Coral reef flora of the Gulf of Manar and Palk Bay

The flora of the coral reefs occurring in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay areas around Mandapam was studied, selecting transects from shore to the fringing reefs. Marinc algae and seagrasses growing on the transects were sampled at five-metre inter- vals and a total number of 1850 samples was taken all along the 19 transects surveyed