author(s)
TH Dave, DT Vaghela and BG Chudasama

abstract
The Coast of Okha (22°28’N and 69°05’E) situated at the mouth of “Gulf of Kachchh” on the north western most part of Saurashtra in Gujarat. The coast harbours a great variety of seaweeds, gastropods and corals at exposed intertidal zone. The present study highlights seaweed occurrence, distribution and diversity along the coast. The experiment carried out from November-2016 to October – 2017. The coast was divided into three zones vertically to observe differences of seaweed abundances and diversity along the coast i.e. Zone 01 (0-250mt vertical stretch from HHTL to lower intertidal zone), Zone 02 (250-500mt distance from shore) and Zone 03 (500-750mt). In the present study, a random quadrate sampling method with vertical transact method was opted. The different species of seaweeds found within 1.0 m2 quadrate were collected along with their holdfast or rhizoid. Of the total recorded 39 species of seaweeds, chlorophytes showed maximum species i.e. 16, followed by Rhodophytes (13 species) and Phaeophytes (10 species). The All the zones were covered by seaweeds in different proportions and densities. The chlorophytes preferred upper stretch of the coast followed by Phaeophytes and Rhodophytes at mid-intertidal and Low-intertidal zones. The Caulerpa sertularioides, Caulerpa racemosa, Ulva lactuca, Ulva clathrata and Ulva fasciata showed maximum abundance followed by Spatoglossum asperum, Sirophysalis trinodis, Cystoseira indica, Sargassum marginatum var. diotis, Sargassum tenerrimum, Sargassum swartzii.