International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.34, 344-352
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significant correlation with the abundance of the species at Sutrapada and Kodinar but significant correlation was
not observed at Veraval and Dhamlej (Table 3).
Figure 3 Kite diagram showing (A) Variation in burrow diameter and (B) Variation in burrow abundance of
O. ceratophthalmus
in
relation to distance from the low water line at the four different study sites (0 represents water line)
Table 2 Results of Two – way ANOVA with replication to investigate variation in mean seasonal density, abundance and frequency
of occurrence values of
O. ceratophthalmus
burrows sampled at three different sites (df values are presented in the table)
Source of Variation Density (no. of burrows/ m
2
) Abundance (no. of burrows/ m
2
) Frequency of occurrence (% occupation / m
2
)
Site
6.38|*
6.78*
7.87**
Season
27.63***
42.88***
20.86***
Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001
3 Discussion
In the present study, the number of burrows decreased towards the upper part of the sandy shore away from the
water line. Burrows with large diameter burrows were recorded near upper part of the sandy shore while burrows
with small diameter were recorded near the water line. Shuchman and Warbung (1978) and Strachan et al. (1999)
also recorded similar findings where they noted that high numbers of burrows with small diameter were occupied
by juveniles living closer to the water line, while less number of burrows with large diameter were occupied by
adults located on the upper part of the shore away from water line. On the basis of these observations, they
proposed that this phenomenon is most probably occurring due to the physiological competence between
individuals of the species. Chakrabarty (1981) and Chan et al. (2006) and also observed a similar pattern of
