Bloom ofHemidiscus hardmannianus(Bacillariophyceae) and Its Impact on Water Quality and Plankton Community Structure in a Mangrove Wetland

An intense monospecies bloom of the centric diatom Hemidiscus hardmannianus (Greville) Mann. (Bacillariophyceae) occurred in the coastal waters of Sundarban mangrove wetland, India on 22 July, 2010. The species was abruptly flourished (mean density 8.86 × 106 cells/L) resulting intense green coloration of water. The greatest impoverishment of diversity and density of phytoplankton, micro- and mesozooplankton community was observed during the bloom. The phytoplankton community showed an extreme reduction in diversity (12 species to one) and sharp decrease in standing stock (12.84 × 103 to 8.86 × 106 cells/L) during this period. The late bloom condition coincided with sudden and huge arrival of a clupoid fish Hilsa ilisha which forms the most potential fisheries in Sundarban deltaic region. An attempt has been made to correlate the satellite remote sensing-derived information to the bloom conditions. The MODIS-Aqua derived chlorophyll and TMI satellite derived sea surface temperature and wind speed maps have been interpreted.