Department of Zoology

The Department of Zoology, established in the year 1946, has been developing by leaps and bounds. Its achievements over the years with regard to infrastructural facilities, research and teaching activities are quite substantial. During the last two decades, the Department, especially owing to the generous funding made available by UGC under the SAP and COSIST programmes, has shown remarkable progress in infra-structural facilities. Apart from all these, Computer facility ranges from individual units to central installations with access to internet and E-mail service. The Department is fortunate in having sound foundations for research laid by founder Professors. Ever since its inception it has been actively involved in multidisciplinary teaching and research programmes. The research activities are diverse in nature and have been organized into 3 major thrust areas namely, Marine Biology including Fishery Science & Aquaculture, Parasitology and Environmental Physiology. Over the years a lot many significant findings have been made by specialists from these divisions.

The division of Marine Biology undertook work mostly on near-shore ecosystems, intertidal ecology, lagoons and estuarine biology, pollution ecology, marine bio-deterioration and instrumentation. Taking advantage of the long coastline, this division has well explored the hydrographical conditions in the sea of Visakhapatnam coast, faunal characteristics including plankton, benthos, their diversity and abundance. The aim of the division has been to provide a firm and much needed data base on the hydrographical and biological conditions of these areas, for possible use in resource management later. Yet other significant contributions are the fabrication of a number of instruments like Bentho-scanner, underwater TV scanner and Multiple grabs which were devised for use in-situ and successfully tested. In 1994, the Indo-Belgium collaborative research project funded by CEC on the Carbon-Nitrogen fluxes in mangrove areas of Kakinada Bay has been initiated and is continuined (until 2002). Over the years some significant contributions have been made under this project, including macrofaunal studies and fish diversity.

In the division of Fishery Science investigations were carried out on the taxonomy, osteology, hematology and population of many commercially important species of fish occurring along the east-coast. Significant contributions have been made on the eco-biological aspects of many of the Inland fish also. The division is strongly committed now to carry out studies on the eco-biology and nutritive values of commercial and cultivable fish in relation to the toxic effects of industrial effluents. Studies on Aquaculture practices and their implications are also in progress. More recently a significant study in this direction is the establishment of Aquaculture Shore Laboratory (Zoology extension) with running sea water and aeration. Development of mud crab culture technology and unique mud crab hatchery technology are significant contrbutions of the department.