Reappearance of the rare Shingle Urchin Colobocentrotus (Podophora) atratus (Camarodonta: Echinometridae) after eight decades from the rocky shore of Kodiyaghat (Port Blair), South Andaman Islands, India

Abstract

The present work is aimed at facilitating conservation efforts of a rare species of sea urchin (Colobocentrotus atratus) reported nearly eight decades after its initial description by Bell (1887) and later by Clarke (1925) from the coastal waters of south Andaman Islands. Recently, during a three years study (2011-14) on the macrobenthic epifauna along the south Andaman coast, five live specimens of C. atratus were recorded from Kodiyaghat (11°31'532''N; 092°43'457'' E), south Andaman Islands. Available information shows that this species has reappeared in the south Andaman Islands seventy nine years after the citation by Sastry (1994) collected in the year 1935. The disappearance of this species from the literature in the intermittent years and a sparse population in coastal reaches of south Andaman Islands at present suggest that this species makes a candidate taxa for inclusion in the list of 'endangered' or 'vulnerable' Indian marine species following IUCN Red List criteria to Wild species.