PIROTAN'S CORAL REEF
Gujarat
has the distinction of creating the country's first Marine National Park
spread over an area of nearly 458 sq. kms in the Gulf of Kachchh, 30 kms
from Jamnagar. Offshore from the southern coast of the gulf of Kachchh,
an archipelago of 42 islands sits like little gems in the Arabian Sea.
Here, corals create
fantasies in stone and are the master builders of the Park. These are
home to some of the finest coral reef formations on India's west coast,
some fringed by mangrove forests. Their limestone fortresses - each one
the work of a colony of countless tiny animals - come in an amazing
variety of shapes and sizes, from the convoluted brain coral to corals
that look like horns.
The waters of the gulf
are home to the dolphin, the finless porpoise and dugong sea cow. In
1980, the Gulf of Kachchh was declared India's first marine nature
reserve, and in 1982 it became India's first marine national park.
MAIN PARK POPULATION
Turtles, shrimp, sponge,
eels, sea urchin lurk among the corals and huge schools of fish create a
brilliance of colours that are unknown, unseen and unimaginable. Here
you can see dolphins and octopuses.
Dugong, a marine mammal,
which resembles a seal and the rare Boralia species are found in these
protected areas. The park has dense mangrove growth, which provides
scores of birds with nesting and roosting sites.
MARINE LIFE
Sea turtles nest on the
beaches. The coral reefs are a blaze of colour, home to a variety of
rare life forms like the octopus, sea hare and 200 species of molluscs.
Also colourful fish like the puffer, butterfly and parrot; and
echinoderms like the star fish, brittle star, sand dollar, sea urchin
and sea cucumber. More than 40 species of sponges in vivid shades of
green, red, pink and other colours abound.
Soft corals include the
sea anemone, sea fans and sea pens which resemble a bed of flowers in
this brilliant underwater world. Thousands of shore birds like crab
plovers, terek sandpipiers, oystercatchers and sanderlings descend on
the mud banks to feed on the array of beached marine life when the tide
turns. In summer and the monsoons, more than 30 species of birds
including herons, darters and terns nest on the island shores and
canopies of the mangrove trees.
