Top shells of Andrew Bay in Rakhine coastal region of Myanmar with notes on habitat, local distribution and utilization

Abstract

Top shells on intertidal and subtidal areas of Andrew Bay in Rakhine Coastal Region of Myanmar are composed of 2 species of genus Monodonta Lamarck, 1799; 2 species of genus Tectus Montfort, 1810; 6 species of genus Trochus Linnaeus, 1758 and 2 species of genus Umbonium Link, 1807 belonging to family Trochidae Rafinesque, 1815 falling under the order Archaeogastropoda Thiele, 1925 collected from field observation during 2005-2017, were identified, using liquid-preserved materials and living specimens in the field, based on the external characters of shell structures. The collected specimens comprised Monodonta labio (Linnaeus, 1758) and M. canalifera Lamarck, 1816; Tectus fenestratus (Gmelin, 1791) and T. pyramis (Born, 1778); Trochus conus Gmelin, 1791, T. maculatus Linnaeus, 1758, T. niloticus Linnaeus, 1767, T. radiatus Gmelin, 1791, T. triserialis Lamarck, 1822 and T. erithreus Brocchi, 1821; Umbonium vestiarium (Linnaeus, 1758) and U. costatum (Kiener, 1838). The distribution of top shells in intertidal and subtidal zone of Andrew Bay was studied in brief. Moreover, the habitats and utilization, comparison of some conchological features and the ecological aspects of top shells around the Andrew Bay were described.