Coral reefs in India are one of the most ancient and dynamic ecosystems of India. The coral reefs not only provide a sanctuary to a myriad of marine life but also play a key role in protecting the coastline from erosion. India has about 7517 km of coastline including islands but mainland coast is 6100 km. The Coral reefs in India are mainly restricted to the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) (; ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .Gulf of Kutch The Gulf of Kutch is located between the peninsula regions of Kutch and Saurashtra, bounded in the state of Gujarat that borders Pakistan. It opens towards the Arabian Sea facing the Gulf of Oman. It is about 50 km wide at the entrance b ...

Palk Strait Palk Strait is a strait between the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay in the Bay of Bengal in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the Laccadive sea in the south. It stretches for about ...

and the

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

islands. All of these reefs are

Fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

s, except Lakshadweep which are

Atolls An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most of ...

. There are Patchy corals present along the inter-tidal areas of the central west coast like the intertidal regions of

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in southwestern Maharashtra, India. The district is part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for the Hapus or ...

, Gaveshani Bank etc. The

Hermatypic coral Hermatypic corals are those corals in the order Scleractinia which build reefs by depositing hard calcareous material for their skeletons, forming the stony framework of the reef. Corals that do not contribute to coral reef development are referred ...

s are also present along the sea shore from

Kollam Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...

in Kerala to

Enayam Puthenthurai Enayam is a village in Killiyoor block, Killiyoor Block, located within the Kanyakumari district, Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu State of India. Location Enayam is located west of district capital Nagercoil and from the state capital, ...

in Tamil Nadu.

Research and Institutions

The Major Institutions in India involved in the management, monitoring and research on Coral reefs are the

Ministry of Earth Sciences The Ministry of Earth Sciences is an executive ministry of the Government of India, established on 29 January, 2006. It was formed through the reorganisation of the Department of Ocean Development and the assumption of administrative control ov ...

, the

Zoological Survey of India The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India as a premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, explora ...

, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute,

Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, that was established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence sta ...

Annamalai University The Annamalai University (AU) is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. ...

National Centre for Earth Science Studies The National Centre for Earth Science Studies(NCESS) (Malayalam: ദേശിയ ഭൗമ ശാസ്ത്ര പഠന കേന്ദ്രം) is an autonomous research centre to promote scientific and technological research and develop ...

, National Institute of Ocean Technology,

National Institute of Oceanography, India The National Institute of Oceanography, founded on 1 January 1966 as one of 38 constituent laboratories of the CSIR, is a self-governing research organisation in India that conducts scientific research and studies on the unique oceanographi ...

etc. The

Space Applications Centre Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution of research in Ahmedabad under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is one of the major centres of ISRO that is engaged in the research, development and demonstration ...

in Ahmedabad is involved in the data collection of areas under Coral reefs using remote sensing.

Laws and regulations

The

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry. The ministry Portfolio (government), portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union ...

manages and guidelines for the protection of the Coral reefs in India. If the Coral reef region is under a protected area then it comes under the jurisdiction of the State Wild life department. The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 1991 gives protection to all marine resources. All types of coral reefs are protected under the CRZ1 category. Its Section 7 (2) prohibits the construction of beach resorts or hotels on coral reefs. In Certain States, the quarrying and collecting of massive corals are banned except for scientific purposes.

List of Coral reefs

:Situated in the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

, exclusively fringing reefs of about 572 islands, most of these islands have a healthy biodiversity. * Eastern Coast :There is a coral reef near the sea between Chandrabhaga coast and Ramachandi in the

Konark Konark is a medium-sized town in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It lies on the coast by the Bay of Bengal, 65 kilometres from the state capital Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Konark Sun Temple, Sun Temple, also ...

area of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. *

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) (; ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about from ...

in the north to

Thoothukudi Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port city, port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the di ...

(Tuticorin) in the south. This part of the gulf forms part of the

Gulf of Mannar biosphere reserve The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is a protected area of India consisting of 21 small islands (islets) and adjacent coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar in the Indian Ocean. It lies 1 to 10 km away from the east coast of Tamil Nadu, Ind ...

. *

Gulf of Kutch The Gulf of Kutch is located between the peninsula regions of Kutch and Saurashtra, bounded in the state of Gujarat that borders Pakistan. It opens towards the Arabian Sea facing the Gulf of Oman. It is about 50 km wide at the entrance b ...

:Exclusively consists of

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

s. The reefs are relatively less developed due to large range of temperature and high salinity. The harbours have less biodiversity. The entire Gulf of Kutch is also known as a Marine National Park. *

:Exclusively coral atolls with 36 islands, of which 10 are inhabited. The islands range from less than to about in length, and do not exceed in width. * Western Coast :There are some coral reefs around small inlets in the western part of the Gulf of Khambat.

Angria Bank Angria Bank is a bank (topography), bank, a shallow sunken atoll, on the continental shelf off the west coast of India. It is located west of Vijaydurg (city), Vijaydurg, Maharashtra. It has Coral_reef#Platform_reef, platform type Coral reefs i ...

is a coral reef off Vijaydurg in Maharashtra.

Tarkarli Tarkarli is a village in Malvan taluka in Sindhudurg district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a beach destination and remote place in southern Maharashtra. A few years ago, Tarkarli beach was declared a Queen Beach of the Konkan regi ...

Malwan Malwan (also spelled Malvan) is a small Indus Valley Civilisation site, located at Surat District, Gujarat, India. This site is, sometimes, considered as one of the southernmost limits of Indus Valley Civilisation, the other one being Daimabad ...

, Maharashtra is a smaller reef. There is a coral reef in Netrani Island in Karnataka.

Gallery

File:Gujarat Gulfs.jpg, Gulf of Kutch on the left; image by

NASA Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing outlet for NASA which was created in 1999. It is the principal source of satellite imagery and other scientific information about the climate and the environment which are being provided by NASA for ...

File:Mannar 79.03963E 9.52009N.jpg,

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) (; ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

Island File:North Sentinel Island.jpg,

North Sentinel Island North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island. The island is a protected area of India. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous tribe in volunta ...

is an island in the group of

. File:Neil Island - Bharatpur beach as seen from jetty.jpg, Bharatpur beach in Andaman and Nicobar, as seen from jetty File:LakshadweepIsland.jpg, One of the uninhabited islands in

Bangaram Atoll Bangaram is an atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. Geography The atoll has a roughly rectangular shape and is 8.1 km in length with a maximum width of 4.2 km and with a lagoon area of . It is located over off Kannur, ...

, Lakshadweep. File:A closeup shot of Pamban Bridge.jpg, Pamban bridge in Rameshwaram

Research and Institutions

Laws and regulations

List of Coral reefs

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading