Unusual landings of agar yielding seaweed Gracilaria edulis in Kottaipattanam-Chinnamanai area

The red seaweeds Gelidiella acerosa, Gracilaria edulis and G. crassa are used as raw materials for the production of agar by the seaweed industries in India. The demand of agar yielding seaweeds for the agar industries is more, but the quantity of G. acerosa and G. edulis exploited is less. G. edulis plants from Sri Lanka coast would have been drifted to this area by water current and it is for the first time such a large quantity of G. edulis isobserved.