Short Communication Feeding trails of Dugong Dugong dugon (Müller, 1776) (Mammalia: Sirenia: Dugongidae) in the Gulf of Kachchh, western coast of India

Dugong Dugong dugon (Müller, 1776) is the only herbivorous marine mammal distributed along the tropical and subtropical oceans of the Indo-Pacific regions. The record of the species in India is mainly from the east coast including Andaman and Gulf of Mannar. In this note the authors have recorded feeding trails of Dugong on the Halodule uninervis meadow in the Gulf of Kachchh, i.e., northwestern part of India. Most of the records of this species from this area are stranding records. This is the second record of the trail from this region.


PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS
The Dugong Dugong dugon (Müller, 1776) occurs in the tropical and subtropical sea areas of the Indo-Pacific region (Nishiwaki & Marsh 1985), and is classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (Thornback & Jenkins 1982 (Moses 1942;Mani 1960;Silas 1961;Mohan 1963;Frazier & Mundkur 1990;and Singh 2003). Frazier & Mundkur (1990) compiled the dugong observation with the help of fishermen interview and reported 18 animals from the Gulf of Kachchh, particularly in Bet Dwarka, Poshitra and their neighbouring areas. Singh (2003) noted four dead Dugong from this region that includes one skull on Bhaidar Island, two dead animals in Bharana and one dead animal on Poshitra coast.

Observation
On 27 May 2017, during the marine invertebrate study, the authors visited Narara reef area in the central region of the Gulf of Kachchh. The area is also a part of Marine National Park and Sanctuary -Jamnagar. The area significantly harbors 7.5ha of Halodule uninervis Meadow Peculiar grazing pattern was observed in the meadow, and was considered to be a Dugong feeding trail. The grass was completely uprooted and grazed, and the width of the trail varied from 20-28 cm and length varied from 100-520 cm. The trail was recorded at the low tide where during the high-tide the water rises to 4.5m. Photographs and measurements of all the trails were taken (Image 1). International experts were consulted for confirming the trails, which were confirmed as feeding trails of Dugong.

Discussion
Most of the records of the species are from the western parts of the gulf and majority of the records are stranded, washed off dead animals questioning the status of the population within the GoK (Table 1). Most observations of the species in GoK are stranding records towards Okha, Poshitra and Bhaider, i.e., opening of the gulf, indicating the population as vagrant or non-resident to GoK. Pandey et al. (2010) recorded the first feeding trail for GoK from the seagrass meadows of Pirotan Island. This is the second record of the feeding trail from the central part of the GoK. Narara is an important Dugong habitat in GoK (Sivakumar & Nair 2013). The observation of Dugong feeding trail in this area is an important but indirect evidence of the presence of the species and is of considerable importance as it indicates the presence of live animals in the central areas of the GoK indicating the presence of the species in this area further more towards the east in GoK. Kamboj (2014) provided status of the seagrass in the Marine National Park and Sanctuary, however, the seagrass beds of Narara are not included in the same. All the stranding records are in proximity to the existing seagrass beds (Table 2; Fig 2).
The Dugong population in the Arabian Gulf is believed to be the second largest in the world after Australia. Akab Island (Umm al Qaywayn, UAE) is the oldest site (6000 years) where Dugong remains have been discovered (Jousse 1999). The Arabian Gulf is considered to contain the most important Dugong habitat in the western half of the Dugong's range (Preen 1989). The population estimate of Dugong in the Arabian Gulf was estimated  and result of population dispersal from the Arabian Gulf during summer. The distance between these two sites, however, is more than 1,500km and this hypothesis needs to be assessed by satellite tagging few animals in the Arabian Gulf.
Observations and frequent monitoring of these seagrass meadows may help in understanding the presence and movements of the Dugong population in the area. This information will be valuable for the better management practice of the species in the region. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.