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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The survey along the Tamilnadu and Kerala coats of India reveled that six species of seahors (</span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Hippocampus fuscus, H. kelloggi, H. kuda, H. histrix H. mohnikei </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. trimaculatus) </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">were distributed with different density. Out of the six species, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. fuscus, H. kuda </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. trimaculatus, </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">were the commonly available species in all the observed areas. In Palk Bay, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kuda </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">was the dominant species constituting 49.10% of the total seahorses encountered. </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Hippocampus trimaculatus </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">was the second dominant species which accounting 39.28%. The Gulf of Mannar region also most abounded with </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kuda </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(68.98%) followed by </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. trimaculatus </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(20.80%), </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. fuscus </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(9.80%), </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kelloggi </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(2.23%) and </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. histrix </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(0.37%). In Kerala coast, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. trimaculatus </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">was the dominant species (79.68%) followed by </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kuda </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(9.89%), </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kelloggi </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(8.33%) and </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. fuscus </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(2.08%). To infer the variation of six seahorse species the morphometric and meristic characters were analysed. The important morphometric and meristic characters are trunk rings, tail rings, pectoral and dorsal fin rays, trunk length, tail length, coronet height, head length, snout length, snout depth and head depth. Variation in overall body shape, relative snout length, coronet height, number of tail ring was sufficient to separate the specimens to </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Hippocampus fuscus</span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kelloggi</span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. kuda</span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. histrix H. mohnikei </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H.trimaculatus. </span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The species density and diversity depends on the habitat and biogeography of those areas. Majority of seahorse fishing in Tamilnadu was by shrimp trawl, by-catch and very few target catch by divers also seen in some villages of Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar region. The shrimp trawl by-catch only bringing more </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Garamond Premr Pro&quot;; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">H. trimaculatus </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 115%; font-size: 10pt;">than the other species in Kerala coasts.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span>