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Epipont peritrich ciliates are one of the most sessilie protists that attached to the substrate of zooplankton communities especially copepods and crustaceans. Peritrich ciliates can be solitary or colonial form found from the coastal zones and embayment around the world. Present research report is the first snapshot study of the peritrich ciliates and the horizontal distribution in open waters from surface to 200 m depth in the eastern Indian Ocean. Recently, five peritrich ciliates, e.g., Vorticella oceanica, Zoothamnium alternans, Z. alrasheidi, Z. pelagicum, and Z. marinum were collected from plankton net tow samples during the cruise from April 10 to May 13, 2014. The characteristics of the peritrich ciliate were determined according to the shape of the zooids, the ciliary structure and the stalks. The morphometric shape, sizes and characters also explained by examination under light/scanning electron microscopy. Vorticella oceanica and Z. pelagicum showed their association with host such as diatom (i.e, Chaetoceros coarctatus) and copepod (Oithona brevicornis) including some individuals around the dinoflagellate species (Ceraitum tripose). The distribution of these sessilid ciliates was dominated by the V. oceanica, Z. pelagicum and Z. marinum at the southeast zone while the large colonies of Z. alrasheidi observed at the Bay of Bengal. This distribution can be influenced by substrate availability like diatom (Ch. coarctatus) and copepods (O. brevicornis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief morphometric study of the recent planktonic foraminifera in the eastern Indian Ocean was provided with the taxonomic key to species, synonyms, SEM microphotographs of shells and chamber arrays. By recent classification, currently 20 species representing 13 genera and 6 families (Canderinidae, Heterohelicoidae, Hedbergellidae, Higerigerinoidae, Globigerinoidae, and Globorotaloidae) identified from the planktonic material of the eastern Indian Ocean up to a depth of 200 m. Their distribution in water (0-200 m) also reports on the new range of expansion in the eastern Indian Ocean, with Dentigloborotalia anfracta, Hastigerina pelagica, Streptochilus globigerus, Globigerinella calida, Globigerinella adamsi, Orcadia reidelii, Tenuitella parkerae, Tenuitella compressa, reported for the first time in this study area. In general, only around 50 planktonic species are valid worldwide, more specifically the species, e.g., H. pelagica, G. calida, G. adamsi, S. globigerus, O. riedeli, T. parkerae, T. compressa, which occur in the eastern Indian Ocean to fill the the paucity of the recent regional taxonomic literature and the problematic identification from the eastern Indian Ocean. This work aims to bridge this gap and help scientists, managers, educators and students to identify plankton foraminifers by using species notes and images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides being critical components of marine food web, microorganisms play vital roles in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and elements in the ocean. Currently little is known about microbial population structure and their distributions in the eastern Indian Ocean. In this study, we applied molecular approaches including polymerase chain reaction-denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and High-Throughput next generation sequencing to investigate bacterial 16S rRNA genes from the equatorial regions and the adjacent Bay of Bengal in the eastern Indian Ocean. In general, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria (mainly Alpha, and Gamma), Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Planctomycetes dominated the microbial communities. Horizontally distinct spatial distribution of major microbial groups was observed from PCR-DGGE gel image analyses. However, further detailed characterization of community structures by pyrosequencing suggested a more pronounced stratified distribution pattern: Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria were more predominant at surface water (25 m); Bacteroidetes dominated at 25 m and 150 m while Proteobacteria (mainly Alphaproteobacteria) occurred more frequently at 75 m water depth. With increasing water depth, the bacterial communities from different locations tended to share high similarity, indicating a niche partitioning for minor groups of bacteria recovered with high throughput sequencing approaches. This study provided the first 'snapshot' on biodiversity and spatial distribution of Bacteria in water columns in the eastern Indian Ocean, and the findings further emphasized the potential functional roles of these microbes in energy and resource cycling in the eastern Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effect of hydrographic factors on the spatial distributions of chlorophyll a (Chl a), an investigation was carried out in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean (80°-100°E along 7°S, and 7°-18°S along 80°E) in December 2010. The fluorescent method was used to obtain total Chl a and size-fractioned Chl a at the 26 stations. The results show that surface Chl a concentration averaged at (0.168±0.095) mg/m s.d. (range: 0.034-0.475 mg/m), concentrations appeared to be higher in the west for longitudinal variations, and higher in the north for latitudinal variations. Furthermore, the surface Chl a concentration was lower (0.034-0.066 mg/m) in the region to the south of 16°S. There was a strong subsurface Chl a maximum layer at all stations and the depth of the Chl a maximum increased towards to the east and south along with the respective nitracline. The spatial variation of Chl a was significant: correlation and regression analysis suggests that it was primarily affected by PO, N(NO-N+NO-N) and temperature. Size-fractionated Chl a concentration clearly showed that the study area was a typical oligotrophic open ocean, in which picophytoplankton dominated, accounting for approximately 67.8% of total Chl a, followed by nanophytoplankton (24.5%) and microphytoplankton (7.6%). The two larger fractions were sensitive to the limitation of P, while picophytoplankton was primarily affected by temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]