Seaweed Species Diversity with Relation to Hydrological Parameters from Veraval and Sikka Coast, Gujarat, India

India is one of the developing countries with rich biodiversity in the world. Indian seaweeds comprise mostly of tropical species, but temperate and subtropical elements have also been reported (Anonymous, 2005). Many of the rocky beaches, mudflats, estuaries, coral reefs, and lagoons along the Indian coast provide ideal habitats for the growth of seaweeds (Rao and Vaibhav, 2006). The latest diversity of Indian seaweed consisted of 1153 species from 271 genera (Karthik et al., 2013). There is a luxuriant growth of seaweeds along with the southeast coast of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat coast, Lakshadweep Island, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Fairly rich seaweed beds are present in the vicinity of Bombay, Ratnagiri, Goa, Karwar, Varkala, Kovalam, Vizhinjam, Visakhapatnam, and few other places namely Chilka and Pulicat lakes (Chennubhotla et al., 1987). Thecurrent seaweed status of India showed 844 species distributed