchily distribution along the shoreline. It has also been observed that almost all the species in the intertidal zone utilize rock pool habitat as a feeding ground, as a shelter against predators and for reproduction in different phases of their lives. Present investigation suggests that most of the species utilizing the rock pool habitats of the intertidal zones have the morphological adaptations required to use this kind of habitat in the intertidal zones.