Novel occurrence and relative abundance of fiddler crabs Uca lactea, Uca rosea and Uca annulipes at East coast of India

Fiddler crabs are common in the many parts of the globe. However no report has been found on the occurrence and relative abundance of fiddler crab species viz. Uca annulipes, Uca lactea and Uca rosea in the mudflat of Balasore, East coast of India. We studied the occurrence as total population and percentage relative abundance of individual species. Among these three species, Uca lactea was not found but only Uca annulipes and Uca rosea were recorded in control area. A moderately declining population of individual species and percentage relative abundance was recorded in experimental area may be due to high human interference and pollution load as an established fishing port, in comparison to control area. The present results indicate that the moderate occurrence of these three species may be a suitable tolerant indicator for pollution monitoring in the mudflat and may be used for bioremediation.