Temporal Variation of Mole Crab Species Emerita asiatica in Relation to Water Quality Along Gopalpur Coast, East coast of India

Coastal sandy beaches are considered to be an integral part of the coastal ecosystems in marine environment. Sandy beach is an extremely dynamic environment where sand and water are always in motion. There are several fauna and flora occurring in this zone. The mole crab, Emerita asiatica is one of them from this sandy beach of Gopalpur coast. Gopalpur is a small fisherman village and also an important tourist spot of Odisha. The monthly data was collected over two years from January 2011 to December 2012 to assess the water quality. In this chapter we have discussed on the water quality standard of the major tourist beach with special reference to mole crab community. Various physico-chemical parameters like air temperature, water temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and nutrients were studied along with the population study of mole crab species.