Research Article Habitat Preference and Population Ecology of Limpets Cellana karachiensis (Winckworth) and Siphonaria siphonaria (Sowerby) at Veraval Coast of Kathiawar Peninsula, India Julee Faladu, Bhavik Vakani, Paresh Poriya, and Rahul Kundu Department of Biosciences, Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujarat 360005, India Correspondence should be addressed to Rahul Kundu; rskundu@sauuni.ernet.in Received 7 May 2014; Revised 6 July 2014; Accepted 20 July 2014; Published 17 August 2014 Academic Editor: Wen-Cheng Liu Copyright © 2014 Julee Faladu et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Present study reports the habitat preference and spatiotemporal variations in the population abundance of limpets Cellana karachiensis and Siphonaria siphonaria inhabiting rocky intertidal zones of Veraval coast, Kathiawar Peninsula, India. he entire intertidal zone of the Veraval coast was divided into ive microsampling sites based on their substratum type and assemblage structure. Extensive ield surveys were conducted every month in these microsampling sites and the population abundance of two limpet species was analyzed using belt transect method. he results revealed that C. karachiensis was the dominating species at microsampling Site-1 (having rocky substratum) possibly due to its ability to tolerate high desiccation, salinity, and temperature luctuations, while the S. siphonaria was found to be the most dominating species at microsampling Site-2 (having rocky substratum with abundant algal population) possibly due to their preference for the perpetual wet areas. he study also indicated that S. siphonaria preferred upper littoral zone where the green algae were abundant while C. karachiensis preferred the spray zone, where it faces almost no competition for space and food with other molluscs. he condition of the spray zone is very harsh for other species to survive. 1. Introduction Rocky shores are one of the most easily accessible marine habitats and also transition zone between land and the sea. Organisms of rocky shores are strongly inluenced by two processes, tidal region and exposure to wave action [1]. During the low tide, the phenomenon of zonation is manifested in the form of horizontal bands or zones for the intertidal organisms [2]. Animals and plants on intertidal rocky shores have long been studied very intensively [3, 4] and not only are these ecological studies valuable source for the status of the particular ecological area but also contribute immensely to understanding other similar kinds of ecological habitats [2]. Veraval coast of the Arabian Sea is having a broad continental shelf which harbours a very rich biota [4, 5]. Intertidal zone of this coastline is characterized by diferent structural variations of substratum like bare rocky area, area with algal cover, uneven rocky area with more number of pools and crevices, and so forth. All these habitats show their typical assemblage structure [6]. Two species of limpet, Cellana karachiensis (patellogastropoda) and Siphonaria siphonaria (heterogastropoda), are found abundantly in the entire Veraval coast and beyond. Limpets are known to play a key role in structuring the marine intertidal ecosystems. hese gastropods, therefore, have been subjected to numerous investigations over the years [4, 6]. It was observed from the literature that very few studies have been carried out on the spatiotemporal variations in the population ecology of limpets from Indian coasts. Sukumaran and Krishnaswamy [7] studied the ecological response of salinity changes in C. radiata from Madras coast. Rao and Ganpati [8] have reported the resistance capabilities of C. radiata to high temperature, salinity, and desiccation stress. Investigations were also carried out on the limiting factors for the distribution and homing behaviour of limpets as the distribution is believed to be largely dependent on the homing capabilities found in these species [7]. However, little is known about the distribution and frequency of phenotype Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Ecosystems Volume 2014, Article ID 874013, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/874013