Population characteristics of Villorita cyprinoides in Vembanad Lake, India

ABSTRACTKrishna AV, Ammini P. 2017. Population characteristics of Villorita cyprinoides in Vembanad Lake, India. Lake Reserv Manage. 34:130—140.The Vembanad Lake system (VLS), the largest Ramsar site in India, faces a major ecological crisis because of reclamation. The lake ranks first in the production of the black clam (Villorita cyprinoides). In this study, we investigated the distribution patterns of V. cyprinoides, and reports that the central region of the VLS sustained the highest population density of the black clam. The average density of black clams ranged from 10 to 15,558 individuals/m2, with average sizes ranging from 2 to 40 mm. The average size at maturity was 20 mm. Further, we employed the use of population parameters as a tool to determine their exploitation status in the VLS. The rate of exploitation (E) of V. cyprinoides (0.763) was higher than the maximum exploitation rate (Emax; 0.529), clearly suggesting its overexploitation in the central region. This finding corroborated well with...